Vietnam Airlines

SGN to Colombo and return. Smiling staff and friendly service. A pretty good meal on a fairly short flight with beer and wine included. Clean spiffy if not new Airbus equipment on both legs. Highly recommended.

Ho Chi Minh to Bangkok. Flight time is so short (~65 mins) but full service with food tea and coffee. Cabin attendants but take care passenger well. Entertainment is nothing should have some short videos for relax.

Melbourne to HCMC on the 30th of April. Absolutely fabulous and best value for money. On time great food smiling attentive service clean plane and clean toilet. Vietnam makes a nice stopover on the way to Europe and all in all a great way to fly.

London-Ho Chi Minh-Danang-Ho Chi Minh-Frankfurt-London. Flew out premium economy to Ho Chi Minh. I was presently surprised. Premium economy seats had a lot of leg room and separate cabin. Service very good food acceptable drinks brought constantly they did run out of gin beer and sparkling wine. However we went to the rear galley of economy and they let us help ourselves to the bottle! Sandwiches also served. Crew were pleasant sometimes off hand. However as tvs don't work and the plane is in need of refurbishment. Both internal flights in economy newer clean planes service good left on time. Return flight via Frankfurt upgraded to business with option town resulted in return journey costing only £140 more each than premium. Lots of leg room seat not flat but enabled us to sleep. Food ok service good at meal and drinks time but didn't see them for 6 hours - everyone was sleeping. Most of the plane was held together by tape and it was dirty. TV worked in business but kept falling over! Not sure I would fly with them again.

Back to Germany from SGN to FRA on B777-300 in Economy Deluxe. There's nothing negative to say about the flight - I could sleep all the time between dinner and breakfast. Food service was good and for the night every passenger got a bottle of water. If you want to have anything else to drink the crew reacted very soon and come to the seat.

Flying from FRA to SIN via HAN on board B777-200 and A321. The crew on the long haul flight from FRA to HAN was very friendly and attentive. The food and beverages were more than enough with a very good choice between different kinds of meals. The staff in Hanoi was very helpful and guided me personally to the transfer counter and the security check - so everything was easy to find. The short flight from HAN to SIN (2.5 hours) on A321 was excellent. Staff were friendly and cared about passengers. Beside the short flight there were printed menu cards and a choice between three menus. Both flights were on time and gave me a very good impression of VNA.

The long haul from Gatwick to Ho Chi Min City was appalling. We took off at 12 noon were fed at about 1pm (barely edible) we hardly saw a member of the cabin crew until they gave us breakfast 10 hours later. The inflight entertainment did not function and the end of the arm rest was broken and with sharp edges protruding it was reluctantly taped at the third time of asking. The cabin lights were turned off until we were given breakfast. They were treating it as a night flight. The seat was uncomfortable and the general condition of the plane was shabby and grubby. It was a dreadful trip the cabin crew when they did appear were unhelpful at best. Their internal flights were much better. Counter staff said there were no premium economy seats available this was untrue.

London Gatwick - Hanoi - Ho Chi Minh - London Gatwick. Direct flights and choice of seats are the only positive points. Crew are quite surly and as said before not seen for hours after meals are served. On both flights one of our screens was not working as were quite a few others. When people called the crew they kept saying they will reboot the system but never came back to check so we assumed that either they did not bother looking into it or they knew it was hopeless! Also we flew over 2 different months but the films were not changed with limited choice. Food was awful both Asian or Western style and drinks choice limited. Will not fly again with Vietnam Airlines and will not recommend.

LGW to Hanoi. Very poor flight no entertainment on any of the screens plane scruffy toilets dirty staff not seen unless dishing out food and drink very small amount of drink given and only came round once. Seats very small and not much leg room and I am only 5ft 2. Internal flights were 100 per cent better. Would not fly with Vietnam Airlines long haul again. Flight home to LGW was no better.

London Gatwick Ho Chi Minh City economy. Only airline offering (twice weekly) direct flight but service so poor advise avoiding. The food was OK no drink offered beforehand wine with meal was less than half full plastic beaker the crew disappeared for next 8 hours. Worse they first shut the window blinds and turned off the lights - it was 12 noon departure from London but crew presumably on Vietnam + 6 hours time - and the overhead lights didn't work. Called crew who confirmed they don't work thanks and failed to understand the concept of reporting a fault. And the entertainment system didn't work so 8 hours in the dark in undersized seat with no entertainment or reading light. Fortunately we had two torches so read by torch light. Traveller's tip : take a miner's lamp if you fly Vietnam Airlines.