Air Pacific Flights

Just wondering if anyone has taken a long haul Air Pacific flight recently and if so how the experience was?

I have checked out other flight forums online and the responses are not that great. However I also know that most people that post things for reviews tend to be upset for some reason. Not as many happy people post. Most of the complaints were about bad food and flight delays, or that their in seat movie screen didn't work. Most posts also seemed to be pre-2012 and are not long distance flights.

I would be interested in hearing from people who travel economy and have done this recently. The fare is ridiculously cheap compared to other fares. $1500 return all taxes in (YVR - LAX - NAN - AKL return). The next cheapest flight that can be found is $1900 and routes through Brisbane. or $2000 thru Hong Kong. Then its another $800 to fly Auckland to Fiji. That's nearly a $1300 difference...

I will be traveling from Vancouver, Canada to Auckland New Zealand in September / October.

Thanks in advance

Edited by: thorak

Edited by: thorak

Do you have a stopover in Fiji for that price? I tried to book online with Air Pacific but there's no facility to book a stopover. So I booked with an agent and paid $2437 for the same route as you are saying should cost $1500.
Strange.
I fly out of YVR on November 3 and return to Canada in April 2013

I flew the same route with Air Pacific in 2009-2010 and was lucky enough to get a seat upstairs for the long haul segments. I've been travelling all my life and, honestly these were the best 2 flights ever! Downstairs was packed but on the upper deck there were only 8 passengers and we each got a whole row of seats and a flight attendant all to ourselves.

Wow Aphorodite, I've been flying Air Pacific for yonks but have never even seen an 'upstairs'. Unfortunately AP no longer flies direct to Nadi (via Hawaii) from Vancouver any more, have to transit through LA.

OP: I've not experienced flight delays on AP (have done so on almost all other airlines), but others have. I had a friend from Solomon Islands visiting (Vancouver), and on his return home the flight times had changed. Because he had never traveled by himself before and did not have much English, AP took over his care, but the flight was delayed by 3 hours and landed in Fiji after his connecting flight should have taken off for Honiara. AP had contacted Nadi and Solomon Air, Solomon Air sat on the tarmac waiting for the AP flight, my friend was literally rocketed from AP to SA and made it home, no problem. I think AP did this because, at the time, there was only one flight a week from Nadi to Honiara and AP would therefore have to pay for all his accommodation until he could catch the next flight.

I only mention this to show that AP's service isn't all that bad, I can't think of another airline that would go to those lengths. Onboard service is no worse than a lot of other, larger airlines (Air Canada and United immediately spring to mind, but there are others). I'd say give it a go ... just remember it is Fiji's national airlines and can, sometime, fly Fiji time, but the $$ savings is worth it. IMO, anyway.

Aphrodite: you're paying extra because you are going on elsewhere .... last time I was in Fiji I looked into a flight from Nadi to Honiara and it was more expensive than booking from there than booking to Nadi & Honiara from home. But that was a few years ago and I don't know what that leg would cost now.

Hi

I'm not an Air Pacific customer, but I have noticed many complaints about them on the TA Fiji forum. The complaints seem to be mainly changes to schedules at short notice which inconvenience passengers.

You might like to search this site.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g294331-i883-Fiji.html

Additionally, the Fiji government is taking over complete ownership of the airline, effectively shutting out Qantas, the Australian national airline which was a major shareholder. That to me is a minus, but just my opinion.

Aphrodite: Yes this would include a stopover of one month in Fiji. AP doesn't always have that same price but I followed the basic rule of booking tickets when I got mine: Buy your ticket about three months in advance, no earlier no later. Buy a flight that leaves on a Tuesday or a Thursday. Try and find red-eye flights. I have noticed in the past that in many cases you can save significant $ on flights if you do this.