Hello all, it has been some time ! I have missed writing and traveling but that is about to change quickly. I have long been in love with islands of the South Pacific, with New Zealand at the top of the list. My last trip down under was exactly seven ago from today.
In February 2023, I came across a fare from LAX to Fiji for ~$1,000 USD in economy class. A stopover in Sydney, Australia could be added for no extra charge. I quickly put together an itinerary and began texting the usual suspects (friends who are always down to travel) to see if anyone would like to join. One of my best friends, Matt, quickly jumped at the opportunity so I booked the trip. The entire process took less than two hours. There is usually no advertised end date for these deals…the quicker you decide to purchase, the better.
Fiji Airways is a small, boutique airline that operates 14 aircraft to 27 destinations. Four those aircraft are the Airbus A350, which is what we will be traveling on. Their business model is much like a budget carrier in the United states but with better aircraft. Fiji charges for advanced seat selection and even paid upgrades to business class, to name a few. You read that right…paid upgrades to business class.
You may be thinking that is not a new concept, as many airlines allowed upgrades to a premium cabin using cash, miles or both. In this case, Fiji Airways using a system called Bula Bid, introduced in 2017, to allow passengers in economy to opportunity to move to the front of the plane.
The bidding opens seven days and closes the day prior to departure. There is a minimum and maximum bid for each segment of the itinerary. The long haul segment bids have higher minimums and maximums while the regional segment bids are cheaper. The numbers for my flights are below:
LAX – NAD: minimum $990 USD – maximum $3600 USD
NAD – SYD: minimum $335 USD – maximum $565 USD
Initially, I placed minimum bids for the LAX – NAD and the return NAD-LAX. I did some research for a few days and the consensus was to not place minimum bids because almost everyone wanted to upgrade will do the same. I moved the bids up one level to $1015 USD and received the upgrade confirmation within an hour.
Final Word
I cannot describe how excited I am to travel to the South Pacific. Australia is always a good time, now I get to pair it with Fiji. To cap it off, one of best friends and I get to enjoy copious amounts of champagne in the lie flat business class seats of Fiji Airways. This trip is a win and it has not even started!
