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Taken August 2002 from Vancouver, Canada to Honolulu, Hawaii

Flight on 737-800 from Vancouver to Hawaii was rather uneventful. Slight delay (15 mins) due to catering problems (not a fault of Air Pacific, but rather the airport catering service).

Flight was smooth, food was very good, and the plane was very nicely appointed (quite new).

Leg room was excellent, although I was seated in an emergency exit row (row 24).

The crew were efficient, but a little bit grumpy which is somewhat reflective of overall Fijian hospitality (Air Pacific is Fiji's national airline). Bouncy landing in Honolulu, but we made up 5 of the 15 min. delay.

Return flight was a nightmare. Due to leave on a Friday morning at 8AM, we showed up at the airport at 6AM to be told that the plane had "mechanical" problems in Fiji and the flight from HNL to YVR was delayed to 12AM the next day. They put us up in a hotel room at the airport (by the way, Honolulu airport is a nightmare) and paid for three meals. Following the day in the hotel, we checked in at 10:30PM and waited for the new departure time. The plane showed up from Fiji; however, at 12AM in the departure gate, the crew said that the flight would be delayed to 1AM. We waited and at 1AM, they said it was to be delayed again until 2AM due to a malfunction of the transmitter device between the cockpit and air traffic control. At 3AM, they cancelled the flight (no parts and no other flights) and told us that we would again be put up in a hotel (with food) and we would all be put on a different airline's flight(s) over the next day or so. We waited until 5AM to clear customs and get our baggage back and headed to the hotel AGAIN. At 9AM (Saturday now), they called telling us that we were placed on a flight that night via Aloha Airlines (see next review) to Vancouver. All in all, a 36 hour delay, no sleep on Fri. night, 2 days in a crappy hotel room with terrible food, and a bad ending to a great Honeymoon in Hawaii. If we were put up in a hotel room in Waikiki, it would have been better because we could have gone to the beach, but we were at the airport hotel with little to do. In addition, we were told by Air Pacific to stay in our hotel rooms for telephone updates and flight changes, etc...

Given that mechanical problems do happen (not Air Pacific's fault) and their small fleet (could not get a replacement plane), they handled it quite well and paid in full for the hotel rooms, food, and ground transportation. I feel sorry for the small airline, because they had to cancel the flights from and to Vancouver, Honolulu, and Fiji on the Friday and Sunday as they all use the same plane and also pay for hotel rooms, food, and new flights for the passengers in all 3 of these cities. It must have cost them a ton, although they do have insurance for issues like these. In the future, I will fly a bigger airline (United, Air Canada) to avoid the possibility of such lengthy delays.