Vietnam Airlines

✅ Verified Review | On 22nd June, I took a domestic flight VN 1186 (12.50pm) from Ho Chi Minh to Haiphong. First of all, the flight was delayed for about an hour. But that is not the complaint. The complaint was when the flight was re-directed to Danang without any information broadcast from the captain. In fact, I noticed the captain hardly made any announcements or gave any info regarding the flight. The only words from him were "Crew, get ready for landing or taking off", that's all. On 22nd June, I heard the captain announce to the crew to get ready for landing. I was a bit surprised because it was too early for the flight to have reached Haiphong. Suddenly, after landing, we were told by the crew that we were in Danang. The captain did not make any announcements that we had been re-directed to Danang. I saw a lot of passengers in confusion as to why we landed in Danang without warning. Some asked the crew and were told that the weather in Haiphong was bad and that was why the flight had to be diverted to Danang.

✅ Verified Review | Travelled Hue to Hanoi twice in June and July 2016 and Hanoi to Hue once in June with Vietnam Airlines. All flights on time. A321 aircraft. Cheap tickets bought under campaigns for less than 100 USD (3 trips). Flights on time. A postponement (of only 50 minutes) on the most recent trip was announced well in advanced by SMS and with a reissued ticket through email. Check-in within seconds. No service on board apart from a bottle of water and a tissue. If you bring your own coffee or tea sachets, then they give you a paper mug and hot water to consume it. Generous luggage allowance.

I feel the need to warn anyone considering flying Vietnam Airlines from Sydney to London. Spend extra and fly with a better airline. Vietnam Airlines flights from Australia to the UK have 3 legs, which wouldn't be an issue except for the fact that you need to fly domestically in Vietnam and end up having to go through 4 different airports within Vietnam alone. Your luggage will not be transferred either, so be prepared to collect and check in bags numerous times. Because you go from international airport to domestic and then domestic to international a visa is required to enter Vietnam (which will set you back $500 return). Expect lengthy delays on domestic flights which adds a good 10 hours on an already very long journey.

✅ Verified Review | Bangkok-Tokyo Narita via Hanoi in Business with my father. We checked in without hassle, no baggage, and got to the overcrowded third-party lounge which was average. Boarding was quite slow, Since they only used one door instead of two doors. A321 seats similar to that of Long-Haul Premium Economy. Food was up to quality, but presented in more of a Premium Economy manner. For a short flight, That's fine. Arrival at Hanoi surprised me with the new T2. Lounge was modern and new, but food seems to be not-so-fresh. 5 hour layover in Hanoi got me very board along with my father. Once we did finish, Priority boarding for us, the seats were not what we were expecting, In a positive way. I at first expected the product to be the same as the A321, But the A330 deserves a thumbs up. The amount of privacy in the window seat is good. In flight entertainment not working, So they gave us iPads. I had a pretty fine night's rest, and the breakfast was a bit dry, but presented with quality. Crew didn't disappear for the duration of the flight, with one flight attendant always awake to service us. In-flight entertainment is acceptable. On the return, The only problem I had was the food. In the Hanoi Lounge in the afternoon, there is minimal choice, with dry foods and sandwiches which looked like they had been made the night before. The food choice on the return trip HAN-BKK was average, but we opted out since there was only meats that we didn't like (Shrimp, Chicken and pork) but since I got both tickets for less than $2000USD it was worth it.

Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi with Vietnam Airlines. My flight was supposed to leave Ho Chi Minh City at 18.50pm for Hanoi. We were delayed for 1.30 min. At 18.50 the flights from 5pm and after had still not left yet. 3 flights were supposed to leave from the same gate, around the same time. There was total chaos. The information coming from the gate, the screen and the loudspeaker were not synchronized and gave different information. The ground staff had disappeared because too many people asking for information and were getting angry. One of the 2 lounges was closed due to renovation, so they simply doubled the chairs in the other lounge. You could not even get in, so crowded. What an unpleasant trip. Unfortunately, living in Vietnam, options are limited.

✅ Verified Review | Singapore - Hanoi - Singapore with Vietnam Airlines. Both ways were fully booked and was disappointed that there was no option for us to chose our own seat, even though I performed web-check in. Website was a little confusing as this flight was booked in a package with my accommodation with a tour agency and there wasn't an option to manage my booking on the website. Meals could not be changed as a result and one of my family members who was a vegetarian had to do without a meal on this very short haul flight. Check in staff were pretty efficient which was a stark contrast to the onboard cabin crew. Service on board was pretty bad as they were able to speak basic English and were not able to understand what we wanted. During meal times, a crumpled menu was shown to customers on the choice of food that was available onboard and sign language was used to indicate which option we would like to have. Some cabin crew appeared rather restless and tired throughout the whole journey, as with the slow and inefficient meal and drink service. Seat pitch was great, as a tall person (1.8 m) like me was able to sit comfortably even with the seat in front at its maximum reclining position,albeit the small aircraft utilized for this particular route. Entertainment onboard was shown using an overhead screen and only one movie were shown on both legs. The food was mediocre at its best along with the drink service.

Flew from Hanoi to Dublin via Paris. The plane was the new Airbus so the entertainment levels were above standard. There were no controls for the air conditioning, so for twelve hours I mixed being freezing cold to sweating profusely. Both meals were returned untouched. Drinks and beverages consisted of a whiskey and ginger ale and a bottle of water. When I asked for another drink I was told "there's not enough for everyone". The stewards disappeared for most of the flight and didn't respond when the attention button was pushed. The toilets were dirty. I will never fly with Vietnam Airlines again.

✅ Verified Review | Three of us booked last minute (5 days before) Vietnam Airlines flights from London to Ho Chi Minh City and the price was incredible. We flew on the Boeing 787, which was spotless and very comfortable. Inflight entertainment was sufficient, plenty of choices to keep you busy for the 12 hour flight. Luckily for me on the way there it was quite empty and was able to obtain a row of three seats and have a large amount of space to sleep. No problem with the food, it was pretty much spot on. The flight back wasn't as good. There was a lot of turbulence, and the food wasn't anywhere near as good of standard as the flight out. The only real negative was the fact the control for the inflight entertainment was in the middle of the armrest -I lost count at the amount of times we had either turned each others films off, called a member of cabin crew or turned the reading light on!

✅ Verified Review | Flew from Singapore to Ho Chi Minh City via Hanoi, Hue with Vietnam Airlines. All three flights in economy class were pleasant, and the flight assistants offered efficient but mostly unsmiling service. The aircraft are showing their age, but the cabins were clean and the seats were comfortable with plenty of legroom. Two flights were on time; the third operated an hour late. A tasty meal was offered on the Singapore-Hanoi flight, and on the domestic sectors a bottle of water and a refresher towelette. All in all good value for the money.

✅ Verified Review | Overall this was a pleasant journey. The onboard service on both sectors (Vientiane to HCMC and HCMC to Melbourne) was good, and the food was excellent (especially on the long haul sector from HCMC to Melbourne). Regional business class seating on the A321 aircraft was comfortable for the short sectors. I was surprised to find pod business class seating on the A330 - it was not lay-flat, but I managed to get a good night's sleep. The only disappointment was the small and outdated IFE monitors, and the lack of storage around the seat compared with other airlines' offering. At HCMC, where we had to be bussed from the plane to the terminal, I was impressed that Vietnam Airlines made sure that business class passengers had a special bus which left for the terminal as soon as all passengers had disembarked. On arrival at Melbourne our luggage was on the carousel before we got to the luggage hall. Vietnam Airlines offers a relatively cheap business class option between Australia and SE Asia, one that is well worth considering.