Fiji Airways

I used Fiji Airways to travel from Los Angeles to Nadi on flight number FJ811 on December 31, 2013. I was traveling with my mom, nephew and niece and were specifically traveling to attend my sisters funeral which was to be held in Nadi on January 2nd, 2014.

After we checked in and were waiting to board the plane, the Gate number was changed and we were given another Gate number to go to. Once we were there, the Supervisor announced that the flight was being delayed and kept announcing that every 30 minutes. Later that night we were told the flight was cancelled and was not going to fly at all due to maintenance. We requested that we be re-routed via Australia or New Zealand so we can arrive Nadi on time for the funeral but nothing was done to help us. The staff did not know when the flight will leave Los Angeles.

After waiting for hours at the Airport, Fiji Airways arranged hotel accommodation for us. After accommodation was arrange we were told that did not have a transportation contract in place and did not know how to transport us to the hotel which was about 45 minutes away from the airport. We were told to go back to the street on our own, which was a very long walk and with an elderly person who needed wheelchair assistance, nothing was provided. Later they provided taxi and we arrived at the hotel at 2:30am. Our New Year was spent at the airport just running around and trying to figure out how to go to Fiji on time for the funeral.

Our baggage was already checked in and we did not have any clothes on us to use

Due to flight cancellation, I had to call Fiji to have the funeral moved. The next day we received a letter in the hotel room that the flight will go at 9:30pm on January 1st. When we checked in, we were placed on standby. We were going for a funeral and we were placed on STANDBY? Really?

We were told to go to the gate and our names will be called if there was space in the plane. To our surprise they fitted all passengers from December 31 and Janauary 1st on one plane. What does that mean? That the flight was not cancelled on December 31 due to maintenance issues but was canceled because the plane was not full of passengers. Therefore they combined the passengers of December 31 and January 1 on that one plane which flew on January 1st. How sick is that? They have a record of canceling flights when it is not full. Use other airlines if possible.