Fiji Airways Tabua Club Lounge
Abandon any hope you have of a luxurious new airport lounge at the Nadi hub. The Fiji Airways Business Class Lounge and Tabua Club - and indeed the Fiji Qantasclub Nadi - are one and the same thing, and still remain the old Air Pacific lounge. It's in the basement, and it's used by Fiji Airways staff as a sleeping pad to doss down during the day.
Finding the lounge is easy - turn left after security, ignore the first duty free shop, past the escalator, and past the strange cross shaped seat, and head to the corner, to the left of the Nadi Air New Zealand Fiji Lounge.
There used to be a clear distinction between the Fiji Airways premium business lounge (for business class), and the Nadi Tabua Club Lounge (for those who pay for membership, or who have status), which was also the old Nadi Qantasclub.
Now, everyone is lumped in into the small main Fiji Airways lounge (with windows) on the right. The Tabua Club Lounge is now solely used for three times a week as the Korean Airlines Lounge Nadi. At all other times, if you enter this darkened room, you'll trip over Fiji Airways crew, pilots and staff kipping on the chairs during the day. This happens even when the main Fiji Airways section is packed to the gills, and the Tabua club is still in the dark.
As you enter the reception desk is straight ahead of you, along with a list of which Qantasclub memberships are valid. Make no mistake however the Fiji Airways Nadi lounge is neither run by Qantas any more, nor is it the oneworld lounge in Nadi.
The only access you£'ll get is if you are on both the Qantas Codeshare, and you have a Qantasclub membership or Gold or above status on QF. Oddly, the desk will also sell you access at F$75 per day (about $35AUD) but none of the staff either seem to know about this, or be willing to sell access.
There are three main areas to the Air Fiji Tabua Club Lounge Nadi, to give it its full title. The main area is beyond the desk overlooking the windows. Here there are several racks of seats win a red and white colour scheme, and small very heavy round wooden tables: if it looks familiar, that£'s because it is. It is the old Qantas lounge seating. The carpet is worn, and indeed most of the chairs have seen better days too.
There are windows along one side of the lounge, however as the lounge is in the basement, the view tends to be of the nosewheel of your plane.
At one end of the lounge is the newspaper rack, while at the other is a business centre, although computer bench might be a better term for it. Opposite reception is the bar counter while the main food area is the big table right in the middle of the lounge. At the far end of this are the toilets and showers.
The separate Tabua Club Lounge - mostly closed, and only used three times a week for the Korean Airlines Lounge Nadi - is the corridor to the left of the reception and bar area. It's normally dark, and you have to be careful not to trip over the sleeping Fiji Airways staff during the day in here.
This area of the lounge is much larger, with many more seats, and a huge bar area at the far end, while along one side is a small corridor rammed with more seats, and even a baggage area for you to store your hand luggage. There are yet more toilets and showers in here.
Finally at the far end of this lounge is another lounge, equal in size to this lounge, and again rammed with seats and tables (indeed Fiji Airways announced it was open in 2012 with a great fanfare saying 75 more seats were available). There is also a small work area here with two desks, and lots of Fijian artwork. Sadly, this area of the Fiji Airways lounge Nadi is never used.
Food
Food in the Fiji Airways lounge Nadi is eclectic, to the say the least. At breakfast time for the main flight to Sydney there is toast and cereal. This all vanishes at 9am when the flight to Sydney leaves, and then there is nothing by muffins until 11am when lunch is sserved. When the Korean Airways flights to Fiji are flying lunch is Suchi, on three trays, with fish, meat, and veggie suchi in rolls of rice. At other times there are sandwiches. There are always a few packets of biscuits left out, and if you are lucky, there is some cheese in the fridge.
Bar
The bar in the Nadi Fiji Airways lounge is basic, to say the least. There is one bar opposite reception, with six bottles of spirits on the bookshelf. There is another one in the room to the left, but other than a gigantic bottle of Gin and Cognac there is nothing here. Mixers are in the fridge. There is Fiji Gold Beer and Fiji Bitter in cans in the fridge. There is also one bottle of white and one bottle of sparkling in the fridge, but drink it quick as there is just one bottle left out per flight. There is no red.
Business Facilities
There is free wifi in the Fiji Airways lounge Nadi. It is surprisingly fast. There is a very basic computer centre too, with two old slow computers, using IE7, at the end of the main lounge. There is no printer. There is a very basic newspaper rack at the end of the main lounge, with just one copy of the main Fiji newspapers.Bathrooms
The bathrooms in the Fiji Airways Nadi lounge are decidedly basic. There is just one stall in the ladies and gents on the main lounge side, and the same on the normally closed side. However both sides have a vast shower area, with just one shower, but with a full set of shampoo and shower gel. Alas there are no towels.
Access
Fiji Airways Business Class. Qantas Gold or Platinum.
Video: Fiji Airways Tabua Club Lounge
| Fiji Airways Tabua Club Lounge | ||
|---|---|---|
Loungeindex
rating:
4 out of
10
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| Location: | Airside | |
| Open hours: | 24 hours | |
| Pay Per Access: | FJD$75 | |
| Access: | Fiji Airways Business Class, Priority Pass | |