In this trip report, we’re joining Fiji Airways on its longest route — Nadi, Fiji, to Dallas/Fort Worth — to experience what it’s like flying at the front of the cabin in the airline’s award-winning business class.
Fiji Airways has been expanding its network steadily but moderately. It recently entered the oneworld network, and was coming off an APEX World Class award just days before I took this flight.
The Day of the Flight
I started my journey at Nadi International Airport. Check-in was super easy despite there being tons of international flights leaving around the same time. Because I was headed to the U.S., I couldn’t check in online and needed to see an agent. The agents were friendly, greeting passengers with the signature “Bula!” that instantly reminds you you’re in Fiji.
Security and customs were surprisingly quick, considering multiple flights to the U.S. were leaving around the same time. It also helped that I could use the business class customs line.
Being a business class passenger, I was given access to the airline’s Bula lounge, which was wonderfully set up and had tons of food and plenty of seating for everyone, along with an open bar with attendants. Since I was about to get on an international flight and did not want to spoil my dining experience, I decided to go lighter on food at the lounge.
Before I even realized what time it was, the announcement came over the speakers in the lounge that it was time to board the flight bound for Dallas. The gate area was quite busy with multiple flights departing around the same time, but I was able to make out the announcements for my specific flight.
Another bonus of this airport was the open-air building, similar to a lot of tropical locations, meaning you got unobstructed windowless views of the aircraft sitting out on the gates. The aircraft operating the flight up to Dallas was an Airbus A350-900 with the registration DQ-FAM. It was originally supposed to be delivered to Hong Kong Airlines and Hainan Airlines, but didn’t end up going to either of them, and came to Fiji Airways in August 2023.
Stepping on board, the first things to make an impression were the warm atmosphere, purple and pink mood lighting, and Fijian music in the background. Fiji Airways uses a 1-2-1 configuration in its business class cabins on the A350, ensuring every passenger has aisle access, a big plus for long-haul comfort.
My seat for the journey would be 19A, a window seat on the left side of the plane. Waiting for me at my seat was a pillow, a blanket, noise-canceling headphones, a water bottle, the menu, a pamphlet on how to use the seat and its many features, and information on how to be sustainable and improve your well-being on long flights.
Before pushing back, the flight attendants came around with a lavender hot towel as well as either fruit juice or champagne for everybody in business class. Despite starting the boarding process late, we were able to make up some time with a quick and efficient boarding process. We pushed back from the gate on time and took off into the night skies.
Takeoff was smooth with very little turbulence, and since we were taking off from an island nation after dark, it didn’t take long for the lights beneath us to disappear, signaling that we were over the ocean for the long journey up to Texas.
About 20 minutes or so after takeoff, the flight attendants came around and took our food and drink orders.
Fiji, as a country, is trying to be as sustainable as possible, and in an effort to help the country reach its goal of net zero, Fiji Airways plants a mangrove tree somewhere in the country for every takeoff it has.
Another part of that effort is how the carrier handles its amenity kits.
Most airlines hand out hundreds of amenity kits every flight, most of which go to waste and are thrown out. Fiji Airways does it differently by having deconstructed amenity kits. You tell the flight attendants which parts of the kit you want, and they bring them to you.
One of the things from the kits you can ask for is hand lotion and moisturizer from Umbria, which is made in Italy. The products are handed out in zip-lock bags, which you can bring with you and on your next flight, since they are all travel-sized.
It’s a good thing that the seat came with a brochure about how to use the different features and buttons, since there were a lot of things that I didn’t even notice at first without reading it. There were also a lot of storage spaces to put things like the comforter, my camera, and other smaller items.
Also at the seat were two USB-A ports, along with a power outlet, and what looks like a smartphone. The device is actually a remote for the IFE system in front of you, and is used kind of like the touchpad on a laptop. The remote can also turn off the lights at your seat as well as call the flight attendants.
Fiji Airways also has Wi-Fi, and while it does cost a small fee, passengers in business class are given a small card for complimentary internet.
The first thing food-wise that came out was a small bowl of candied papaya, roasted almonds, and toasted coconut, along with your choice of drink, which for me was a Hugo Blue Turtle, a Fiji signature cocktail.
Not long after I had finished, the flight attendants cleaned that up and brought around a tablecloth, a flower, and a candle, both of which are obviously fake for safety reasons, and prepared for the main courses to come.
The starter came out next, which was smoked chicken with compressed melon, pickled radish, and mango gel, along with a bowl of assorted bread and artisanal butter, and your choice of drink.
One thing I like about Fiji Airways is that, unlike other airlines where they roll the big cart through the aisle and everyone gets served at the same time, Fiji Airways has the personal touch where they bring out trays individually, and everyone gets served the next course only when they are done. It’s a pleasant experience, because with the standard way of serving, passengers who eat slowly are rushed to finish, and they sometimes have dessert delivered when they are midway through their dinner.
Once I was done with the starter, the flight attendants cleaned up the tray and brought around my main course, which was grilled Mahi Mahi, with corn coriander cake, prawn chili oil, and lime ginger marmalade, all of which was presented very nicely and gave it the feel of a five-star restaurant instead of food served on an airplane.
After an amazing meal, I was greatly satisfied and starting to get in the mood for sleeping, but there was still one more course to come: dessert! The option I chose was pineapple sorbet with lemon curd, vanilla ice cream, with a candied pineapple wafer on it.
About two and a half hours since departing from Nadi, I decided to put my seat into lie-flat mode and get ready for sleeping.
Another personal touch from the airline: while I was up using the restroom getting ready for bed, I came back to see that my seat/bed had been made up for sleeping by the flight attendants with the comforter that we were given before leaving the gate, in addition to another thicker comforter.
This move helps show that the little things add up to make a great experience. It didn’t cost the flight attendants any extra to do this, but it is a nice touch and gives the passengers the feeling that they do truly care about them.
After a little bit over six hours of sleeping, I decided it was a good time to get up, especially since it was 2 p.m. in Dallas and I needed to start getting used to the time zone changes back home. By this point in the flight, there was a little less than three hours left, and we had climbed to a new cruising altitude of 41,000 feet. We had burned a lot of fuel in our journey across the Pacific, and we were much lighter than when we took off.
Another thing I didn’t get to explore the night before that I decided to look into was the IFE system onboard. It has many cool features, including movies, TV, the live moving map, games, and even the tail and nose cameras that the A350 is known for.
There is also a section of short videos on how to say common words and phrases in Fijian, videos on the history of Fiji Airways, and clips on how the airline is being sustainable. There was also a tab that had the airline’s route map, including some partner destinations from a handful of oneworld partners.
With about two hours left in the flight, the flight attendants came around with a tablecloth and asked what we wanted from the menu for breakfast. The breakfast was chia seed pudding, with coconut milk, fruit, and granola in it, and another small side of fruit that included papaya, passion fruit, kiwi, and pineapple. There was also a small basket of breakfast bakery items with hand-churned butter. The main breakfast option that I chose was salted caramel banana waffles with passion fruit butter.
Just like the night before, the breakfast was wonderfully presented not only with the tablecloth but the flowers and candle.
The rest of the flight flew by, no pun intended, and we began our descent into Dallas/Fort Worth. A duty-free cart came through the cabin, and I, of course, had to indulge in a 1:200 model of the Fiji Airways A350, which now sits on my model shelf.
Before landing, the flight attendants came around and gave everyone a Fiji water for the road, but because I had a connecting flight and needed to go through security again after customs, I opted out, since I would need to throw it out or dump it, and I didn’t want to waste it.
We had a smooth approach to Dallas/Fort Worth and landed just after 4:30 p.m. local time, a little over 12 hours in flight time from Fiji.
Conclusion
This flight offered a clear look at why Fiji Airways has earned its World Class distinction and continues to collect industry awards. Even on the airline’s longest route, the service remained steady and well-paced, and the crew handled the ultra-long-haul sector with the kind of professionalism you’d expect from a much larger carrier.
We had the chance to interview the airline’s CEO at the time, Andre Viljoen, and ask him some questions about the company and the APEX World Class award, which it had just won.
A video account of this trip report can be found below.
Editor’s Note: Fiji Airways provided AirlineGeeks with a seat on this flight, but this trip report is an objective portrayal of events and is in no way swayed.
