Introduction: A Very Short Trip To Fiji
Review: Los Angeles International Lounge LAX Airport
Review: Fiji Airways Business Class A330 Los Angeles To Nadi
Review: Sheraton Fiji Resort
Review: Fiji Airways Lounge Nadi Airport
Review: Fiji Airways Business Class A330 Nadi To Los Angeles
Fiji Airways 811
Los Angeles (LAX) – Nadi (NAN)
Saturday, August 13
Depart: 11:30PM
Arrive: 5:50AM (+2 days)
Duration: 11hr20min
Aircraft: Airbus A330-300
Seat: 4J (Business Class)
After taking a bus to our remote stand, I boarded through door L2, where I was greeted by the purser with a “bula” (the typical Fijian greeting), and pointed left towards business class.
Fiji Airways has four A330s — three of them are A330-200 aircraft, while one is an A330-300 aircraft. I ended up on the airline’s one A330-300. While the business class cabins on all their planes are identical, there’s more room between the first and second door on the -300 version (since it’s stretched), so Fiji Airways puts a small economy cabin there with three rows of seats. They call this the Economy Quiet Zone, and it’s for passengers 18 and over only. You can only buy-up to this area at check-in, since I don’t believe Fiji Airways consistently schedules this larger plane on a specific route.
Fiji Airways A330 Economy Quiet Zone
Fiji Airways’ business class cabin consists of a total of 24 seats, spread across four rows in a 2-2-2 configuration.
Fiji Airways A330 business class cabin
I loved the cream colored finishes of the cabin and the pillows which provided nice contrast. The cabin felt very cheery and tropical, which is fitting for the airline.
Fiji Airways A330 business class cabin
Fiji Airways business class cabin A330
While the cabin looked fairly nice, unfortunately the seats are only angled. Fiji Airways doesn’t have much competition in the markets that they operate in, so I guess they can get away with it. These are the same seats I recently had on China Airlines’ regional A330, and you’ll also find these seats on Singapore Airlines’ A330s.
Fiji Airways business class, seats 4D & 4E
I had assigned myself seat 4J, the aisle seat in the last row of the cabin on the right side (which is typically my seating preference).
Fiji Airways business class, seats 4J & 4K
The personal televisions in this configuration are in the seat in front, and in the center section is a water bottle holder, literature pocket, and a couple of storage compartments, big enough for glasses, an amenity kit, etc.
Fiji Airways A330 business class seats
Fiji Airways business class seat storage
The entertainment controller was located to the left of my seat.
Fiji Airways business class entertainment controllers
The seat controls were located immediately above it, also to the left of my seat.
Fiji Airways business class seat controllers
There was a center console with some cupholders, as well as some storage units below it.
Fiji Airways business class center console
The power port was also located underneath the center armrest.
Fiji Airways business class power outlet
I appreciated that there was a fairly large privacy partition between seats. So even if the seats don’t go fully flat, at least you’ll have a bit of privacy while trying to sleep.
Fiji Airways business class privacy partition
Waiting at my seat on boarding was an amenity kit, which was in a pouch that had “FIJI” printed in big letters.
Fiji business class amenity kits
The kit was rather simple, and had eyeshades, earplugs, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and socks.
Fiji business class amenity kit contents
Also waiting at my seat were headphones, which were okay, though I used my Bose QuietComfort 35 headphones instead.
Fiji business class headphones
Since we were using a remote stand, business class only filled up very slowly. One of the flight attendants came by my seat to welcome me aboard, and he couldn’t have been nicer. That was true of the crew in general.
Fiji A330 business class cabin view
Once settled in, one of the other flight attendants came by to offer me a hot towel, which had a great scent.
Fiji business class hot towel
I was then offered a pre-departure beverage, with a choice between orange juice, champagne, and the “signature cocktail.” I chose the cocktail, which the flight attendant explained consisted of Fiji rum and coconut liqueur. It was delicious. There was also a bottle of Fiji water waiting at my seat on boarding, which I had with the pre-departure beverage.
Fiji business class signature cocktail & Fiji water
A few minutes later the flight attendant came by to offer me the menu for the flight, which was printed on very high quality paper. She explained that dinner would be served after takeoff, and two hours before landing breakfast would be served. She asked me to fill out the breakfast card before takeoff, which I did.
Fiji business class menu
As we waited for boarding to finish, I had a quick look at the personal television, including the airshow for our flight to Nadi.
Fiji business class entertainment system
Fiji business class airshow between Los Angeles and Nadi
Fiji business class airshow between Los Angeles and Nadi
By 11:25PM boarding was complete, with only 14 of the 24 business class seats taken. The seat next to me, as well as the two seats across from me, were empty. I was very happy about that, since I’d much rather sleep in a window seat, but I also hate selecting it, since I don’t want to climb over someone to go to the bathroom.
Fiji Airways business class seats A330
At around 11:30PM the captain came on the PA to add his welcome aboard. While lots of airlines have ex-pat pilots nowadays, for some reason I wasn’t expecting it on Fiji Airways. So I was a bit surprised to find we had an American captain and first officer. Captain Doug informed us of our flight time of 10hr25min, and anticipated we’d arrive in Nadi on-time.
I asked the flight attendant about this, and she explained that most Fiji Airways pilots were either from the US or Australia, but that they were slowly increasing the number of “local” pilots.
Moments later the purser added his welcome aboard — “bula ladies and gentlemen, a warm Fiji welcome to flight 811 to Nadi.” He invited us to “sit back, relax, and enjoy island time.” There was also some great boarding music throughout the boarding process, which I really enjoyed. I can’t find it online, so if anyone knows what they play, please do share!
We pushed back next to an Air Canada Airbus A320 at around 11:35PM, at which point the safety video began to play.
Pushing back LAX
It’s worth noting that Fiji Airways doesn’t allow the use of electronics during taxi, takeoff, and landing, even in airplane mode. I’ve gotten so used to the rules in the US that I didn’t realize this was a regulation until after I got “caught.”
At 11:45PM we began our taxi, and we had some rather drastic Christmas-themed mood lighting in the cabin.
Fiji Airways mood lighting
We were cleared for takeoff on runway 25R at around midnight (the taxi was long, despite our pilot taxiing with purpose), and had a long takeoff roll and gradual climb out of Los Angeles.
Moments after takeoff the purser shared more information about the flight, including introducing each one of the flight attendants by name. In business class we had Violet and Akanisi as the senior flight attendants. I also liked that the purser announced “flight attendants are here to provide you service, so please press your call button if you need anything.” That’s a far cry from the announcement on US airlines where they say “flight attendants are here primarily for your safety.”
As we climbed out I browsed the entertainment selection more extensively.
Fiji business class entertainment system
Fiji business class entertainment system
The selection wasn’t great, but wasn’t horrible either. There were roughly 40 movies and 30 TV shows available.
Fiji business class entertainment system
If I weren’t so tired at this point (I didn’t have the energy to read captions), I would have watched the below movie, which sounded… fascinating.
Fiji business class entertainment system
Fiji business class entertainment system
I wanted to sleep after dinner, so eventually decided to watch a few episodes of Impractical Jokers, which is hilarious. I liked that Fiji Airways doesn’t have any ads before their programming.
Fiji business class entertainment system
Fiji business class entertainment system
The seatbelt sign was turned off about 10 minutes after takeoff, at which point the curtains between cabins were closed.
Fiji A330 business class cabin view after takeoff
About 20 minutes after takeoff a flight attendant came by to take my meal order.
The menu read as follows:
The drink list read as follows:
It took a while for the meal service to get started, though about 40 minutes after takeoff I was finally served the glass of sauvignon blanc I had ordered, as well as some pretzels (which didn’t taste especially fresh).
Fiji business class dinner service — pretzels and sauvignon blanc
After that I took out my tray table so the flight attendant could place a tablecloth on it.
Fiji business class tray table
Roughly an hour after takeoff I was served the starter, as well as a selection of bread and some cheese.
Fiji business class dinner service — appetizer, bread, and cheese
The sesame crusted tuna starter was exceptional.
Fiji business class dinner appetizer — sesame crusted tuna on watermelon slices
There were a couple of types of bread offered in the breadbasket, and I asked for one of each.
Fiji business class dinner service — bread selection
The cheese selection was basic, though I appreciated the crackers, grapes, and dried apricots.
Fiji business class dinner service — cheese with grapes, dried apricots, and crackers
I’m not sure what exactly was in the small container on the tray.
Fiji business class dinner service
The main course was served about 75 minutes after takeoff, and was truly delicious. I ordered the coconut crusted seabass with orange beurre blanc, and it was bursting with flavor.
Fiji business class dinner main course — coconut crusted seabass
Once that was cleared I was offered the dessert, consisting of mango lime and ginger cheesecake. Again, it had a very unique flavor, and was the perfect finish to a great meal.
Fiji business class dinner dessert — mango lime and ginger cheesecake
The meal service was done a bit over 90 minutes into the flight. While Fiji’s meal service isn’t the most extensive out there, I thought the quality was excellent. The portion was also perfect, since you really don’t want more food than that at 1AM, in my opinion.
Service throughout the meal was also extremely friendly and genuine.
Airshow enroute to Nadi
Airshow enroute to Nadi
Airshow enroute to Nadi
After dinner I quickly checked out the lavatory. This is the one big downside of the A330-300. On the A330-200, business class takes up the entire space between doors one and two, so business class gets the lavatory in front of the cabin, as well as one of the lavatories behind the cabin. On the A330-300 there’s an economy section between business class and the second door, meaning business class only has one dedicated lavatory in front of the cabin. That’s also shared with the crew, including the pilots. Fortunately business class wasn’t full, but if it were, that seems like a serious problem.
Fiji Airways business class bathroom A330
Once back at my seat I reclined into the bed position, since I wanted to get some rest. The seat was angled and very tight.
Fiji Airways business class seat in bed mode
Fiji Airways business class seat in bed mode
I’d note that while the blanket was great, the pillow was on the small side, so they really should have a bigger one for sleeping, in my opinion.
Fiji business class pillow & blanket
Despite the fact that I can usually only sleep on flat surfaces, I managed to rest for about six hours. It wasn’t the same solid sleep I’d get in Cathay Pacific first class, for example, but I managed to get some rest, even if it wasn’t deep sleep or continuous. The cabin did get a bit warm overnight, and unfortunately Fiji Airways doesn’t have individual air nozzles in business class.
I woke up about 2.5 hours before landing, and browsed the airshow.
Airshow enroute to Nadi
While I’ve been to Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii, the rest of the South Pacific is mostly a mystery to me, so I was fascinated by all the islands we had passed, like Christmas Island.
Airshow enroute to Nadi
Airshow enroute to Nadi
I got some work done on my laptop for about half an hour, and then two hours before landing the breakfast service began. The menu read as follows:
Fiji business class breakfast card
Service began with some delicious orange juice being distributed. I don’t think it was actually freshly squeezed, but somehow the fact that they put an orange slice into it made it taste better. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/72x72/1f609.png" alt="