Vietnam Airlines

I am writing to complain about a Vietnam Airlines flight from Hoi Chi Minh City to London 20th April. During the flight I was not feeling well and needed to lie down due to stomach cramps. My husband got up to enable me to do this and asked the flight attendants for help with finding a seat as he had noticed several available. The attendants refused to help and he was standing up for over two hours. Why was there no help given to seek a seat for my husband under these circumstances? It transpired that at least a dozen Vietnamese passengers had been given complete rows of three seats (in order to sleep throughout the flight). We even saw several family members split up in order to have a row of three each, just sitting up for meals. We could not understand why others were squashed into rows of three when there could have been more thought about giving everyone a bit more space not just a chosen few. This had also been the case on the flight out mainly in the middle rows and could not just be a coincidence. (I doubt if individuals had paid for three seats). Also our friends who were seated toward the front of the plane had problems with children talking all night therefore having no sleep whatsoever. They then discovered that they were in fact unsupervised as their mother was in asleep in business class! How was this allowed and why did no attendant intervene? This was one of the worst long haul flights we have ever had with appalling customer service.

✅ Verified Review | Tokyo Narita to Bangkok via Hanoi with Vietnam Airlines. Ominous start at NRT. The departures board had our flight status as "Indefinite" and the massive queue stretched the length of the departures floor. The flight to HAN was to go at 10am but left at 5pm. Reason given was "technical". The late departure meant that we could not make our connecting flight to BKK. The airline put us up at a hotel near the airport, the Me Linh. First impressions were not good. A roach met us in the lobby. But it was OK, it was dead. The hotel seemed new. Concrete dust covered most things in the room apart from the furniture. Our bathroom had no toilet roll, one pillow for 2 people, no aircon remote control, the water ran brown until it cleared. Plastic still covered the TV and refrigerator. Locking the room door caused the lock to break. Staff came to release us. Meal provided was poor. I suspect that no one from the airline checked that this hotel was suitable for their customers. And if not, why not. Flight the next day was due to depart at 9am but left at about 11. A technical issue was again cited as the reason. This further delay again put people under pressure who had rebooked connecting flights from BKK. Airline provided meal vouchers in NRT and HAN. We booked Vietnam Airlines as we had not used them before and wanted to give them a try. We had heard that they had some modern aircraft and were competitively priced. The actual flights were OK. There seemed to be a problem with the FA call button on the Boeing 787-9 armrest. Lots of people were hitting them with their elbows. Food was average. FAs a bit gloomy. IFE OK. This may read like a hotel review but I wanted it to be a reflection of the journey. Would we travel Vietnam Airlines again. Probably. Lightning striking twice

✅ Verified Review | Flew VN1351 from Nha Trang to Ho Chi Minh City on 17 April 2016 (departure time was delayed from 12:15 pm to 12:55 pm) for a connecting flight on a different airline to Singapore. Short flight, 1 hour gate to gate with a little over 30 mins in the air. Flight encountered technical difficulties due to strong winds on landing and had to pull up for a second attempt. That was a first time experience for me. The 2nd attempt at landing was brilliant, hardly felt a bump. I previously lived in Ho Chi Minh City for nearly 6 years and am glad to know that there are excellent, professional pilots in what I'd consider a mediocre airline for a flag carrier. They do, however, try their best in what is a tough consumer market in Vietnam.

✅ Verified Review | Ho Chi Minh to Paris with Vietnam Airlines. I had the seat 10E, meaning directly behind the separation wall, thus no place for my feet.I was firmly blocked between two other persons being as strong as myself. Before the dinner, the staff forgot to serve the cocktails - maybe to finish sooner. Upon my request they served it to me, together with the dinner - which was one of the worst I had on an airplane. In Ho Chi Minh there was no special lane for Premium Economy passengers as at most airports. Can you tell me why I paid the price supplement. Actually this was the sole item which reminded me that I had a Premium Economy seat.

✅ Verified Review | Flew Vietnam Airlines from Ho Chi Minh City to Chu Lai via Hui and Hanoi in economy in March and April 2016 on different tickets. All on well kept A321 aircraft. All flights on time. While it’s a boring airline in terms of design, colours, food, and lacks service on board in economy (if less than 1½ hours flight duration), it gains from cheap airfares, reliable schedules, timekeeping, and quick and efficient luggage handling. Further, they are generous with luggage. Smooth security checks. Extremely fast check in counters and efficient ground staff. In all the three cases it took from 20 seconds to maximum a Minute to check in. The best is that they sell cheap tickets online if bought at right time. These 3, independent flights were costing me less than 90 USD in total - bought on their homepage under campaigns.

Flew from London to Hanoi, Hanoi to Da Nang, Hue to Saigon, Saigon to Phnom Phen, Phnom Phen to Siem Riep, Siem Riep to Saigon, Saigon to London with Vietnam Airlines. The hops were fine and short. The flights into and out of the country were not so good. I paid for the upgrade to Premium Economy which I normally do for long flights. This company provides the least extras than any I have experienced. They only give the bigger seat and foot room. The food and drink is the same as Economy and they do not have dedicated crew to tend to you. On the flight from Vietnam to London 3 of the seats were broken which forced couples to be separated for the flight. The food on the flight to Vietnam was not bad but it was awful on the way back. Once your food had been served you never saw the crew until it was time for the next meal. Don't know where they went. The in-flight entertainment was OK. You usually get newer movies than the ones they showed but I found a couple I hadn't seen before so I was OK. I would recommend that you do not sit in row 10 as the toilets are just in front of you. Row 15 is a curtain away from economy and on the way back I had a child behind me who if he wasn't yelling he was crying. I put in earplugs and the headset on to try to get some sleep.

Booked this fare with Vietnam Airlines from London Heathrow to Sydney via Saigon for just over $4300 at the flight centre expo and on balance it was fantastic value for what you get. Skyteam lounge at SYD is not up to Qantas standards but was more than adequate for our brief stay there. Check in and boarding in business were both a breeze. The first leg was only let down by the age and business class quality of the seats. The seats are old style business and don't recline fully, offer little privacy and not a lot of space to store things. Particularly annoying was when a passenger in front fully reclined in front items fell out of your seat back pocket onto the floor. The route has recently changed from an A330 covering this route and to be honest it feels like a step backwards. After a transfer in SGN we then switched to the 787. This was a 10/10 experience all round. Business class seating that beats QF and BA and SG on the same route (though not EK). Quality professional service and top of the line IFE. Wife and I agreed it was probably the best international business experience we have had. The only let down was the lack of fast track pass on arrival at LHR so we had to queue in the main line. VN really need to sort this out, otherwise the SGN - LHR route in business is quality service at extremely good value.

Bangkok to Tokyo Narita via Hanoi with Vietnam Airlines in Business class. Arrived at Bangkok 5 hours early because of being scared of traffic, and when we got to the check in counter, we were told to wait and asked for immigration forms and the lady at the counter didn't get us any. The same lady that refused us immigration forms checked us in with a smile, which seems genuine! (very strange). The lounge was third party, overcrowded and with some very noisy people. Boarding was slow because of one gateway for both classes, and boarding drinks were served during pushback. We were asked what meals we wanted, and it was the same three things I got 1 year ago. Beef with noodles, pork with mash, and fish with rice. The pork of course, is the worst. I chose beef. One thing about the seat : if you sit in row 4, you will be reclining into the guy at the economy class seat. This cabin staff was especially nice to me by bringing drinks within seconds of the request. Arrival has no transfer assistance, Hanoi airport T2 is new and shiny. Not a lot of shopping. The things sold there the most is just brandy. Lounge is new and modern, natural style, not a lot of food to choose from though. The flight to Narita and the boarding is not very long, full cabin, though only 3 attendants for 28 business class passengers. No after takeoff food served. The breakfast is what is served. Amenity kit to expectation. Fully flat bed, window shaders are not working. The flight attendants had ok English. Overall, a satisfactory experience

Recently flew Vietnam Airlines to Ho Chi Minh from Paris CDG. The economy class seating was okay, nothing too small, and I am not a small guy. The food was okay, standard airplane fare, inflight entertainment was better than I thought! Decent picture and sound quality and a good selection of recent and older films. Unfortunately the staff were unfriendly, unhelpful and dissappeared completely once their duties were completed. The gentleman serving our section of the plane appeared to be very uninterested and rude to me. A pity as the rest of the experience was actually quite good.

Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi with Vietnam Airlines. Check in was fast and efficient using the self-service check-in machine. Once I got to the gate I glanced at my boarding pass and realized that the boarding time was two hours after the original departure time. At no time was I notified of a delay, either by e-mail or during check-in. Boarding was fast. My seat was a bit tight. Service was friendly. We were served a sandwich, beverage and dessert on this 1 hour 40 minute flight. Overall I like Vietnam Airlines, but expect delays and allow plenty of cushion time if you're connecting to an international flight.