Vietnam Airlines

I had never flown with Vietnam Airlines however after my recent trip from Hanoi to Kuala Lumpur my opinion has changed. It was a comfortable flight with very nice staff and good quality food seats were comfortable.

SIN-SGN in Business on A321. Excellent 2 hour flight on time departure and early arrival. New airbus 321 with comfortable and spacious business class seats in a 2x2 configuration. The whole trip was vastly superior to European carriers on short haul flights with a generous and tasty choice of hot meal welcome drink and hot towels. An extra bus to the terminal (apron parking) for business class passengers upon arrival. Speedy and easy immigration in Ho Chi Minh and the luggage on the belt before we got there.

Flew Gatwick to Hanoi outwards and Saigon to Gatwick inwards. We were pleasantly surprised having read a number of adverse reviews. Outward flight was slightly delayed for 1 hour on the outward flight due to congestion we were kept informed. We travelled premier economy and this proved very good value for money. Inflight staff were friendly helpful and competent. Some were not English speakers but they understood the principle of customer car. In flight special meals were provided and in flight food was excellent. I'd be happy to recommend Vietnam airlines for flying direct to and from Gatwick to Vietnam. Internal flights with this airline in Vietnam were also good and punctual.

LGW-HAN-SGN REP-LGW. It did not start well as our flight from Gatwick left 2 hours late with us sat on the plane for all of that time. The flight itself was fine the food was good and plentiful and despite previous reviews all the IFE screens seemed to be working the entertainment choice was however poor there were no service issues as flight attendants were never far away the plane is however quite old. The flight from Hanoi to HCM at the point of wheels up the right hand engine hit a bird. This resulted in another 2 hrs sat on the plane awaiting confirmation no damage had been done. This plane was ancient and you could feel springs in the seat. The next flight from REP to SGN was great. Flight left 10 mins early took only 42 mins instead of an hour on what looked like a brand new plane. We then were to connect with a flight back to London and had the pleasant surprise of being given complimentary lounge passes and free food. The flight back left bang on time but this plane was older then the one going out with the same entertainment choice and the food was poor. I would fly again but only when they get some new planes.

I missed a connecting flight en route MEL-SYD to HCM. Qantas domestic flight was over an hour late departing Melb so missed VN air flight to HCM from Sydney. Qantas/Vietnam Airlines offered to fly me back to MEL and start journey again tomorrow or to fly on elsewhere. I chose to fly to Singapore where they put me up and next day flew on to HCM with Jetstar. My only extra cost was for meals and arriving a day late. On return flight HCM-MEL you fly overnight and they crank the heat way up on plane. It's like an 8 hour sauna. Even my wife (Vietnamese) was burning up it was so hot last time. I asked 5 times to lower the heat. They lowered it to 25 degrees (still too hot) and after that ignored me and never responded to calls.

Ho Chi Minh - Da Nang - Hanoi - Phu Quoc - Ho Chi Minh. The first flight to Da Nang was re-scheduled by 3 hours on the day and then delayed a further 45 minutes - no explanation or apology was given. Ground staff seemed to be immune to complaints from passengers. Food was advertised online but only mineral water was given out. No promised food was given out on the flight to Hanoi either and it was delayed. The flight to Phu Quoc offered terrible food and was delayed. The flight back to Ho Chi Minh City did leave almost on time. Staff on all the flights couldn't care less all aircraft were showing their age and flights seem to leave only when Vietnam Airlines decide they want them to. It is frightening when initially you don't see your flight on the departure board at the scheduled time only to find it further down the board at a newly-decided time. I would try one of the competing domestic carriers next time. If this is the quality of SkyTeam then I will personally avoid the whole alliance.

Luang Prabang to Hanoi Hué to HCMC both A321. New aircraft. Flights on time friendly crew clean aircraft and good info from the cockpit. Attention to safety procedures. No IFE but magazines surprisingly good. I lost my credit card on the flight and the friendly ground staff went the extra mile to retrieve it for me in good humour. The Luang Prabang flight had a snack listed but it was just a non-alcoholic drink. Only water on the short Hué flight but it cost so little that anything else would have been worth 10% of the flight price. VN definitely belong to the family of "good" Asian airlines.

MEL-SGN-TPE-SGN-MEL with breaks in between various legs for business meetings. I can only say excellent all round. Vietnam Airlines offer close to 5-Star Service in Business Class if my own previous experiences with other airlines are any guide. I found check-in on Vietnam Airlines can occasionally be rather chaotic mainly because so many apparent first time and naive flyers seem to crowd into the business class check-in or boarding areas with their relatives seeing them off and with no idea of accepted boarding processes. Nevertheless on-board food and wine first rate with an amazing 4-choice main menu on some flights which were all on-time unless airport control dictated otherwise. Superb service from extremely well groomed flight attendants. I would prefer more in-flight comment from the flight crew especially as the flight map on some flights was not working. The Business Lounge in Saigon is quite good and adequate with good views of the tarmac and shared lounges (VN Airlines use the Qantas lounge in Melbourne and China Airlines in Taipei) - quite good. My only gripe was that management of in-flight turbulence and warning seemed poor as was the management of some passengers who completely ignored safety instructions (the guy next to me on one sector put his seat into the fully flat bed position during taxiing for take off which would have meant I would not have been able to quickly leave the aircraft in an emergency). However to be fair to the cabin crew they could do little to solve this problem as they were required to be strapped into their crew seats at the same time of take-off anyway. Very good inflight reading on Vietnam Airlines.

Flew London to Hanoi Hanoi to Siem Reap Siem Reap to Ho Chi Min City internal flight in Vietnam then Hanoi to London. The flight service etc was great. Comparable with BA flights. Great value for money.

Flew LGW-SGN on 21st December. Having read a lot of reviews I was expecting to have some type of trouble with our booking. To be fair I could not fault VN one bit! Business class was not outrageously expensive and well worth the money. Yes the plane/cabin is a bit older and a touch dated but everything worked and the staff were incredibly friendly and helpful. The food was plentiful and the drink continued to flow throughout the flight. For those that care the plane departed and arrived on time. All in all a great start to our Christmas getaway.