Fiji Airways Plans To Fully Join Oneworld Alliance

Fiji Airways Plans To Fully Join Oneworld Alliance

27

While we’ll see if this comes to fruition, it looks like the oneworld alliance may be gaining another full member in the coming years.

Fiji Airways plans to apply to join oneworld

Danny Lee reports how Fiji Airways intends to apply for full membership in the oneworld alliance, per the company’s CEO. The plan is reportedly for the airline to apply in the third quarter of 2024, and then you can expect that it will probably take somewhere around one or two years before the airline is fully in the alliance.

The oneworld alliance is one of the three global alliances. Major airlines in oneworld include American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Qantas, and more. In the past few years the alliance added two new members (Alaska and Royal Air Maroc), but also lost one member (LATAM). Furthermore, Oman Air is expected to become a oneworld member later this year.

Fiji Airways is hoping that joining the oneworld alliance will help the country further increase its tourism, as the airline is already the country’s largest generator of foreign exchange income.

If membership is approved, Fiji Airways would be the smallest member of the oneworld alliance, as the airline has just 14 aircraft, with the fleet comprised of Airbus A350s, Airbus A330s, and Boeing 737s. The airline offers a great business class experience on its A350s, and has a nice flagship lounge at Nadi Airport.

Fiji Airways A350 business class

Fiji Airways is already a oneworld Connect member

While Fiji Airways plans to apply for full membership in the oneworld alliance, the airline already has an affiliation with the airline group. Since 2018, Fiji Airways has been the only oneworld Connect member, which is essentially a more limited version of alliance membership.

I think the whole oneworld Connect concept is kind of silly, and creates confusion among passengers. Essentially, oneworld Connect carriers have affiliations with only some oneworld airlines, and then most reciprocal perks are only valid between the oneworld Connect member and the airline it partners with directly.

Fiji Airways fully joining the oneworld alliance would be fantastic in terms of reciprocal opportunities when it comes to earning and redeeming miles, as well as taking advantage of elite benefits, like lounge access. The oneworld Emerald tier is also my favorite elite status offered by any alliance.

I also think Fiji Airways is doing the alliance a favor by becoming a full member and putting an end to the oneworld Connect concept.

Fiji Airways wants to fully join the oneworld alliance

Bottom line

Fiji Airways’ CEO has made it clear that the airline plans to apply for full oneworld membership, as part of a larger attempt to boost tourism. The airline is already a oneworld Connect member, so fully joining the alliance would be great for passengers, as it would translate to a lot more reciprocal perks. Here’s to hoping that this happens, and that it doesn’t take forever.

What do you make of Fiji Airways becoming a full oneworld member?

Conversations (27)
The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.
Type your response here.

If you'd like to participate in the discussion, please adhere to our commenting guidelines. Anyone can comment, and your email address will not be published. Register to save your unique username and earn special OMAAT reputation perks!

  1. Nick C Guest

    I think Fiji Airways fully joining Oneworld would be a great move, not just for its alliance partners but Fiji as whole. The benefits on say American Airlines, which I am a member of, and Fiji Airways would be completely equal and it would boost the country’s tourism industry tremendously!

  2. Alan Guest

    Doesn't need to be one world connect to cause confusion. Many airlines have various airline code shares and affiliations outside their alliance. Probably Qantas are the worst with their love affair with Emirates! Star Alliance and SkyTeam members are just as bad in causing FF confusion.

  3. Nikiatu Guest

    As Fiji Airways Tabua Club Plus member, I’ll admit I’ve been considering letting it lapse, although my top-tier status is already set for the foreseeable future. My main gripe is devaluations of partner airlines for Fiji Airways mileage (Fiji Airways new lite fares seem to be unrecognized), as Fiji Air doesn’t record mileage aside from “status credits” per domestic/international FJ flights for customers who pay to join the airline’s status program, on top of awful...

    As Fiji Airways Tabua Club Plus member, I’ll admit I’ve been considering letting it lapse, although my top-tier status is already set for the foreseeable future. My main gripe is devaluations of partner airlines for Fiji Airways mileage (Fiji Airways new lite fares seem to be unrecognized), as Fiji Air doesn’t record mileage aside from “status credits” per domestic/international FJ flights for customers who pay to join the airline’s status program, on top of awful customer service and regularly losing economy class bags at the Nadi hub (and charging exorbitant excess weight fees).

    The actual in-flight product is great, I am upgraded to business class on most intra-Pacific Island flights, and the lounge in Fiji is wonderful (despite feeling like an underground windowless bunker). The recent change has been the lack of upgrade availability on flights from North America and the overwhelming amount of Priority Pass folks swarming the lounge before and after Fiji-North America flights. I don’t expect that to get better (see: Costco luxury travel packages to Fiji), and I’m not sure how I feel about more of the business class seats getting scooped up by OneWorld availability, especially when I have zero certainty that it will make mileage sharing any better for Fiji Air customers. That said, I let my higher AA status lapse thinking OW Connect might be worth something, and was disappointed when it basically amounted to nothing.

    There is definitely demand for airline expansion in the Pacific, both in routing and frequency (though purchasing power is limited, which is why business class upgrades are frequently available on Pacific Island flights), and I’m reluctantly rooting for the Alaskan-Hawaiian merger in hopes that it could team up with Fiji Air to better serve the region, but as it currently stands, Star Alliance with United and Air NZ (and negligibly Singapore Air) is objectively better for non-Pacific Islanders’ status, flight quality, and reciprocity.

    I genuinely fear that Fiji Airways will buckle under the weight of OneWorld. As stupid as OW Connect seems to be, succumbing to pressure from people with status eyeing a tropical vacation and further shifting the focus to serving customers from outside of the islands seems like a potentially catastrophic overreach. Fiji Airways is small, run in a still developing country and just not run well as a corporation. Their infrastructure, particularly customer service, ground staff, and booking agents, is simply unprepared for an influx of customers expecting status reciprocity—it could very much ruin an airline already incapable of resolving its glaringly apparent shortcomings.

  4. Hudute Guest

    Please put an end to OW Connect, just tried to book an Avios award on Fiji, destination airport not even known to the BA Website, when I tried calling the agent tried to tell me Fiji wasnt a BA partner.

    1. Daniel A Guest

      That's incorrect. You can book Fiji Air with BA Avios on their website. I've done it and see availability right now. You can only book to Nadi or domestically to Suva. Unfortunately, other domestic destinations don't seem to be available.

  5. Sean Guest

    I strongly suspect they could join pretty quickly since they're already a connect partner. A lot of systems are already in place that are taking Oman Air a lot longer to implement.

  6. BenjaminGuttery Diamond

    Happy to see another airline joining OneWorld. I for one am equally pleased that the OW Connect experiment seems to be ending as well. Either joining the alliance or don't. As a loyal OW flyer, I literally choose 100% of my flights with them and often will take additional connections, backtrack, extend/shorten trips to stay loyal to them and earn full benefits.

  7. airroneworld Guest

    Being the emerald member of JL, I've always been hesitant to give FJ a try unless I can earn miles. Once FJ joined, I'm definitely going to explore the joys of traveling with FJ.

  8. Michelle Guest

    We live in Savusavu, Fiji and have to go to Nadi to get anywhere else. We booked through AA, and FijiLink (like American Eagle to AA) is not in that partnership. (No linking PNRs). Their baggage rules are SO restrictive and outrageously expensive. They refuse to even follow their own rules about MCS baggage allowances, causing most people at the airports to repack luggage and buy more. (66 lbs is FA limit, they did let...

    We live in Savusavu, Fiji and have to go to Nadi to get anywhere else. We booked through AA, and FijiLink (like American Eagle to AA) is not in that partnership. (No linking PNRs). Their baggage rules are SO restrictive and outrageously expensive. They refuse to even follow their own rules about MCS baggage allowances, causing most people at the airports to repack luggage and buy more. (66 lbs is FA limit, they did let 66.3 go, but not 66.8!! 2 cabin bags, but 15lb combined! AA is 70lbs checked.) While this won't matter for vacationers, the fact that they don't follow their own written rules on their website should be a warning travel might not go smoothly and as of now, they DO NOT honor OneWorld agreements.

  9. Alex Guest

    It actually has lost 2: LATAM and S7.

    1. BenjaminGuttery Diamond

      Technically S7 is only suspended.

      Also Hawaiian is expected to join, as is RwandAir and MIAT Mongolian Airlines.

  10. roger Guest

    Surprised that FIJI would consider becoming a Full Member of the Alliance since the cost associated with joining is rather steep and certainly a hurdle for such a smaller player. Unless FIJI has long range plans to expand further, there are many other members that really do not benefit with full membership. ONEWORLD should focus on bringing in Philippine Airlines and STARLUX and then address South America (GOL/Avianca/Abra Group). I was never a fan of...

    Surprised that FIJI would consider becoming a Full Member of the Alliance since the cost associated with joining is rather steep and certainly a hurdle for such a smaller player. Unless FIJI has long range plans to expand further, there are many other members that really do not benefit with full membership. ONEWORLD should focus on bringing in Philippine Airlines and STARLUX and then address South America (GOL/Avianca/Abra Group). I was never a fan of LATAM so replacing them was long overdue. LATAM bolted into the arms of Delta because no one in ONEWORLD was willing to invest in that garbage operation which led to their BK.

    1. destruya Member

      FIJI is backed by Qantas, though. They own 46% of FIJI. They were also sponsored into the Oneworld Alliance by BA, Cathay, and AA. I've a feeling there's a good amount of financial backstopping here.

    2. Creditcrunch Diamond

      I noticed when I was in the QF First lounge at LAX they now accept Starlux F pax. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Starlux making a similar announcement about joining OW.

    3. Mark Guest

      Actually Qantas was a founding member of OneWorld along with AA, BA and Cathay so even more reason for Fiji to become a full member.

    4. UA Guest

      Philippine Airlines offer a wonderful in-flight experience, but until that pathetic excuse for a connection experience in Manila is completely overhauled no one in their right mind should consider their service when a connection is involved.

    5. jeffchuah88 New Member

      While the transit experience in Manila can be much more improved, this should not stop any passengers from flying with Philippine Airlines as it is definitely one of the better airlines in the Southeast Asia. It would do OW great to have PAL as one of its member airlines.

    6. BenjaminGuttery Diamond

      Let's not forget that the Chilean Supreme Court also struck down the AA/LATAM amd the IAG/LATAMbjoint Venture agreement as well. This effectively took three of the strongest airlines in OW off the map (Iberia, BA, & AA).

    7. Sean Guest

      They're actually not as small as you think. They operate a ton of connecting flights between NE Asia and Australia/NZ as well as well as some from North America. This is a very useful addition to the alliance.

  11. D3kingg Guest

    If the flights are a marketed code share with an AA flight number and fares can be purchased through AA then I would be less confused and more likely to fly to FIJI.

    1. Lee Guest

      Fiji already codeshares with AA. One can BUY a ticket in business class. But, just try to redeem an award in business class. To me, this is the single biggest problem with all of the alliances. As for AA, it doesn't open up transcon F award inventory to its partners. Perhaps things will change with AA switching to XLRs and it being J at best.

    2. mgrappy New Member

      AA definitely opens transcon F award availability to partners. I've flown AA transcon F three times this year booked through BA/Qatar, and there are even 6 F (and 5 J) seats JFK-SFO on AA76 bookable through BA for tomorrow.

    3. First Guest

      AA does open up transcon F to its partners. I just did a round trip using Avios. It is hard to find space to JFK, but Boston had a number of open spots when I booked it.

    4. D3kingg Guest

      @Lee

      You are right. I just checked LAX to NAN. So in that case if I booked a Y fare thru American I would still earn AA miles and LPs ?

    5. Mike C Diamond

      According to the AA web site page about Fiji Airways, you earn AA miles flying FJ on either an FJ or AA flight number, but you only earn LP if it's an AA flight number.

  12. Lee Guest

    In the end, all that matters is to what extent it affords partner access to premium cabin award inventory. That's it. End of discussion.

    1. BenjaminGuttery Diamond

      Maybe to you that's "it". But many of us regular travelers also appreciate reciprocal benefits and especially earning capabilities.

Featured Comments Most helpful comments ( as chosen by the OMAAT community ).

The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.

Creditcrunch Diamond

I noticed when I was in the QF First lounge at LAX they now accept Starlux F pax. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Starlux making a similar announcement about joining OW.

2
destruya Member

FIJI is backed by Qantas, though. They own 46% of FIJI. They were also sponsored into the Oneworld Alliance by BA, Cathay, and AA. I've a feeling there's a good amount of financial backstopping here.

2
BenjaminGuttery Diamond

Maybe to you that's "it". But many of us regular travelers also appreciate reciprocal benefits and especially earning capabilities.

1
Meet Ben Schlappig, OMAAT Founder
5,163,247 Miles Traveled

32,614,600 Words Written

35,045 Posts Published

Keep Exploring OMAAT