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On June 3, the Oneworld global airline alliance announced Fiji Airways will become its 15th full member airline. The integration—planned for June 2025—is predicted to be smooth sailing since the flag carrier of Fiji and the South Pacific has already been a Oneworld connect partner for five years, which is one tier below full membership.
This announcement comes on the heels of Oneworld’s 25th anniversary and the opening of proprietary lounges in Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) and Seoul-Incheon International Airport (ICN). It also comes at a time when there’s plenty of inventory for award flights to and from Fiji, which can be easily booked through select partner programs already.
Here’s everything you need to know about Fiji Airways’ upcoming full Oneworld membership—plus how to score free tickets to Fiji and the South Pacific now.
Fiji Airways 101
With a hub at Nadi International Airport on the main Fijian island of Viti Levu, Fiji Airways serves 26 destinations across 15 countries and territories. Its fleet of 21 aircraft includes Airbus A350s, Airbus A330s, and Boeing 737s. Of most relevance for the North American market, Fiji Airways offers daily direct service between Los Angeles and Nadi, five times weekly service to and from San Francisco, thrice weekly service to and from Vancouver, and weekly service to and from Honolulu. From Nadi, passengers can also connect to other hot spots in Oceania on Fiji Airways, including Auckland, New Zealand, and Sydney, Australia.
Fiji Airways and Oneworld
Currently a Oneworld connect partner, Fiji Airways will become the 15th full member of the Oneworld global alliance by June 2025. It will join current members Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Royal Jordanian, SriLankan Airlines, and soon-to-be member Oman Air. By the time the membership is complete, Fiji Link, a subsidiary of Fiji Airways, will also become an affiliate airline of Oneworld, broadening the alliance’s reach domestically within Fiji as well as regionally to more Pacific Island nations, such as Tonga and Vanuatu.
As a Oneworld connect partner, Fiji Airways has been able to provide select alliance benefits to frequent fliers of partner programs over the past five years, many of which vary by partner. But once a full Oneworld member airline, Fiji Airways will be able to supply the full suite of Oneworld benefits to patrons of all its partner airlines, including fully earning and redeeming miles with Fiji Airways and earning miles toward elite status. Plus, those with Oneworld Emerald, Sapphire, and Ruby status will be privy to priority check-in and boarding and lounge access when flying on Fiji Airways.
Booking free flights to Fiji now using miles
While the intricacies of full membership will be completed within 12 months, award flights on Fiji Airways are available for booking now through frequent flier programs of several Oneworld airlines, including Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, and British Airways. In general, the best way to get award seats on Fiji Airways is to book as far out as possible—as in almost a year out. That’s how you can hope to land coveted business-class tickets with points.
Even for economy seats, you still need to look ahead at least a few months. At press time, there are an impressive number of economy seats for most days on the direct Los Angeles (LAX) to Nadi (NAN) flight between September 2024 to early May 2025. On the other hand, the only business-class seats in our search required looking all the way to May 2025. Here’s how much a one-way flight between LAX and NAN prices out in miles with select Oneworld partners available right now.
For us, the standout of this table is booking a Fiji Airways flight with British Airways Avios. To start, the economy flights on Fiji Airways price out cheapest with British Airways Avios, 22.5 percent less than American AAdvantage. Next, Avios are the most versatile frequent flier currency on the market and arguably the easiest to obtain. The current welcome offer on the British Airways Visa Signature® Card is 85,000 Avios after spending $5,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening.
Avios also happen to be the frequent flier currency for such airlines as Iberia, Aer Lingus, Qatar Airways, and Finnair; you can transfer Avios at a 1:1 ratio between British Airways and these other programs at the click of a button. It also means you can get, say, the Iberia Visa Signature® Card in addition to the BA Visa and earn another 85,000 Avios after spending $5,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening and then transfer your Iberia Avios to BA Avios.
Moreover, you can convert points from reward programs with American Express, Chase, and Capital One into British Airways Avios. While the standard rate of conversion is 1:1, in years past there have been generous conversion bonuses, including a 30 percent bonus from Chase Ultimate Rewards to British Airways Avios in September 2023 and a 30 percent bonus from American Express Membership Rewards to British Airways Avios in July and August 2023.
Finally, while BA’s mileage pricing in business is indeed higher than the others, its award calendar spans three weeks later than those of some other airlines. (Award seats on Alaska and American can be booked as far as 331 days out, while on British Airways they can be booked 354 days into the future.) And because Fiji Airways often releases business-class seats 354 days out, they’re typically gone by the time they hit the booking engines of American and Alaska. Follow the logic and consider getting a British Airways Visa Signature Card or a low-fee card with points that transfers to Avios (hello $95 annual fee favorites, Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card and Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card), and be on your way to Fiji in business class with the newest member of the Oneworld alliance.
While the offers mentioned above are accurate at the time of publication, they are subject to change at any time, and may have changed or may no longer be available.
