July 2012    Download the Entire Issue (PDF)

Vol. 27, No. 7   What's this?

Fiji Airlines’ Abysmal Service

from the July, 2012 issue of Undercurrent  

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Air Pacific is Fiji's national airline, Pacific Sun the local carrier. They both have a poor reputation, and deservedly so. But many local or inter-island carriers in the Third World are undependable, I usually confirm before departure. This time, I didn't -- and I paid.

To get to Matangi Island Resort from Lalati Resort, I had to take an hour-long cab ride to Suva, then board a short interisland Air Pacific flight from Suva to Taveuni, which I had booked months earlier. Arriving at the check-in desk an hour before departure (without reconfirming the flight), I learned my flight had been canceled two days prior, and the flight they had re-booked me on had just departed. Incredibly, airline staff admitted they had not attempted to contact me, even though they had my email address. Of course, I should have asked Lalati Resort to re-confirm my flight (liveaboards routinely do that) but in my diving bliss, I just flat out forgot. So, it was a three-and-a-half-hour cab ride from Suva to Nadi -- though paid for by Air Pacific -- and I barely had enough time to make the flight to Taveuni. My dive gear didn't arrive for another 24 hours....