When we arrived at Smuggler’s Cove resort a few days prior, we were assured a late checkout. The regular checkout time was noon so I requested a 6pm checkout but a 4pm checkout seemed feasible. The guy assured me that 4pm would be good. Everything changed around 11am.
The front desk called asking if we would be out of the suite by noon. I recounted conversation with the night shift guy and she said there was no way to accommodate it. I asked for a 2pm or 3pm checkout and both were denied. As we packed so we could make the time, the lady from the front desk came to the room to tell me of the favor she did. We could now checkout at 1pm. Thanks.
We got ready, placed our bags in the holding closet then went next door to the Ramada to grab a bite to eat. After a few hours, the heat was wearing on us so we grabbed a taxi for the airport.
FJ810
NAN-LAX
Takeoff: 2140
Landing: 1150
Economy Class
December 10, 2023
A 4pm arrival at the airport is nasty work. Not only is it nearly six hours prior to departure but we could not check in for another hour. A lot of international airports have this policy but I thought we would get lucky. Anyway, I went to grab a beer and kokoda at this nice little restaurant around the corner from the check-in counters.
Once the counters opened, we were able to check-in and make it through security in no time.
Matt and I went to the Fiji Airways Lounge, which we had access due to Priority Pass. Matt went into the lounge but I took the opportunity get in a 45 min walk around the terminal. All of the eating and drinking had me feeling out of sorts. When I finally made it back to the lounge, we chilled until a little after boarding started.
When we arrived at the gate, the agents were calling group F. We were J so I used my OneWorld Ruby to bypass the queue and head to the aircraft.
I assigned seats 31E and G which were bulkhead, economy seats in the center of the aircraft. The first thing I noticed after looking at the small seat, was a sweet baby seated next to Matt since he was in the center seat. 😬
There was a small pillow, very thin blanket, and headsets waiting at the seat. the blanket and pillow did not provide any kind of comfort during the flight. The headphones, however, made the flight better as I was able to listen to the inflight entertainment by using them.
The tray table came out of the right armrest. There was two slots there, one for the tray table and one for the inflight entertainment screen.
As we got settled into our seats, a really tall guy in the row behind us swapped his girlfriend out of the middle seat and moved to the one directly behind me. I spun around and gave him a half joking warning. “Hey, this is not your seat so make sure you keep those knees out of my back or I will have the flight attendant move you back to your seat”. He chuckled and I returned the chuckle.
Boarding finished at 10 minutes prior to departure and the purser introduced herself. The doors closed a few minutes later then the safety video was played. The aircraft pushback started at exactly 940pm (on time), not very island time of them.
After a 15 minute taxi, we had a rolling taxi and were airborne within the minute. Four minutes after takeoff, the flight attendants sprung into action by closing the curtains to start service. I am sure they wanted the passengers to get as much rest as possible on the overnight flight. The cabin lights were slowly raised.
I was finally able to pull the inflight entertainment from near my right leg. It had a decent picture but significantly reduced the available space in the seat. The plugs for the headset and USB were underneath the screen.
Drink service started about 15 minutes after takeoff with the flight attendants passing out Fiji water cups, how appropriate?
The flight attendants made an announcement, 30 minutes after takeoff, we were told the WiFi was inoperable. then turbulence came and cabin service was suspended.
The turbulence was short lived. Dinner and drinks were served approximately 15 minutes later. The entree options were fried rice, chicken, beef bolognese. I went with the fried rice and a beer. The drink cart reminded me of Spirit Airlines.
One of the flight attendants remembered me from the flight from LA the week prior, which was cool.
In addition to the rice, there was a roll, mousse with orange glaze dessert, and cucumber salad. The entire meal was served on one tray which is very efficient. The fried rice dish was extremely hot. The heat definitely woke me up.
The rice was vegetarian, which was not announced by the flight attendants. The dish was a bit overcooked. I also did not eat the roll because it was served directly in the tray. The dish was not good, at all…
I dozed off before securing my beer. One of the flight attendants grabbed it so fast and took off. The service was over two and a half hours into flight with the cabin lights being dimmed so passengers could sleep. The flight attendants took care of the baby in our row by making up his bassinet, which I thought was so cool!
I took a nap and woke up with just over four hours left to LA. I put on Oceans Thirteen and ordered a vodka with orange juice. The chips or whatever that was served with the drink was bland, weird…not my cup of tea.
The arrival service started 90 minutes prior to landing. It seemed as if the flight was shorter than expected. The two options were omelette or pancakes. I went with the omelette.
I did not eat any of the food because I was feeling the effects of being on Cloud 9 barge bar a few days prior. The bite of egg and yogurt did not do my stomach any favors.
The service items were picked up with 50 minutes left to Los Angeles. I thought this was early but was happy to almost be home. Our descent began 30 minutes out. After circling the city, we had a really smooth landing and then arrived at the gate 20 minutes ahead of schedule.
Final Word
The economy flight was exactly what I expected: no frills, mediocre food, and limited inflight entertainment. It could have been that I was spoiled on the business class flight to Fiji. The friendliness of the flight attendants was appreciated. Huge shout out to the one attendant for remembering me from another flight.
