VIETNAM AIRLINES Passenger Reviews and Customer Trip Reports

PAGE 1 2

VIETNAM AIRLINES customer review :  8 February 2010 by Peter Laight   (Canada)

SGN-HAN Back and forth twice this week. Check-in service highly variable - some friendly and flexible, others seem to think its their job to put obstacles in your way. Bring your e- ticket paperwork - the unfriendly ones can't figure out how to look up your booking from the name in your passport. Toilets dirty and very smelly on all four flights. The smell permeated the cabin on two of the flights. I give them value for money because they are cheap, and I recommend them because the alternative is worse.

VIETNAM AIRLINES customer review :  19 January 2010 by J Depaepe   (Belgium)

Hanoi - Frankfurt Business Class. Old B777. Seats do not recline fully, AVOD system didn't work, and this for a 12hr flight - only the general screens worked. In the morning, one of the other passengers tried to put their seat upright. This didn't work, so cabin crew had to break (!) the seat. Makes you wonder about the general condition of the plane. Next time I'll fly another airline.

VIETNAM AIRLINES customer review :  19 January 2010 by B Vincent   (Australia)

HAN-DIN. Booked a long time in advance on full fare. Closer to departure the flight was twice re-scheduled to later in the day and while the web site offered an earlier flight, I was not able to change to it even visiting the airline office in person. Check-in opened 1 hour before flight and closed abruptly about 20 minutes later. Aircraft was a new-looking ATR72-500 with leather upholstery, flight was smooth and complimentary bottled water was served. Summary : in-flight experience good, pre-flight experience could be improved.

VIETNAM AIRLINES customer review :  7 January 2010 by Simon Loh   (Singapore)

SIN-SGN-DAD, and HUI-SGN-SIN on A321. All planes in excellent condition, flights on time. Wet tissue given before take off. No IFE for international flights, just some small TV screens around showing pre-take off instructions only. Inflight meals are pretty good. The experience on SIN-SGN sector is not a pleasant one though, stewardess in a bad attitude, not even a smile, and not attentive , wasn't given the bread for my meal and the immigration card, and delay in collecting the tray, seems that passengers at the window seats are being ignored easily. Return a better service, and an emergency seat for me with a huge legroom. The lone FA in front serves the meal rather slowly, had to rush for my meal in the end as the collection was quick. Check in at SGN domestic is chaotic and slow, one row of counters for all VN flights with full of people, some passengers are rather panic as they arrived late. Domestic sectors are pretty uneventful, only drink is served for the short flight, FAs are quite polite too, seems that they could converse in English better than their counterparts on international routes. Its fare is quite value for money, however I think most of its crews need to raise their standard of serving the passengers onboard, at least with some friendly smiles.

VIETNAM AIRLINES customer review :  5 December 2009 : by S Harris  (UK)

Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh-Danang-Siam Reap-BKK-Hoi An-Nha Trang. No excitement, just calm and efficient staff. Food average to good depending on destination. Only trouble is no consideration for vegetarian and non pork/beef eaters. Leg room good, IFE non existent. Never saw anything on any flight so far. Even the HCM-Paris has the IFE disabled on most flights. The reason when the crew is summoned to help was 'Not working, sorry' is always the answer. The pilots and captain inflight announcements are difficult to understand, not because of the thick accent but due to the poor quality of the PA system. The cabin crew are quite shy to speak and hard to understand their accents. There is no option to travel by other airlines as some destinations are serviced only by VN airlines.

VIETNAM AIRLINES customer review :  26 September 2009 : by Tina Massey  (Australia)

Sydney to Ho Chi Minh return - not a pleasant experience. The lights did not work so the person in the row behind had access to turn our light on and off and we had access to the person in front of us. The flight attendant offered my husband a piece of paper to hold above the light. The cabin was too hot for the majority of the 8 hour trip. The attendants did not seem very personable, food was okay. There is no in flight entertainment system and on the return flight there was no entertainment at all and they only showed the distance to destination in the last 30 minutes of the return journey. There were no announcements from the captain or co-pilot. This airline may be okay for domestic flights but certainly not international.

VIETNAM AIRLINES customer review :  8 September 2009 : by T Tombros  (UK)

We used Vietnam Airlines for short domestic flights in September 2009.: Danang - Nha Trang and Nha Trang - Ho Chi Minh. Both flights on an A320. Seat comfort was ok (better than most European carriers in terms of legroom), and service for such short flights consisted of bottled water, which is reasonable and practical. Flights on time, really cheap, and easy to book online even on short notice. I would certainly use them again for domestic flights as they are value for money and reliable.

VIETNAM AIRLINES customer review :  4 September 2009 : by Michel de Bona  (France)

CDG-HAN-DAD, HUI-SGN-CDG in Y class. All flights on time. Crew on CDG-HAN were friendlier and more efficient than SGN-CDG (crew seemed tired and not motivated for long flight). Meals are quite generous but on SGN-CDG, the breakfast choice was beef with noodles (Asian) and cold cuts (European). The cold cuts were not very good and not really appropriated for a French breakfast. Crew very mechanical, especially male flight attendants. PA system not working properly on SGN-CDG, B777-200ER so most announcements were barely audible. On take-off and landing, crew does not check that seat belts are fastened and seats are in the upright position. In-flight entertainment is rather limited and movies shown are not very well known. Domestic flights (HAN-DAD and HUI-SGN) on nice A321 had more enthusiastic crews. Only water is distributed. Flights were ok but not memorable.

VIETNAM AIRLINEScustomer review :  3 August 2009 : by B Toll  (Vietnam)

Hanoi-Paris and Frankfurt-Saigon-Hanoi : all in all terrible. Delays, no personal entertainment system and the central entertainment system wasn't working (it usually isn't working). Whilst airlines turn up the heating system to make you fall asleep after meals but VN Airlines is overdoing it - too hot! They are also overdoing the reverse - too cold when they want you to wake up. Food good Frankfurt to Saigon, but Hanoi to Paris it is dreadful. Cabin attendants were sleeping much of the 12 hour flights and only one or two to be seen every now and then.

VIETNAM AIRLINES customer review :  17 July 2009 : by S O'Neale  (Australia)

Melbourne to Ho Chi Minh City return on B777-200 in Y Class and HCMC to Da Nang on A320. Aircraft were in excellent condition, with satisfactory leg room in economy and excellent overhead storage. Entertainment was minimal on the flight with only overhead CRT screens and my in-seat headphone socket was not working on the way over so I couldn't listen to any music. The drink-runs were good and staff seemed to care about the well-being of the customer. As with a number of other Asian carriers, what went on in the cockpit was shrouded in mystery as with all these flights nothing was heard over the intercom from the pilot other than a brief 'Cabin crew prepare for landing' and that was it. If you are a nervous flier I would recommend seats in the middle of the 777 around the Row 20 mark; even in moderate turbulence, the discomfort felt was minimal. A320 service onboard was efficient but we only received bottled water on this one hour flight. Security at Da Nang airport was not exactly confidence- inspiring and I was able to walk around the baggage area and take a lot of photos before a security guard stopped me. The flight home from Ho Chi Minh City was as good service-wise as the trip over and most passengers either slept or listened to music. If flying Vietnam Airlines please order your dinner and breakfast very carefully from the menu as the some of the food, especially that which has been prepared in Vietnam, may not be suitable for Western stomachs. Aside from that, with the addition of seat-back LCD screens that actually show movies you want to see, Vietnam Airlines is on its way to competing with other S E Asian airlines in the increasingly crowded Asia-Pacific region.

VIETNAM AIRLINES customer review :  29 May 2009 : by Pham Danh  (Vietnam)

HAN-SGN in economy class. Everything almost good. I think one or two flight attendant were a little shy, seemed like they didnt want to serve passengers request. Anyway, that flight was generally good.

VIETNAM AIRLINES customer review : 21 May 2009 : by H Vuong

Customer Rating : 2/5

SGN-ICN-SGN, old A330-200, very poor drink services on SGN-ICN (5 hour flight), inflight entertainment was limited to ceiling screens, PTVs not working, no lights, controls unfound in both seats 21J/21K. One flight attendant was quite intolerant to an elderly woman. ICN-SGN flight, drink services were better. Almost all the PTVs not working, poor entertainment, only one screen for a whole rear cabin. No lights (not working - seat 45J/45K) for reading despite the fact that all windows were shut. Plane parked on the apron and we were transported to the terminal under the 33 degrees Celsius while a lot of airbridges not occupied.

VIETNAM AIRLINES customer review : 27 April 2009 : by A Matos

Customer Rating : 1/5

Danang-Saigon in economy. Poor drinks service only in spite of it being a lunchtime plane, and no food other than very poor snacks available in airport. Main problem was what seemed to be a blockage of wheels after landing which caused everybody to jolt forward. Flight stranded on runway for a while. No explanation given in English by anybody, no reassurance by neither cockpit nor cabin crew.

VIETNAM AIRLINES customer review : 14 November 2008 : by M Jose

Customer Rating : 4/5

Melbourne to HCMC Vietnam. Food was plentiful and drinks served often. Staff were polite and helpful. Movie entertainment not so good. Overall happy with service and enjoyed the flight. Return again a pleasant experience. Based on what I experienced and the cost of the flight I would recommend this airline.

VIETNAM AIRLINES customer review : 23 October 2008 : by Mark Hurter

Customer Rating : 4/5

HKG-SGN, REP-SGN. Check-in generally good. Minor glitch in HK but no problem. All flights on time and baggage delivery prompt. Service onboard professional and friendly. Some FAs going the extra mile, some doing a good job. Food very good. Meal choice on the longer leg and even got a snackbox on the 45 min flight SGN to REP and back. Appreciated the handout of Cambodia Entry forms on the flight. Entertainment HKG to SGN was airmap. Inflight magazines interesting. On the way back had to address the Transfer desk in SGN to get the boarding pass for the codeshare CX flight to HKG. Baggage was checked though. Transfer desk staffed with 7 employee. 2 of them were handling customers. Could not figure out was rest did but one was playing computer games. Interestingly CX handling staff in HK said VN blocks Emergency Exit seats and VN staff in SGN said CX blocked Emergency Exit seats.