VIETNAM AIRLINES 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 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 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 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 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.

VIETNAM AIRLINES review : 2 September 2008 : by Tom Hill

Customer Rating : 5/5

SGN to PCQ and back to SGN. While in Phu Quoc we discovered we needed to change our return flight. Vietnam Air happily accommodated our needs and did not charge for changing the ticket! We've flown Vietnam Air on several other occasions and have always had pleasant experiences. Recommended domestically and internationally.

VIETNAM AIRLINES review : 27 August 2008 : by P Berkers

Customer Rating : 4/5

Frankfurt-Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Hanoi-Paris on B-777-200ER. It was a very good flight with nice crew, several drink runs on this long flight. The food was ok. Everything was free also alcoholic drinks and cocktails. The entertainment system was not on demand, but you could navigate the channels by touching the screen. I travelled with a group of 14 people to Vietnam and on the flight to Saigon it was not possible to sit together. Everyone was sitting alone somewhere at the plane. At Brussels the check-in crew of Brussels Airlines could not select seats together at the system of Vietnam Airlines. The other negative point was that the flight entertainment systems failed after playing the same game. Return flight Vietnam to Europe service was very good and the same like the outbound flight to Vietnam. The breakfast was not so good, and the same problem with my entertainment system. But in general this airline will receive a four star (the most important for me is the service of the crew and that was excellent).

VIETNAM AIRLINES review : 27 August 2008 : by J Hinzmann

Customer Rating : 2/5

Siem Reap - Luang Prabang. An uneventful flight on an old Fokker 70 with an unsmiling, surly crew. The meal service consisted of stale pastry and about 50 ml of lukewarm water served in a cardboard box - that was all for an international flight of 1:40 hour. The crew disappeared after collecting the trash and wasn't to be seen until shortly before the landing. No beverage service. I was not impressed and will try Lao Airlines or Siem Reap Airlines next time.

VIETNAM AIRLINES review : 14 August 2008 : by T Patrick

Customer Rating : 3/5

HKG-Hanoi. Like a cheaper version of Cathay - cabins etc clean, food good, drinks fine for a short flight. New plane both ways. Only problem is check in at Hanoi. For some strange reason the check in desk like to sit and do nothing for 40 minutes until it is time to check you in - then there is a mad rush. Stewards looked a bit scruffy with hand written badges, but efficient enough. Hanoi airport not great- considering how fantastic vietnamese food is, the food there is poor and expensive. No bar! On arrival at Hanoi the cheapest duty free I have seen- buy on the way there!

VIETNAM AIRLINES review : 3 August 2008 : by Florian Haas

Customer Rating : 3/5

FRA-SGN in Deluxe Economy. Premium Economy product: much more legroom, food same as Economy, not bad but nothing special. Service a little cool - no charming smiles. Not comparable with CX or SQ. Could improve much with little more awareness to details.

VIETNAM AIRLINES review : 16 July 2008 : by P Craigie

Customer Rating : 4/5

HAN-HUE. Our son had taken ill and collapsed on touch down. He was rushed to the district hospital for medical aid. The airline representative Lam stayed with us through out the ordeal until we left the hospital, translating to the doctor & from the doctor to me. No one speaks or understands english at the hospital. We would like to express our huge thanks to for his professional, calm and thorough work, my son would like to extend his thanks as well. I was so blown away by the duty of care Vietnam Airlines staff provided us and the responsibility they have to their passengers is without a doubt an excellent achievement. We take our hat off to you Vietnam Airlines.

VIETNAM AIRLINES review : 5 July 2008 : by W Bohot

Customer Rating : 4/5

We were scheduled to leave Beijing via Vietnam Airlines to Ho Chi Minh City, with an equipment change at Hanoi. Upon checking in for our flight, our four bags were weighed and deemed overweight according to Vietnam Airlines regulations. Along with the four bags we checked, they also weighed our carryon bags to come to the total weight. We were told by the young attendants that the rule had just gone into effect that day and that our excess baggage charge would be $345.00! Even if your standard for what is considered excess weight is much more strict than any of the other places we visited, we can't understand charging that outrageous amount. We later learned that Vietnam Airlines has a baggage limit of 25lbs. After 3 email attempts, we have yet to receive a response. Our actual flying experience with Vietnam Airlines was good.

VIETNAM AIRLINES review : 24 June 2008 : by B Elliot

Customer Rating : 1/5

Danang-Saigon A321 service. The purser was in the forward toilet for the boarding process and no other welcome was made by other crew. The purser then continued to play Sudoko for the flight and did not leave his front galley seat ! FA serving Business was surly and spoke very poor English. She pointed to items when she came to collect them, rather than reaching for them or asking us to pass items to her which we would have been more than happy to do! Our business class meal was 3 x small open sandwich triangles with lettuce, processed ham meat and gherkin served on stale bread. Diet Coke was served warm and when I asked for an accompanying glass of water, the FA snarled and poured it only 1/3 full. There was a coffee/tea cup on the meal tray, however, we were never offered a hot beverage. No flight information was provided from the cockpit and no crew were in the cabin during the safety demonstration. The landing was just as poor from a safety perspective. No crew member walked through the business cabin to check that the cabin was secure for landing. Whilst we landed, at least 3 window shutters were down, 3 chairs were reclined with sleeping passengers and numerous people had electronic equipment operating. My main concern with this flight was not the meal or service (disappointing as it was) - it was the lack of detail and interest given to the safety of the passengers on board.

VIETNAM AIRLINES review : 24 June 2008 : by John Wagner

Customer Rating : 4/5

Very efficient and courteous service on 2 domestic segments. New aircraft but just passable snacks. Vietnam Airlines is inexpensive and impressive, but they do need a better website.

VIETNAM AIRLINES review : 18 June 2008 : by Jackie Waring

Customer Rating : 4/5

Very impressed by the plane very new and efficient service. one of the sectors used a China Airlines plane and again no problems.

VIETNAM AIRLINES review : 17 May 2008 : by F Sefton

Customer Rating : 4/5

Several internal flight on Vietnam Airlines: Hanoi to Hue, Da Nag to Nha Trang, Nha Trang to Saigon. All had top planes and service. All flights did need to be confirmed 24 hours prior after being assured by our travel agent this was not so. Only hitch was we were given old style tickets which were then stapled to our boarding pass. I hadn't realised this until removing it from my bag with passport to go through boarding gate. A tiny fragment of the ticket ( the bit that was stapled and did not have anything, letter or symbol, on it) had pulled off and was lost. This led to refusal in being allowed to board. After thorough search of bag and all documents I was allowed to pass back to where we had been sitting and there on the floor was this 1cm sq piece of paper- my flight saver, and with it I was allowed on and didn't have to purchase another ticket.

VIETNAM AIRLINES review : 11 May 2008 : by R Liddle

Customer Rating : 3/5

HKG-Hanoi-Danang-Saigon-Siem Reap-Saigon in economy. 3 out of the 5 flights in Airbus 321s, the Danang to Saigon sector was in an Airbus 330 I think but leased from China Airlines, with a Vietnam airlines crew. All appeared well maintained. The only flight that concerned me was the Saigon-Siem Reap sector where we took off is a storm in an ancient, dirty and poorly maintained looking ATR - so old it was painted in the old Vietnam airlines livery. The food was mediocre but OK for a one hour flight - a snack in a box with water on all the flights except for the HCK one which had a reasonable Asian meal and drinks. All the flights were on time and one departed and arrived early. Would use them again but would avoid their ATRs.

VIETNAM AIRLINES review : 29 April 2008 : by A Lam

Customer Rating : 4/5

SGN-HAN B777-200 in business class. Check in with eticket simple and quick. Lounge at SGN small and tired. Snacks and internet access available. Boarding at SGN was chaotic at best. All board at same time with no priority given to business class pax. Pre-flight drinks and cold towel offered once seated. Very comfortable seats for a short domestic flight. Seats have retractable PTV but no AV programs offered on this sector. Lunch served but of economy standard albeit served on china instead of plastic. Crews seemed indifferent, but efficient. Priority luggage arrived first on carousel.

Vietnam Airlines review - by J Gray

15 April 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

SYD-HAN-SYD. Check in at SYD easy and flight departed on time. Flight operates via HCMC. Crew were pleasant and food was good. On arrival HCMC I was not prepared for what was required. SYD-HAN flight goes via HCMC however, has one flight number so as a seasoned traveler I expected to just disembark, go through security, reboard and go through immigration/customs at HAN as it is an international airport also. Bit like some of the QF and NZ services that go via domestic cities with one flight number. Unfortunately though you have to clear immigration in HCMC, identify your bags and then get on bus to a different terminal to change planes. I only wish the staff at SYD had informed me of this as I had applied for a visa online so had to have it then issued on arrival at HCMC. There is a desk before immigration however, its crowded and unfortunately unless you push your way to the front of the queue you will be standing there for hours. VN staff eventually found me because the bus with other passengers going to HAN was waiting outside for me. Had I known this was what I was going to have to do, I would at least be prepared. There were only 17 of us going onwards that day so not a big ask of the SYD check in staff to tell us about this. HCMC to HAN was good. Short sector. Return, I knew what to expect with the changing of terminals at HCMC so was better prepared. Still same flight number right through on the way back but for anyone taking this flight right through remember although it's one flight number, it involves two terminals and two separate flights. Return HCMC-SYD was comfortable. Managed to find a lot of spare seats down the back however, the cabin crew seemed to have already eyed these up for their rest. Overall, good service on the 777 and on time performance no problems but the lack of information from the ground staff in SYD really let the experience down.

Vietnam Airlines review - by P Light

19 February 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

We too experienced the bait and switch at Danang. Bussed out the tarmac, we found ourselves boarding a China Airlines aircraft. No warning, no code share noted. Vietnam Airlines has good aircraft and a good safety record (if lousy customer service). It's hard to understand why they would partner with an airline that has a safety record at the other end of the scale.

Vietnam Airlines review - by K Kumar

17 February 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

Singapore to Siem Reap, transit Saigon. The food was fantastic and I order vegetarian food for my whole family. Air stewardesses were very efficient.But the return trip was a bit of a hassle with regards to vegetarian food. Siem Reap to Hanoi, only my nephew and my wife were confirmed but luckily they had extra vegetarian meals so we all had food. The staff at the Siem Reap airport were very helpful. But at Hanoi, the same thing happened. Only my nephew had vegetarian food, the rest of us did not have any vegetarian meals. Making a fuss at the airport only made things worse with comments by the airport staff that you should have requested at least 24 hours in advance (I am a seasoned traveller). Although the itinerary on my ticket indicated the vegetarian request but the staff insisted that they could not do anything because the system indicated there was no request. Luckily, it was a short flight so I boarded the flight. Upon making enquiries in Singapore as to how such a thing can happen, the "reasonable explanation" given was that in Hanoi, there were not many vegetarian meals ordered and so with a limited capacity, they cannot fulfil all requests. What was upsetting was that there were several other passengers who ordered vegetarian food and were getting their requests! The onboard service was satisfactory but I will never fly Vietnam Airlines again until they sort out the problem of being unable to fulfil special meal requests.

Vietnam Airlines review - by Steven Phan

21 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

MEL-SGN, SGN-HUI. Melbourne flights operated on Boeing 777-200ER. Departed and arrived on time. All check-in luggage delivered okay. Inflight meals delicious, presented in a plastic box. IFE was just a set of headphones one to listen to Vietnamese or unknown English music. Personal screen is offered in Business class though. Moderate cabin crew member, could speak general English. Domestic flight was on an Airbus A321 aircraft. The meal appeared inedible. Overall a good airline.

Vietnam Airlines review - by F Garde

15 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

If you are vegetarian don't bother flying Vietnam Airlines. Travelled several trips - to order special diet, you need to contact Vietnam Airlines in advance and then again the following day (perhaps they think you have changed your mind or they just want to spoil your holiday). In Siem Reap, Vietnam Airlines do not answer the phone, so you have to go to the office. But don't bother - you haven't a hope of getting vegetarian food anyway. However, on the trip from HCM to SYD, a group of us (who had never met before but all had the same experience) protested at the airport and refused to board the plane because we could not get VGML printed on our boarding pass - that worked!

Vietnam Airlines review - by Mike Block

13 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

I was impressed by this airline. Equipment modern (A 321, 777), staff are friendly and efficient, in the air and on the ground.

Vietnam Airlines review - by J Yoshioka

3 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

Hanoi-Danang on A321 Business Clas. Seat is similar to the 38" pitch US-domestic First Class seat (big seat, but no leg rest or extra deep recline. This was a window bulkhead seat, so it was very decent. Service decent with a small snack (nothing special) for the short 1:20 flight. Business lounge in Hanoi fairly good for a domestic flight (drinks, snacks, instant noodles, internet access computers etc) where they call out your flight after all the economy passengers have boarded which allows you more time in the lounge and almost no time waiting in lines.

Vietnam Airlines review - by M Gephart

26 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

SGN-Hanoi-Siem Reap return Y Class. Overall a positive experience with VN. Each flight was on-time and planes reasonably clean. Flight attendants were attentive, but after service retreated to the galley. A320s could use a deep cleaning but they're still in good shape. Realizing our height (compared to the locals), each time we were offered exit row seats which definitely helped. One tip : the middle seats in the Y cabin on the A320s are wider than both aisle & window (by about 8 inches). Would fly them again without hesitation.

Vietnam Airlines review - by Quek Keng Guan

14 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Saigon- Dalat in ATR 72. Booked the airtickets through VN office in Saigon which is about 60% cheaper than in Singapore VN office (US$30 for a single ticket vs S$120). Flight was 96% full on this route. Max passengers on this small aircraft in 66 pax. Flight was delayed for 1 hr due to mechanic problems. FOC drinks were given at the domestic airport. Travelled on a aircon bus to board the small aircraft as the aerobridge could not link to the aircraft. 1 round of drinks and disposable wet towels were given during the 50 min flight to Dalat by 2 flight attendants. Aircraft was old, seat pitch was reasonable (about 31 ") for the short flight. Understood that it is the peak season now as VN has 2 flights from Saigon to Dalat and we are placed in the wait list from Dalat to Saigon for 1 mth! Dalat airport is small yet beautiful. Only 1 runway and 1 baggage belt. No eating facilities found. Several taxis can be found at the arrival hall. Taxi journey to Dalat will take about 40 mins (US$17). Overall a pleasant experience.

Vietnam Airlines review - by T Huppatz

2 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Melbourne to Hanoi and Cambodia on Vietnam Airlines. In total 7 flights. 6 out of the 7 flights were delayed, 3 hour delay in Hanoi when we flew to Danang. We found the planes quite clean and modern. Movies on the Melbourne to Vietnam and return flights were outdated. Food on short flights not very eatable. We ordered child meals for our 3 year old and they came after all the adult meals were served on our long haul flight. Had to use buzzer to get staff a couple of times and very slow or didn't respond.

Vietnam Airlines review - by Ranjit Pradhan

9 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Hanoi - Hue, Danang-Pleiku-Saigon and Saigon - Siem Reap. On most flights Vietnam Airlines flies new Airbus planes which are all in excellent condition. On the Danang- SGN sector we were shifted onto a ATR-72 hopper flight which although old was also maintained in excellent condition. I was impressed at the professionalism, positive attitude and efficiency of cabin crew. Light snacks with soft drinks were offered on all these flights. No alcohol was on offer as far as I could tell. The only area of improvement I could think of was the crew's overall English hanguage skills and proficiency. Flight announcements in English were unintelligible! Ground staff courteous and helpful.

Vietnam Airlines review - by H Vuong

14 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

SGN-HAN-SGN on weekend. The outbound flight on B777-200ER clean and roomy, return flight on A330-200 old, clean, tray-table broken, noisy, and overhead bins shook likes they were to fall during take-off and landing. Cabin crew friendly with lots of smiles. Unfortunately, the ground staffs at "Excess baggage and last minute ticket" counter at Noi Bai Airport gave a bad image. Their attitude and professionalism leave much to desire! Almost all of passengers shook their head when leaving the counter (I stood close to the counter in over 2 hours.)

Vietnam Airlines review - by Tim Short

28 May 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Hanoi to Da Nang return economy. Pleasantly surprised after some of the comments. Both flights bang on time. Shiny new A321 both ways with good legroom and clean. Cabin crew efficient, not really smiley. Limited food/drink service - fine for a short flight, but I doubt they were telling the truth that they only had water onboard (I wanted an apple juice). Quite pleased considering they have a monopoly.

Vietnam Airlines review - by Stephen Lloyd

9 May 2007   Customer Trip Rating : n/a

Hanoi-Danang and Danang-Ho Chi Minh, both legs in Business class. We had consdiered taking a train rather than fly having read the comments posted in here but schedules did not permit. I am glad we flew as in the air they were excellent. Modern Airbus with comfortable seats (A300 for the first leg) and food just right for the 1 hour or so flights. Staff were slick and polite. As with other reviews there were delays - a bump of one hour and the second flight was cancelled so I had a 12 hour shift - but we were warned in advance so no actual waiting time.

Vietnam Airlines review - by J Mumenthaler

29 March 2007   Customer Trip Rating : n/a

HCMC to Hanoi in C class. VN using an A330 for this flight (did not appear to be a feeder for international service) which still showed Air Luxor on the Airshow system. Good service without any outstanding features (could have been much better considering that we were the only two passengers). Check-in swift (managed to be rebooked on earlier with 30 minutes left to departure time). All in all, quite good marks on this domestic flight featuring the most legroom I have evr had on such a short flight.

Vietnam Airlines review - by Anna Nham
27 February 2007

Melbourne - HCMC economy class. We were meant to leave on the 26/12/07 but received a call late at night on the 25/12 informing us that we had been delayed for 2 days due to Vietnam airline's downgrading their plane to a smaller one and over-booking. We were pretty angry as we had booked tours that left Vietnam soon after we arrived. We were reimbursed $100 per passenger which was better than others as we had heard the Vietnam Airlines had been delaying a lot of passengers with only a reimbursement of $30. Flight crew was ok - IFE was only one English movie showing which didn't cause me too much fuss as i had bought my own entertainment. On our return trip back to Melbourne we were required to go to Vietnam Airlines office to confirm our flights home etc. This was a horrible experience as we were informed that I would be travelling home on a separate flight to my parents and brother. Reason given was because we had orginally booked our tickets seperately which was bs. Meanwhile another family next to us were having problems as well - not being able to get the flights home as originally booked and having the family spilt up. After a couple of days and many trips back to head office we were finally able to get all return flights back to Melbourne together. On the return flight IFE was non-existent as it was not working at all. Once we reached Melbourne we had to wait over 2 hours for our luggage as apparently the airline didn't have enough of the "disinfectant spray" for the luggage. This meant that our relative whom had come to pick us up had to leave without us as he had to return to work and we were left with taking a taxi home costing us around $150. Flights in general were smooth and seats were comfortable however customer service was atrocious and in general a bad experience was had. We plan to not travel with Vietnam Airline's again until things change.

Vietnam Airlines review - by Philip Drury
13 February 2007

I have resided in Vietnam for 9 years and used this airline often _there is usually no alternative_a monopoly! Pacific Airlines is apparently also owned by state connected people. When liberalisation comes we can expect improvement. Whilst not necessarily a scam as another user commented I too fell foul of the name problem. We did not include all of our daughter s Vietnamese names. The airline needs to stop charging for rectification of names as it is costing it business. I for one never choose to fly VN internationally due to this policy. In general I agree with your rating - a reasonable airline with some room for improvement. The staff is well presented but lack training in dealing with things when they go wrong. Finally consider carefully paying for business class when using Hue airport. When I did in Jan 2006 comfort and services were not up to scratch.

Vietnam Airlines review - by David Stein
5 February 2007

Hanoi-HCMC in economy. Flew in packed B 777 for the short 2 hour flight. Check in was smooth and efficient and the flight left on time. The aircraft itself was new. Service excellent. As it was an evening flight, a hot meal was served.

Vietnam Airlines review - by John Lee
29 January 2007

BNE-SYD-SGN-ICN with Y Class. BNE-SYD with QF (737-400) and arrived in SYD on time and could take Qantas Transit Bus to International Terminal. Check-in no problem but we were not informed that the flight would be delayed because 777-200 had not arrived Sydney yet. Flight delayed about 2.5 hours. Onward travel SGN-ICN was with 767-300 departing at 1:00AM but then this flight was also delayed to 3:00AM. No one explained what was happening but all passengers were issued with another boarding passes. VN provided a hotel room during the transit time in the middle of Ho Chi Minh City. But they really do need to improve the cabin crew attitude towards the passengers and services.

Vietnam Airlines review - by V Tan
26 January 2007

HCMC to Nha Trang, and it was a nightmare. The flight itself was fine, but it was when we tried to board that the ticketing agents said our tickets were not valid because our middle names weren't printed on our boarding tickets. After much arguing and talking to the manager (who was in on the scam), they said they could reissue our tickets at the cost of US$35 per person - in cash, of course. We were on a tight schedule and the flight was ready to leave (the only one that day) so we had no choice but to pay the fee (for 4 tickets) for them to "reissue" the tickets. When they gave us the new tickets, our names were all misspelled and definitely did not match our passports. Apparently, this was not a problem for boarding; they already had our money. I don't want to say why this happened, but it was definitely not a language issue as we speak both English and Vietnamese.