This is a fantastic and rare opportunity…
In this post:
Fiji Airways awards to & from the United States wide open
Fiji is a beautiful country, though getting there on miles & points can be challenging. While Fiji Airways flies to a few destinations in the United States (Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Honolulu), the airline doesn’t often release business class awards… except now.
At the moment Fiji Airways has seemingly opened the floodgates for business class award availability. In the past you could often go a year without finding award space, while at the moment many days have award space, including over peak periods.
Ideally you’ll want to book the Los Angeles to Nadi route on the Airbus A350, as this features Fiji Airways’ new fully flat business class product with direct aisle access. Fiji Airways’ A330s, on the other hand, feature angled seats, which aren’t nearly as comfortable. All flights to San Francisco, as well as some flights to Los Angeles, are operated by the A330.
If you don’t want to make Fiji your final destination, you can use this award availability to connect to Australia or New Zealand, as Fiji Airways flies to Auckland, Melbourne, and Sydney.
Redeem Alaska or American miles on Fiji Airways
Your two best bets for booking these seats are Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and American Airlines AAdvantage:
- Alaska Mileage Plan charges 55,000 miles for Fiji Airways one-way business class, regardless of whether you travel to Fiji, Australia, or New Zealand; you can even have a stopover in Fiji enroute to Australia or New Zealand at no extra cost
- American AAdvantage charges 80,000 miles for Fiji Airways one-way business class, regardless of whether you travel to Fiji, Australia, or New Zealand; however, if you want a stopover of more than 24 hours in Fiji, you’ll have to book that as two separate awards
These awards can be ticketed directly on the Alaska or American websites. Both airlines also have award calendars, allowing you to see availability for a month at a time. Both airlines offer free award redeposits, so you can lock in an award now, and then cancel later if your plans change.
Bottom line
At the moment Fiji Airways has long haul business class award availability, which is incredibly rare. This is a fantastic use of Alaska Mileage Plan and American AAdvantage miles. This could be useful if you’re hoping to visit Australia or New Zealand, if you want to visit beautiful Fiji, or both.
Anyone plan on booking a Fiji Airways business class award?
(Tip of the hat to View from the Wing)
This article fails to mention that the availability on the web does not necessarily mean it is truly available. Yesterday I was trying to redeem 2 business class tickets with Fiji after purchasing Alaska points for over $600. When I tried to complete the redemptions, I got error message asking to try again. After a few attempts I gave up and called Customer Service. I was told the business class tickets were not available even...
This article fails to mention that the availability on the web does not necessarily mean it is truly available. Yesterday I was trying to redeem 2 business class tickets with Fiji after purchasing Alaska points for over $600. When I tried to complete the redemptions, I got error message asking to try again. After a few attempts I gave up and called Customer Service. I was told the business class tickets were not available even though I still saw the availability on the web. The agent also added that the website is not always up to date with partner airlines availability.
*Sigh*
There's no Business Class availability. This post is worthless.
Nothing is available now.
AA.com showing lots of Main Cabin availability, but nothing in business at all.
Booked for next month LAX-NAN with AF miles - similar cost to AA. I can't believe AK are only 55k even the whole way to Oz, wow! Wish there was an easy way to earn points with them outwith the US.
Availability dry up already? I can't seem to find much from LAX to NAN or from NAN to LAX on alaksa
For those that are unvaxxed just beware it seems like fiji airways has a mandatory vaccination policy to travel with the airline, regardless of the entry rules of your final destination country. I found availability LAX to SYD for round trip dates which work perfectly with my schedule, but due to this dumb rule I guess i'll have to pass on it. Or I might just book it and hope they scrap the requirement by...
For those that are unvaxxed just beware it seems like fiji airways has a mandatory vaccination policy to travel with the airline, regardless of the entry rules of your final destination country. I found availability LAX to SYD for round trip dates which work perfectly with my schedule, but due to this dumb rule I guess i'll have to pass on it. Or I might just book it and hope they scrap the requirement by the time I fly, and if not pay the $120 asia miles cancellation fee.
Dang...there must be some other option for you in this situation. I'm sure it will come to me sooner or later.
or, just get vaccinated
That could well have been the 'other option' that Michael couldn't immediately bring to mind!
Booked a one-way on March 16th out of EWR through LAX and NAN (six-day layover courtesy of Alaska Air) with the international legs in business. Thanks Lucky!
NAN to MEL is the last leg in business.
I called Alaska to change my Fiji flight from economy to business, and they told me it's not actually available. It's showing available on Alaska website, but on the phone they say it's not available. HUCA?
Called again, same result. A different agent said they also see it showing available on alaska.com, but when they try booking it, they are getting an error message. They also put me on hold and talked to partner desk, and told me the same thing: inventory on alaska.com is not up to date, business class is not actually available. Bummer.
It still shows available on alaska.com and allows me to book up to the payment screen.
It is available… huca some more :). Despite the partner desk telling me as well the space is not there. I eventually got a competent agent that was able to ticket it herself.
It's bizarre... I'm searching via Cathay Pacific, and none of the January flights in the screenshot show as available. I can see the flights, but there's zero availability...
I knew Cathay's online search tool was crap (it is unable to show availability for AA), but I didn't know it failed to show accurate availability for flights that *are* searchable within the system...
My bad-it looks like it's the connection to Sydney that's the bottleneck.
I found the same issue looking on QF, Fiji-AUS not available. I wasn't rushing to book just looking out of interest. One date I searched came up with an eye-watering 100K LAX-SYD in Y. When I looked at the details there was a note, 'Your flights LAX-NAN and BNE-SYD will be in J', so NAN-BNE was the only sector in Y! (Usually this would show up as a J redemption with a note about the...
I found the same issue looking on QF, Fiji-AUS not available. I wasn't rushing to book just looking out of interest. One date I searched came up with an eye-watering 100K LAX-SYD in Y. When I looked at the details there was a note, 'Your flights LAX-NAN and BNE-SYD will be in J', so NAN-BNE was the only sector in Y! (Usually this would show up as a J redemption with a note about the one Y sector.)
This has been an interesting post, with lots of people reporting seats available (and booked) through a variety of programs.
Thanks bro, just booked!
Booked during high season! Thanks so much.
Booked. Thanks for the heads up.
Now wishing I had bought an additional million miles in that SimplyMiles bonanza.
I think I heard you right - Miles is going to Fiji?