SAIGON AIRPORT review : 30 April
2009 : by Trish Walker
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Customer Rating : 4/5 |  |
We recently returned from Saigon. Unfortunately we missed our connecting flight to Da Nang and
had to stay in the airport 10 hours overnight. We found the staff very friendly and re-
arranged our flight for us. Domestic airport closed at 1 am and our flight was 6 am so we
could do nothing but lounge on the seats. We found the airport very clean and staff very
friendly.
SAIGON AIRPORT review : 26 January
2009 : by S Pathirana
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Customer Rating : 4/5 |  |
I found this airport (International terminal) excellent. Very impressive, big, clean. Don't
expect much friendly service though; particular as you exit on arrival. I was ill leaving the
airport, but had a very comfortable experience. Shops are expensive.
SAIGON AIRPORT review : 14 January
2009 : by P Bedson
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Customer Rating : 4/5 |  |
Nice clean, very modern, airport with efficient check in & security for international
flights. Catering airside is very pricey even by airport standards. Immigration was not
exactly speedy but acceptable (but then I had a proper visa - the queue for "visa on arrival"
looked horrendous) and the luggage beat us to the hall despite being one of teh first off the
plane. Bit of a scrum outside arrivals - lots of taxi touts etc - but felt safe and secure
(like the rest of Vietnam really). Note that if you need to change money you need to do it
before you leave arrivals though USD seem to be equally accepted as local currency - the
rates offered by some of the moneychangers varied fairly significantly - you could get 5%
more by walking 20 yards down the hall!.
SAIGON AIRPORT review : 10 December 2008 : by S Devasahayam
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Customer Rating : 4/5 |  |
The airport at first appearance looked spacious though the duty-free shopping areas were congested
and very few seats were available in the check-in lounges. However, it was clean and modern in all
aspects.
SAIGON AIRPORT review : 3 October 2008 : by Frank Winter
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Customer Rating : 3/5 |  |
Modern airport, much better than last time I visited in May 2007, style reminds me of Hong Kong
(bright/lots of steel/clean). Departure smooth, though 2 security checks right before and after
immigration. Arrival is the same chaos at the 'visa-on-arrival', but as in Hanoi no clear signage
and communication skills of staff non-existent. This is not a usual visa-on-arrival, you can only
get it when you have the electronic approval letter (normally done by travel agency in vietnam).
Best to bring your 2 passport pictures. Best if you can secure a proper visa before arrival. If
not, budget at least 60 minutes for the 'visa-on-arrival'.
Saigon Airport by M Gephart
26 November 2007 Customer Rating : 
Used both the international and domestic terminals while traveling around Vietnam. The
international airport is very modern and will certainly mature in its offerings as it becomes a
major business center. The domestic terminal is showing its age and could use a deep cleaning and a
little bit of a face lift. But, it is still efficient and semi-organized.
Saigon Airport by Quek Keng Guan
23 November 2007 Customer Rating : 
Used Tan Son Nhat International Airport domestic airport for a VN flight from Saigon to Dalat.
Domestic airport is old, yet clean and pleasant to use. Understood used to be an old military
airport and upgraded to an international airport in Aug 2007. There are about 8 gates where one can
view arriving and departing planes. There are 2-3 cafes selling Vietnamese and western food (cheaper
than international airport but they don accept credit cards). Plenty of seats available in the
departures hall. Toilets were clean, however they do not have handicap/baby changing facilities.
Saigon Airport by Quek Keng Guan
12 November 2007 Customer Rating : 
Used Tan Son Nhat International Airport recently. It was bright, clean and pleasant to use. Arrivals
has 6 belts, trolleys were FOC. Several immigration counters were opened, so passed through
immigration was a breeze; took less than 15 mins! Dep hall has 8 counters from A - H. Dep hall has a
post office, 2 cafes. Set up reminds me of HKLA of a smaller scale. Once passed the immigration, there
is some DFS. Dinning is ex, and in US dollars. A sandwich cost US$7, pastry cost US$3! However dining
was a pleasant experience where 1 can watch plans fly. Toilets were clean and pleasant to use. However
there is no baby changing facilities found. Ample seats could be found in the dep hall. Overall a
pleasant airport to use.
Saigon Airport by Richard Vine
12 November 2007 Customer Rating : 
The new terminal at Saigon Airport has transformed things. There are virtually no queues at
immigration any more and baggage handling seems to have improved.
Saigon Airport by Ron Merritt
26 February 2007 Customer Rating : n/a
I flew biz class ANA from SGN via NRT to HNL. SGN check-in was very
quick, departure immigration relatively fast and I spent one hour in the
F/J all-airline lounge before boarding. I stop at SGN twice a year and
have found SGN Airport to be very efficient and the F/J departure lounge
is really quite good with an excellent selection of food, internet
terminals, etc.
Saigon Airport by Lin Hsu
26 January 2007
I arrived in SGN yesterday at 8 pm, and was off the plane, collected my
landing visa, went through customs, exchanged money and was out the door
by 8:30. This was surprisingly quick compared to last year's visit when
it took hours. I think this was mostly due to arriving at a non-peak
time, so the lines through immigration were short. The Landing Visa desk
took a while to notice me, but otherwise processed my paperwork very
quickly.
Saigon Airport by Dave Taylor
29 May 2006
I have used SGN 10 times over the past 2 years, most recently in April.
While there is not much to do if one has an extended layover, this
airport always seems to operate with a great deal of efficiency and
courtesy. I have always had good experiences with check-in, security,
baggage and immigration. Just be sure to bring a good book to read
because it's definitely not a very interesting or exciting airport.
Saigon Airport by Ned Hopkins
10 February 2006
Arriving from CKS just before 1pm, there was virtually no wait getting
through immigration (perhaps because I was one of the first off the
plane) or in collecting my luggage. The pre-paid taxi stand was a deal:
US$7 to central Saigon, with the clerk walking me to the cab. Check-in
at EVA Air business class counter a breeze. I waited for long lines to
disappear before heading to emigration and whisked through the two
control points both times (SGN-PNH and SGN-CKS). The 1st/business lounge
is comfortable, with a decent selection of snacks and drinks and an
enclosed smoking section. SGN certainly beats the dickens out of SFO
and most other US airports.
Saigon Airport by Colin Tan
28 July 2005
I travel frequently to HCMC and the airport has definitely improved from
the days when you had to wait hours to get through immigration. The
trick for us frequent flyers is to pick a flight that lands at about
noon and you will be out of the airport in 15 minutes as there a few
flight landing at that time.
Saigon Airport by Vuong Tuan Hao
21 October 2004
Tan Son Nhat airport has been upgraded but the immigration officers do
not work very well. It took me over twenty minutes to go through
immigration with just 4 people in front of me!! Waiting room is
confined.
Saigon Airport by Kevin Dang
30 June 2004
Even though SaiGon airport is not as great and modern as Ha Noi airport, it's still at the
international standard. The waiting room is spacious, bright, and cool. The services there are
very good and people are extremely friendly. It took me only about 20 minutes to get thru
immigrations. (Yes it could be worse, sometimes it could take up to 50 minutes, but it all depends
on the time of the day and how many flights arrive at a specific time.- You can not really blame on
the immigration officers.). I can assure that the immigration process at Saigon Airport is at least
better than the immigration process at Singapore Airport- It took us at least 1 hour just to get
thru immigration there).
Saigon Airport by Elin Stuart
31 May 2004
I take on board all of the other comments regarding Saigon Airport but this is a developing country.
The airport is in need of a major sorting-out but I found the facilities and service to be adequate
and had no problems passing through on three different occasions recently. A definite plus is the
very good air-con, which is lacking in other developing countries' airports.
Saigon Airport by Xuess Wee
1 January 2004
Technically, it's no longer Saigon, but Ho Chi Minh City. Live with it, folks.
A weird fusion of old and new - old hangars, possibly relics from the South Vietnamese days and what
I can see, efforts made to modernise the waiting areas. The aircon was all right and the waiting
area was comfortable and bright. There were enough seats and there are 4 big screen TVs in the
waiting area to amuse passengers. My main bone to pick was clearing customs entering HCMC. It took
me close to 50 minutes to get through! Furthermore it was a counter managed by 2 officers!
Frustrating. The service was cold and a tinge of suspicion thrown in - the officers never even broke
into a smile or a greeting.
Saigon Airport by Vuong Tuan Hao
27 November 2003
Tan Son Nhat is too small to handle so many flights at a time. My flights back from Bangkok
(10:20am) and Hong Kong (10:40am) - (2 times) were later than some earlier flights and thus we were
at the back of the lengthy queues - a very amusing notice is that there were 2 immigration officers
sitting at every counter but the two checked the same passport of the same only passenger... I
wonder why they did not do their job separately as one officer checks one passenger's
passport. It
took nearly 90 minutes for my queue of 30 passenger to go through the immigration and I was 30th,
being the last passenger of the queue!
Saigon Airport by Nicole Marie
27 October 2003
Changing planes at Saigon on transit from Melbourne to Hanoi was a nightmare. The airport was hot
and humid, with pedestal fans failing in their attempt to keep the heat at bay. The immigration
officials did not speak and separated a mother and her 12 year old daughter and made them go through
individually. The girl was terrified. There were no instructions as to how to get to our connecting
flight. We had to collect our luggage which had been left in a pile in the middle of the entry way,
re-check it, and then find our way through security and customs again, to get to our domestic
flight. Fly to Hanoi instead.
Saigon Airport by Jason Z Lee
25 September 2003
Saigon Airport is an outdated and undersized facility. The Immigration Hall is so small that it can
barely handle one planeload of about 250 passengers. Officers in their smart Vietnamese Army
uniforms are cold and indifferent. The airport only has about three jetways, and there are few seats
available. There is only one large cafe selling overpriced food. The Check-In area is OK, at least
compared to the horrendous Immigration hall.
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