Vietnam Airlines

✅ Trip Verified | Flew domestic Saigon to Hue 20th Aug. 2019 on their A321. Check-in SGN took 1 Minute (yes!), They stopped priority track in Security screening for Business Class, a major downgrade. Lounge access (Lotus Lounge) given for at least 6 hours as I arrived early from international connection. Lounge was fine, plenty of supplies, though neither luxury foods nor drinks. Baggage handled well. Onboard, I was treated with respect and humble attitude by FAs. Had a pizza for dinner with some Halida beers (my local favorite). Only 8 seats in business class of which 6 was taken. Huge, classical business class seats were very good and soft. In conclusion, no issues, though no extravagancy. Fast track. Affordable ticket, some 130 USD return trip. 32 Minutes delayed departure (arrived 20 Min. late). Airbridge provided in Saigon gives an extra point, otherwise should only be 7/10.

✅ Trip Verified | Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City. I fly with Vietnam Airlines a lot, I am their Gold Level frequent flyer. I always like the staff consideration, the food and to some extend the comfort of the cabin. However, there are 2 things that they really need to improve. They use too many times the bus to bring the customer from gate to the airplane. I got a bad experience today. It is 35+ degree in Hanoi and they board us by bus. As the sky priority customer, I got to board first. There is a stairs to bring us from gate to the bus. The problem is that I have to wait under the heat for about 5 minute before the bus arrive. This should not be the way an airline should treat its customer. Entertainment on aircraft is quite poor on a 2 hour domestic flight for A321 aircraft.

✅ Trip Verified | Trying unsuccessfully 3 times to do on-line check-in for my flight Ho Chi Minh City to Sydney, I called Vietnam Airlines. But my request must have confused the person answering the phone as I was put on hold for 8 minutes. My sim card balance expired. I then tried emailing the airline at 10am. When I returned to Australia I found that the reply had been received at 4.04pm, after I’d packed my laptop into my bag to head to the airport. Six hours for a reply? It told me that there was a problem with the VNA on-line check in. But there was no message on the VNA website to that effect. At the airport I went to Ticketing who told me the flight was almost full. For a special price of only AUD$180 I purchased an upgrade to premium economy. Boarding lounge 27 was full of intending passengers at the boarding time of 7.55 pm for the 8.15 departure and the Boeing 787-9 was waiting at the air bridge. Then at 8.20, ground staff told everyone to move to gate 22. After arriving there, we sat and waited with no explanation forthcoming. 20 minutes later, buses arrived to transport passengers to the aircraft which was parked a considerable distance from the terminal. Still no explanation. On board we saw the safety video with inaudible sound again. In fact, most of the cabin announcements were inaudible. No aircraft movement until 9.38 with take off at 9.47 – 92 minutes late. Still no explanation. The aircraft could not make up such a late departure so our landing slot at SYD was lost. We landed 0906, almost an hour late. Premium economy was good value at the special price. Better meals and service, large, reclining seat, a lot more leg room, but the same In Flight Entertainment which is poor when compared with other airlines. Not much on this flight scored any points for Vietnam Airlines.

✅ Trip Verified | Singapore to Frankfurt via Ho Chi Minh City. This is the worse airline by far that we have flown with. First they sent us a change of flight time 2 days before departure (Singapore - Frankfurt) by 2.5 hours earlier! We do not live in Singapore therefore we naturally had pre-booked weeks before a different flight into Singapore, arriving at approx. 3 hours before our original connecting flight with Vietnam Airlines. The gap then didn't allow for 2.5 hours of flight change time. Trying to contact Vietnam airlines by phone is a futile effort. They are worse if not as bad as bargain airlines where it's impossible to get a hold of anyone by phone. Their automated phone system tells you to press X for English but nothing happens. It goes in a loop in Vietnamese. I then had to be creative and called up Singapore airport and asked to be transferred to Vietnam Airlines check in counter. Still didn't get a hold of anyone. Singapore then suggested I contact them via FB chat. So I did...oh my gosh, let me tell you, if I can gouge my eyes out it would have been less painful. Their English is so poor they cannot understand my concern. They kept insisting (for over an hour) that the flight time didn't change even after I sent them screen shots after screen shots of email confirmation and email notification of change time. Why did you send me a notice of time change of flight if the time didn't change?! But they kept insisting they are right. At the end (after 2.5/3 hours of chatting) they realized they did change the time. And the answer for that was - we are sorry for the inconvenience. That's it? No offer to cover the cost of our new flight booking in order to connect to their flight, clearly all their fault. Unbelievable! Anyway, as far as business class goes, this airline is poor. The seats, while typical business class cabin, are old, dirty and need new upholstery. There are hardly any nooks and crannies to put away your stuff. Flight attendants are friendly enough but they hardly spoke English. They need to train their staff better if they want to be a global airline. Lounges are sub-par. You get better foods at the restaurants in the airport and seating much cleaner outside the lounges (in Vietnam). Stains on their seats and chairs and tables not cleaned on a timely basis. Disgusting. Never again.

Not Verified | Sydney to Ho Chi Minh City. It seems a shame that Vietnam Airlines continues to shoot itself in the foot, instead of improving. My trip from Sydney to Ho Chi Minh City was afflicted by the same problems as in past 6 years. The safety announcement prior to take off was almost inaudible and beyond comprehension. I brought this to the attention of the senior cabin attendant in economy who didn’t seem concerned. Even the video presentation had errors with the actor in the life-vest demonstration blowing across the inflation tubes, not into them. The food served about an hour after departure was okay, not special. Soon after the trays were cleared away we entered an area of quite strong turbulence. The seat belt sign was illuminated and an almost inaudible message alerted passengers, but then the sign stayed on for almost 3 hours after the turbulence had ceased. Naturally, passengers ignored the sign and went about the cabin and to the toilets with no concern from the cabin attendants. As has been the case for years, the in-flight entertainment leaves a lot to be desired, especially when compared to similar carriers. Choices are extremely limited, while the secondary control on the top of the seat armrest repeatedly changes the volume, turns your reading light on or calls the cabin attendant if your rest your arm on it. A serious design error approved by Vietnam Airlines. The pre-landing snack was a beef pie. Mine was cold, and I asked the senior attendant for a hot one. She said nothing, took the tray and disappeared. Soon after, the food server in the other aisle saw that I had no meal and gave me a hot pie. After another 5 minutes the senior came back with my original pie. Is this the best VNA can do with cabin service? Oh, and like every VNA flight I’ve taken in the past 6 years, the unsmiling cabin crew seem to regard their job as boring and a grudging effort. VNA has the potential to be among the top international carriers in the world, but it will take a total attitude turnaround of senior management to achieve this.

✅ Trip Verified | Hanoi to Osaka Kansai. First time to fly Vietnam airlines and we were not impressed. The food in economy was terrible, crew did their bare minimum and we could see them sleeping in their crew seats during take off and landing. Also the plane wasn’t cleaned properly - crumbs and wrappers on the floor. The good thing was the IFE which was very user friendly and quite a few selections.

✅ Trip Verified | Hồ Chí Minh to Tokyo Narita. Good flight, good food, however the pillow smelled. The cabin crews were excellent and care about you. The ticket is quite expensive when bought from Vietnam, the other side is cheaper, however, I satisfy with the cost. Good inflight entertainment.

✅ Trip Verified | Ho Chi Minh to Singapore. Misleading information on website which stated that airline provide 20kg checked in luggage. Instead, they claim that I did not purchase luggage and was force to pay for the check in luggage. Which cost a lot more than the going and return air ticket price! After repeated email to the service desk, they brush the issue away. Even after requesting 3 times to speak with someone higher up, they was no reply from them.

✅ Trip Verified | This is my third time flying between Hanoi and Paris with Vietnam Airlines using premium economy. Check-in was very fast thanks to Sky Priority (Premium Economy guests have Sky Priority benefit during check-in, boarding and baggage claim). The staff at the counter was really responsible. She instructed me all what I need to do as I need to transfer in Paris. Nothing to complain here. Clearing the border control and security check was slow as the airport was over-crowded, and no Sky Priority this time. The seat was very comfortable and convenient. Even though it could not be made like a flatbed, it was enough for me to sleep well. Legroom was very very generous, as this should not be a problem for this class. The seat was just 45cm wide, a little bit small. Two meals were served on this 12-hour flight. I chose to have a seafood meal, even though I do not have any problems with any kinds of food. In general, I was satisfied with both the quantity and the quality of the food. The things I love most is the huge diversity of drinks: Lots of soft drinks, juice, milk and even wines were offered. However, extra non-meal food was bad. As stated in the menu, instant noodles and sandwiches could be ordered at all time, but I failed to order sandwiches. As for in-flight entertainment, since I am Vietnamese, I really enjoy their programs, and I found that Vietnam Airlines really try their best to put the newest and hottest movies on their entertainment. However, another issue happened with the headphone. The in-flight headphones were very old, they have been used for quite lots of years. Also, in my seat, the headphone could not be strictly plugged into the socket, which was really annoying. Flight attendants are helpful and friendly, but I found that they were really tired. Announcements were well played, in three languages (Vietnamese, English and French). This time I think that they spoke really well. In general, I think Vietnam Airlines managed to satisfy all the requirements for a long-haul flight. They also succeeded to make it worth paying extra for Premium Economy. However, in order to be 5-star, they need to improve a lot on the facilities, food as well as in-flight entertainment.

✅ Trip Verified | Hanoi to London. The main complaint was regarding the food, we did not eat a simple thing. Not much leg space either. We did not have any choice of aircraft due to going on a organised tour.