Ho Chi Minh City Airport

Last time I use SGN was more than 10 years ago. The facilities are definitely significantly improved. However service was still as bad as before if not worse. Landed from Singapore with SQ. Walk straight to immigration. Staff are extremely rude and unfriendly could not careless attitude. Luggage arrived relatively quick considering it was the only flight at the time. Everyone had to go through custom inspection machine only one machine available so it was a long queue. Between customs and waiting areas are money changers and airport taxi agents you do not feel safe at these counters. Once you out again a lot of black market taxi drivers trying to grab your attention. All in all it was fast but unpleasant experience. A lot of room for improvement.

Arrived and departed to and from MNL on both red-eye flights. Immigration was fast no paperwork needed (arrival Cards declaration forms etc). Check-in hall for departures is large and spacious enough. Not many food choices on the restricted area after clearing departure immigration and customs. Very clean toilets. Be careful of the taxis serving the airport - best to take taxis from reputable companies.

Security at Ho Chi Minh City International Airport is lax. Travellers need to be on their guard against theft. I had a carry on bag stolen when in the process of checking in my luggage at the Jet Star check in counter. Security guards are not checking individuals coming into the airport. This means as happened in my case a person was able to come behind me posing as a traveller and while I was speaking to the check in counter staff member steal the bag and easily exit the airport with it.

Flight from LAX was exhausting and I found the Airport terminal quite new immigration was fast toilets were clean but the baggage part was actually quite slow.

Arriving in SGN off a SQ flight no hassles. Breeze through immigration bags came out quickly and efficiently and security screening was fine. Only downside no shops open at midday. Departing SGN domestic to Da Nang was a pain delayed half an hour then an hour and so on until it got to two hours! Luckily the air con was working and a gentleman gave our group free meals for being delayed so long.

Arriving and departing from this airport can only be described as total chaos. Waiting for 2 hours for a visa on arrival to transfering to domestic departures. If transferring to a domestic flight give yourself 4 hours or you could quite easily miss your connection.

Check in at SGN with EVA Air was okay. Waited at the gate in the new terminal which has come along way since 2005 when I was last there. Big glass windows let you see all the action out on the tarmac. I like that they make all the greeters and well wishers wait outside the airport so only passengers are in the terminal. The space between the x-ray machines on exit is far too small and creates a bottleneck of people trying to leave the terminal after collecting luggage.

The airport has two terminals: International and Domestic which are not connected so any connection forces you to leave the building and go to the other one using a sheltered walkway which is sufficient protection from the rain but not airconditioned. The queues for Passport control and security check are reasonable I have never waited longer than 10 minutes. Friendliness is a different issue. Once outside the taxi-mafia is a real pain especially late evenings (after 9PM) when it becomes more difficult to catch a decent taxi. The taxis from "Saigon Airport Taxi" company are usually available in abundance but the local Expat community avoids them like a plague and for good reason. Queuing for Taxis is a unheard-of concept in Vietnam so don't even try to be polite it is catch as catch can. Departures are ok not much to do airside but at last some decent (but overpriced) food options and a massage place (also overpriced). Again no long queues for passport control and security check.

Very shiny and big and new - really much too big considering the number of passengers and the new terminal seems a bit of a white elephant given that they're planning a brand new airport for HCMC in the medium term. I can't say anything about arrivals but processing was pretty speedy for departures - I even got a smile and some friendly conversation from the guy at the immigration desk which are rare in the typically glum and/or stern world of Vietnamese officialdom. As other travellers have commented the duty-free and food in the airside section are pretty expensive - 3 USD for tiny little cakes at one of the cafes for instance and I paid 4 USD for a pretty but not incredibly remarkable fridge magnet. What it is really lacking is a newsagency - there's precious little to do if you have to wait there for a couple of hours (if you don't fancy paying through the nose to dine at one of the restaurants upstairs) and grabbing a decent magazine or book would be a good way to cope. At the moment all that seems to be available are the propagandist Vietnamese English-language papers - not exactly a substitute for The Economist. Overall it's hardly going to compete with KLIA Changi or Bangkok as a SE Asian hub but it's clean and efficient enough not to be the complete nightmare you might expect in a communist country.

Departing for London via Bangkok was quick and easy check in and passports also quick. Very pricey food (seven US dollars for a basic poor quality sandwich) and drink.