Review of Fiji Airways flight from Apia to Nadi in Economy

There is more background in the previous flight reports, but this is a continuation of the trip from Perth to Orlando with a few stops along the way.

 After a couple of days in Samoa it was time to return to Nadi for a night before flying to Dallas.
Faleolo Airport is very small. The single runway, right on the ocean, can be seen from the road.

It's a nice looking airport and surrounding area.

Arrivals and departures are both on the lower level and gates are upstairs.

The interior of the terminal had nice designs.

There was a short line for check-in and it didn't take too long to get to the front of the line. The check-in agent was friendly although carry-ons were weighed.

Fiji Airways is the main carrrier in Faleolo with up to two daily flights to Nadi and a weekly continuation to Honolulu. There are a few other airlines though, including Qantas which started flying to Samoa fairly recently:

There's even a sign for Samoa Airways, I'm not sure why. They don't fly to Apia-Faleolo, their only remaining routes as far as I know are from Fitiuta and Apia-Fagaliʻi to Pago Pago in American Samoa. They also schedule Ofu-Pago Pago flights but it's not clear whether those are actually operating.

There were stained glass designs next to the bathrooms.

There was a departures form to fill out.

On the back there were some questions about the stay in Samoa and even a question asking for feedback.

There was basically just one room for immigration and security. Only two immigration counters and two security belts but it didn't take too long. There was no line and the security staff were all friendly and relaxed and helping people with their bags.
The boarding gate was upstairs, and that area wasn't very big either.

The sea is within view of the terminal.

There was a bit of a wait for the plane, though it ended up arriving a bit earlier than expected since there was meant to be a short delay. Once it arrived it was only around 15 minutes until boarding started, and during that time I got a few pictures of our plane: DQ-FAF, a 5.7 year old 737 MAX 8 named Mamanuca Islands and the very same plane that I got on Melbourne-Nadi a few days earlier.

Boarding was organized and done by zone, but by the time zone E was called just about everyone just got up and joined the line so I did too, even though I was in G.

There weren't even screens showing the flight information at the gate.

The inbound aircraft had actually parked at gate 2 and we boarded and 3. Past the gate there was a walkway connecting to gate 2.

(The sky didn't suddenly turn red, in case you were wondering.)

Fuselage + dirt.

And of course, Bula.

Nice cabin design, but I don't think any seats had pillow or blankets (on the NAN-APW leg some seats had pillows, some blankets, some both, some nothing).

Standard screen, headphones, USB-A port (it worked), air vent, and light.

There was a sickness bag, magazine and safety card.

Once again, the seat had apparently been used as a canvas for a rather frustrated artist.

Customs arrrivals cards were handed out on the ground. They announced that there were two captains and a first office which I found interesting. The plane had just been coming from Nadi so I'm not sure why they needed an extra pilot.
Entertainment selection was the same as the last two flights and there's more detail and pictures in the Melbourne-Nadi flight report.

The Boeing Sky Interior.

Lighting changed after takeoff and before service began. A FA told me that since it was a short flight the vegetarian meal would just be a cold salad and asked if I wanted chicken salad instead. (I didn't, I'd be staying vegetarian - even if it was just a salad 😂.)

The wi-fi ad, which I was starting to get tired of. There was free messaging.

The salad had onions again and I didn't take it, unfortunately a second after I said no I realized I should have taken a picture of it anyway, but it was too late by then.
There were a few beverage services. I got apple juice, then sprite, then apple juice again.

I discovered a plastic bag in my seatback pocket. Apparently they didn't spend too much time cleaning the plane before this flight.

Lavatory was clean.
Cabin view:

Load factor wasn't that high on this flight, after the last two being pretty much full.
They had announced at the beginning of the flight, with the usual info, that snacks would be available after the meal. I asked the FAs and they did indeed have cookies, but they had eggs and I couldn't eat them. They were very apologetic about that and the meal even though it wasn't their fault at all. Not that friendly besides that, though. I believe that snacks were also available on the other flights, but I don't remember any announcements then - so if you're flying Fiji Airways and get hungry after the meal, it's worth asking.
As we got closer to landing, a biosecurity video was played followed by a bunch of ads and a video about FJ's endeavors to be more sustainable.

Can't really see much from the aisle.

LiveTV froze and then stopped working upon landing.

Nadi is an hour behind Samoa but it was already dark by the time we landed.

The map suddenly reset, zoomed out to show the whole world, then zoomed in to this location which was a little bit off from Nadi.

Vinaka - thank you.

Seat view on the way out.

Business class - there was an actually an offer to bid for an upgrade starting from just $60 something which would probably have been worth it… but too late now.

Deplaning was by stairs, and there were some great views of the tarmac from the balcony of the terminal. Most of the planes were clustered on the other side of the airport, sadly, so there was just ours to look at. The small fire in the distance with smoke trailing up into the skies made it look even more interesting and dramatic.

There was no live music in the immigration area, but there was a bit of a view of the aircraft from the line area, though there wasn't really any line.

The screen at belt #2 had out flight on it, but the bags weren't coming and the belt wasn't moving.

Suddenly it disappeared from the screen at #2, I happened to look over to #3 and it had appeared there.

All the bags had already been taken off the belt and deposited on the side, which made it very fast.

There was a fairly long line for customs but it moved quickly and the only thing that happened was putting bags through a scanner.
A look at arrivals this evening.

Rental cars were in the same direction as the departures area and the domestic terminal, but still within arrivals.

There was also a bag storage area right next to the rental car counters which made it very convenient to drop a bag for the one night stay in Fiji before flying to Dallas on Fiji Airways' flagship A350-900.
This one ends here, thanks for reading.