Review of Fiji Airways flight from Nadi to Apia in Economy

There's more background for this trip in the Melbourne-Nadi report, but to summarize there was a choice between Samoa and Tonga for a few day trip on the way from Melbourne to Orlando. Samoa seemed to be the better option as there was more to do and better places to stay.

With Priority Pass I should have been able to access the Fiji Airways lounge, but it was only open to passengers with flights departing within three hours. The lady at the lounge desk suggested the Quiet Lounge, which was on the other side of the lower floor from the Fiji Airways lounge.
The Quiet Lounge wasn't really a proper lounge, but it had power outlets and comfortable places to sit (and was completely free and open) so it was a much better place to wait and sleep a bit than the very crowded upstairs gateside seating.

Once it got closer to departure time I went back to the Fiji Airways lounge.

I couldn't take that many pictures since people were there and there were some sections that aren't pictured, but there was plenty of seating.

Not a whole lot to eat (especially if you're vegetarian) and I didn't get anything.

It was comfortable enough, nice ambience etc. There were showers as well which I didn't use. The wi-fi worked a lot better than the airport wi-fi, which was only free for half an hour.
Around 20 minutes before scheduled boarding time, there was an announcement that boarding was delayed because of the late arrival of the inbound aircraft. The arrival was actually seven minutes early, but it's possible that there had been an aircraft switch earlier and the new plane was anyway arriving too late for the flight to be on time.
After around 20 minutes boarding was called. They tried to board with zones but it was a big messy crowd with no clear line. Luckily it didn't take too long. 

There was an open balcony area between the gate and jetbridge with a great view of our plane, Island of Gau, a 6.4 year old 737 MAX 8 registered DQ-FAD.

And of a 737-800.

From the jetbridge, an A330 and the hills on the horizon.

Bula!

Fuselage shot.

And the cabin. Some seats had pillows and/or blankets, many had neither.

My seat had neither.

There was a nice headrest cover, at least!

It did, have all the usual features, such as a screen (and USB-A port that worked). Headphones were provided.

Someone decided to do some art on the seat. 

There was a sickness bag, magazine and safety card.

As well as lights and vents.

Cabin lighting: pleasant enough atmosphere, though there was some poor baby screaming somewhere.

The entertainment selection was the same as the last flight but as I discovered later, no live BBC.

Soon after takeoff there were ads played for wi-fi and duty free shopping. There was limited free internet for chatting.

There was a light meal service on this flight. Unfortunately I don't eat onions and there was no special meal without them on these short flights. The FA serving the meals suggested putting in a note to the special meal request, but as far as I know there's no way to do that.

There was a beverage service with the meal. Fiji water was given with whatever drink passengers requested, in my case apple juice.

The rest of the flight was fairly uneventful.

A little while before landing a biosecurity announcement was made. Unlike Australia and Fiji, Samoa had no video.
As on the last flight, games were blocked soon before arrival (right in the middle of my chess game!)

Live TV didn't seem to work at all.

I liked how the map showed the Fiji Airways livery so clearly.

I also got a little bit of an idea of Samoa's geography and topography.

After that it was only a few minutes before we had landed and we were welcomed to the "pearl of the Pacific". The Vinaka (thank you) message was displayed across every screen. I was looking at it for quite some time as the line to get off the plane was very slow and didn't move at all for a while.

Sadly you couldn't get as good views of the planes in APW as in NAN.

The immigration hall had great views of the tarmac, sadly there weren't any planes going by.

Only two counters were open for foreign nationals and it went very slowly. That said, at least it wasn't like Vanuatu where the airport got so overwhelmed when two planes arrived at a similar time that the line for immigration stretched out of the airport. There was live music in the baggage claim area that could be heard in the immigration line.
Bags didn't take long to arrive after the immigration wait. 

The airport was fairly small with only two baggage claim belts, but it was clean, tidy and modern.

CHOGM, by the way, is the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting that was held in Samoa last year. There are still signs for it everywhere and while driving from Faleolo to Apia, every village has the flags of a particular  Commonwealth country flying and painted around the village, on tires lining the road, rocks next to the beach, etc. Some go even further, such as the Australian village which had kangaroo crossing signs or the Malaysian village with a big "Selamat Detang" sign.
Customs was fast, they were apologetic to people whose things they needed to throw out.
The outside of the airport looks quite nice. 

While outside of Samoa we tend to just call it Apia airport, it's actually not that close to Apia and is called Faleolo airport.
 APW is technically an intercontinental airport, but not too many arrivals.

After picking up the rental car it was time to head off for this short trip to beautiful Samoa!