Vietnam Airlines

[Stij]

Good morning,

planning to visit Vietnam in februari with the girlfriend.

Does anybody have experience with Vietnam Airlines?

Cheers,

Stij

[kvanhecke]

below average food, worn out seats in their 777-200's(economy class)
flight attendants speak below average english(you don't understand half of what they say during the PA announcements).
but vietnam airlines is the only option if you want to fly to vietnam with only 1 stop(from belgium)
if you have a choice, fly over saigon(ho chi Minh city) far better equiped airport, if you have to spend some time there(especially when returning back to europe)

grz and enjoy(nice country and friendly people)

[regi]

but vietnam airlines is the only option if you want to fly to vietnam with only 1 stop(from belgium)

BEEP: wrong answer. ( just kidding...)
Stijn wants to go in February but Thai will have started already its direct BRU-BKK connection. So also 1 stop.
893 € BRU-BKK-SGN 4-02-20122 > 16-02-2012 ( as example) , just checked it on the TG website.
( maybe stop overs are allowed. )

There are many "buts" what Vietnam Airlines concerns:
TET-festival: try to avoid this period- despite it is nice to be in Vietnam at this time. But all flights are fully booked at high prices. ( expat Vietnamese returning to the motherland ) In 2012 it starts 23rd January. It takes about a week. So try to fly second week of February.
KVanhecke was right about some negative points ( food, seats, English) It seems that there are 3 kinds of classes with VN: dreadful ( domestic flights ), feasable ( long haul) and great ( regional )
I took them on leased B737 and A320 regional and it was > great.
Friends have warned for long haul: bad seating ( despite a theoretical 33" seat pitch you will not sit fine for such a long flight ) + very strict luggage allowance.

Just a thought: try to get a cheap flight to BKK ( +- 600 € ) and fly Airasia for +- 80 € return BKK-SGN.

It depends also a bit on the budget you want to spend. If it was me, I would go for the TG option. No hassle, modern planes, no luggage problems, same company for all flights and good connection.

Also other small idea: ask for triangular flights if you want to visit Hanoi and Saigon as well. With some companies, it is the same price to fly to Hanoi, go overland to Saigon and depart there to XYZ again. It saves you an internal connection between the north and the south.

Ciao ( my Vietnamese is very limited but I remember that ciao has the same meaning in Vietnamese as in Italian but written Chao )

[earthman]

What are you talking about, there are PLENTY of options to get from BRU to Vietnam with 1 stop.

Aeroflot, Quatar, Turkish, LOT, AF, ........ Some only fly to either SGN or HAN. Quatar lets you do the Hanoi/Saigon triangle option for the same price. Connection is obviously in Doha.

Aeroflot return flight to Hanoi starts at about 526 euro per person, connection at SVO.

[regi]

What are you talking about, there are PLENTY of options to get from BRU to Vietnam with 1 stop.

Aeroflot, Quatar, Turkish, LOT, AF, ........ Some only fly to either SGN or HAN. Quatar lets you do the Hanoi/Saigon triangle option for the same price. Connection is obviously in Doha.

Aeroflot return flight to Hanoi starts at about 526 euro per person, connection at SVO.

at least somebody is awake

[Stij]

Thank-you all for your comments!

Aeroflot... cheap... yes... good connection... yes... but... it's Aeroflot. Let's say my excuse is they don't fly to Ho Chi Minh City...
Qatar has an OK price, but or a very bad connection (7 hours overnight!!!) in Doha or an extra stop in Bangkok...
Turkish... also an OK price always stops in Bangkok and doesn't fly to Hanoi...
Air France... a bit more expensive and I hate to change in CDG with my girlfriend's luggage and their flight to Hanoi is operated by Vietnam Airlines... + now they've 3+4+3 seating in Y on their 777's. Big nono!
LOT... great price!!! But doesn't fly to Ho Chi Minh and the outboud connection on Saturday is really bad (10 hours)
Vietnam Airlines... well the comments aren't great... and I still hate to change in CDG... or FRA

So the winner is... Thai! Outbound to Hanoi! Inbound from Ho Chi Minh! Let's support long haul from Brussels! I have to stay a day longer in Vietnam, but I think we'll survive that!

Cheers,

Stij

[regi]

Stijn, can you confort my ego a bit by confirming that you came up with the idea of Thai and a triangular flight by me?

[Stij]

Oh Regi! If we hadn't you on the Forum... where and how would we fly!

No seriously, I thought about the open-gap triangle already myself! But you made me wonder why Thai never came up in the searches I made, and that was because of the non-daily flight to BRU, so we changed our schedule in Vietnam a bit and now it fits!

Cheers,

Stij

[regi]

I will make you doubt again: LOT for 539 €
Yes, I know, long transfer time and only to Hanoi. ( you could use the daytime to visit Warshaw ) But...it is a Star Alliance partner. Sometimes it is possible to get the ticket under LOT, but some flights performed by partners, maybe SN?( afternoon flight) The LOT website suggests already some flights by LH and Singapore Airlines. So I just think it might be interesting to investigate this possibility. Maybe it would even be possible to make a triangular flight by use of LH or Singapore.
I am not sure how you could find out the best solution. Maybe a visit to a Joker office ?

On the other hand, as I stated already, if you look at the Thai option, it sounds the easiest. 13 hours and 16 hours travelling time, still affordable, maybe a stopover allowed at BKK, no nagging about luggage, from Brussels, and 3+3+3 in the B777. ( I was not aware that AF squeezed their passengers in a B777 10 abreast as Etihad and Emirates do it )

[earthman]

LOT is serving the route with a 767. Their 787 will be delivered too late for a february flight.

[Stij]

No, you don't make me doubt again I already looked into that!

On my travel dates the flight is €735.71 and I still would have to add the SGN HAN section.
There's no solution for the 10 hour transfer time as the 9:55 is the last flight tot WAW on saturdays...
Visiting Warsaw in februari sounds like a chilling idea...
Plus I'll regret twice for 10 hours not to have spent 200€ more...
And on top of that, the comments are... not good...

Cheers,

Stij

[azingrew]

"Aeroflot... cheap... yes... good connection... yes... but... it's Aeroflot. Let's say my excuse is they don't fly to Ho Chi Minh City..."[/i]
Now, that woke me up too! Aeroflot has become a good company, certainly on par with any other european airlines, and better than most american. Flew them CDG-LED and ROM-PEK a few month ago and I was impressed. Compared to the ""old" state Aeroflot ( flew CDG - Pyong Yong in 5 ! hops on a TU154 charter, and that was an nightmare), it's day and night and I believe it's a it's very unfair statement.

[regi]

No, you don't make me doubt again I already looked into that!

Cheers,

Stij

good decision.
We are looking forward to read your report end of February.