Find cheap Fiji Airways flights

When the crew of your Fiji Airways flight welcomes you aboard with the greeting ‘bula,’ they are saying more than hello. They are wishing you a long life and good health which perfectly embodies the welcoming nature of Fijians and their national airline.

Fiji Airways operates a network of international flights that connect western North America, Asia and Australia to the Pacific nation of Fiji via Nadi International Airport on the main island, Viti Levu. Because Fiji is an archipelago, the airline also operates numerous domestic flights that connect the islands.

Check-in

Fiji Airways is the only airline I’ve ever experienced that offers resort check-in. When I was leaving from my resort stay, I didn’t need to rush to the airport to wait in line for check-in because I could do it at a desk right at my resort.

They confirmed my seat, tagged my bag and safely transported it to the airport. All I had to do was turn up at the airport later in the day, go through security and immigration and board my flight. My baggage was waiting for me at my home airport.

This service is not available at every resort so if you’re not staying at one of them, the airline opens its check-in counters in Nadi airport three hours before departure and closes them an hour before. If you’re flying to Fiji from their North American departure points of Dallas, San Francisco, Los Angeles or Vancouver, their counter opens four hours before flight time.

If you don’t need the services of a Fiji Airways agent, you can also check in via the self-service kiosks at Nadi or check in online via Fiji Airways’ website or app. In either case, if you have checked luggage, you need to bring it to the bag drop counter so that it will be placed on your plane.

For check-in, you need your ticket, either printed or electronic, and a passport that is still valid for at least six months. Depending on where your travels take you beyond Fiji, you may need a visa or meet other passport requirements so check with the appropriate government agencies.

Baggage allowance

Anyone can bring a piece of carry-on luggage on to a Fiji Airways flight for free, but the number of checked bags you’re allowed without having to pay an extra fee depends on the fare type you purchased.

Economy Value passengers get one free 30 kg checked bag, while Economy Comfort, Economy Plus and Biz Value each get two 30 kg checked bags. The most expensive fare, Biz Plus, gets to check in a grand total of three 30 kg checked bags at no extra cost.

In the end, the only fare class where you have to pay to check your luggage is Economy Lite.

Seats & legroom

Seat selection on Fiji Airway varies slightly depending on the plane you fly as the airline operates a variety of Airbus and Boeing aircraft in its fleet.

Except for some of their smaller domestic planes, Fiji Airways’ international flights all offer business class, premium economy, known as Bula Space, and regular economy seating. In addition, the newest plane in their fleet, the Airbus A350-900, offers lie-down beds in business class. If you’re like me and can never sleep in airplanes, consider splurging on these lie-down seats because they are a game changer.

Seat pitch, which is an indicator of how much legroom you will have, along with seat width, will vary depending on the type of airplane you are flying and the class of seat you are sitting in. In my experience, there is ample legroom throughout Fiji Airways’ aircraft.

There are some seats I like to avoid, like those near the toilets and the galley as the constant noise and stream of passengers walking back and forth is off-putting, especially on a long-haul flight where I’m trying to sleep.

Another thing to look out for are seats located in front of exit rows, bulkheads or at the back of the plane. None of these seats recline so you’re really never going to be able to sleep.

In-flight entertainment

My flights from Vancouver to Fiji’s capital, Nadi, are long and I have only so many movies and music on my smartphone to entertain me so I’m happy to take full advantage of the award-winning in-flight entertainment options offered by Fiji Airways.

What is available depends a bit on the aircraft type, but in general, there are seat-back displays where you can choose to watch from a large library of movies and TV shows. Most of it is Hollywood fare, but because Fiji Airways operates many flights in the Asia-Pacific region there is a nice selection of Asian movies which I always enjoy because I get to discover things I don’t normally see back home.

Instead of a seat-back screen, business-class passengers can borrow an iPad to watch their shows. If you’re travelling with your own screen, whether it’s a smartphone, tablet or laptop, you can also access the full suite of entertainment options through the airplane’s internal Wi-Fi network.

In addition to video, there is also a selection of publications to read that are provided by PressReader. Also, when you book your flight, Fiji Airways emails you a link to the PressReader app that lets you access more than 7,000 publications from around the world that you can download for free and read during your flight. This access extends for 24 hours beyond your flight and you get to keep anything you download.

Wi-Fi

Fiji Airways only offers Wi-Fi on specific aircraft types which are configured for it. The price you pay for Internet access depends on the duration of your flight with prices being lower for those under eight hours.

Even if you don’t want to pay for Wi-Fi, you should note that all passengers get 15 minutes of free chat which I like because I can save it for the end of the flight if I need to get in touch with someone on the ground before I land.

If you’re a compulsive communicator, there is an unlimited chat option that will cost you a few dollars although you can pay a bit more for a standard web package that lets you do general web surfing. If you want to stream movies or music, there is a premium web plus option available.

Change & cancellation policies

When you book a flight with Fiji Airways, you can cancel it within 24 hours with no penalty and with a full refund, but that’s true of any airline operating to, from or within the United States. Things are different past those 24 hours.

In the case of Fiji Airways, the amount of refund you get depends on the type of fare you bought. Economy Plus and Biz Plus tickets are fully refundable, while Economy Lite and Economy Value are not. Economy Comfort and Biz Value fares can be refunded, but you must pay an administrative fee.

If you want to change your reservation, it again boils down to the type of fare you purchased. Economy Lite is the only fare you can’t change, but if you booked Economy Value, Economy Comfort or Biz value, you can make changes but will have to pay a change fee in addition to any difference in the price between the original ticket and the new ticket.

The advantage of booking Economy Plus or Biz Plus is that Fiji Airways will waive any change fees, although you will still have to pay any fare difference.

Loyalty programs

I don’t fly to Fiji enough to benefit from signing up for Fiji Airways’ loyalty program, Tabua Club, but my ears perked up when they announced this year that they are migrating to American Airlines’ AAdvantage program.

The move came in advance of the airline becoming a full-fledged member of the oneworld alliance. What that means is that anyone who flies Fiji Airways and is a member of any of the loyalty programs of oneworld’s 15 airlines, like AAdvantage, can earn status towards Oneworld loyalty benefits.

Those benefits include priority check-in and access to a network of nearly 700 business and first-class airport lounges around the world, including newly-opened oneworld lounges at Schipol in Amsterdam and Incheon in Seoul.

For the time being, Tabua Club continues to exist and members get access to Fiji Airways Premier Lounge in Nadi, one or two free checked bags, depending on the type of ticket they booked, and the ability to earn free upgrades to business class. There is also a premium paid version of Tabua Club that offers additional perks, but it’s not clear if that will continue into the future.