Funny thing is that I actually asked VN early this year and they told me there was no (at least official) priority immigration service at SGN. Just asked on arrival and showed my BP. Took us all of perhaps 15-20 minutes from the time the door open to being out landside with bags. This was from the easternmost gate.

Thanks for the info. I'm heading into HAN on the way out and SGN on the way back (but maybe for a 6-hour layover I just eat and drink) so can perhaps compare and contrast.

How was your trip? Do business class ticket holders get fast track immigration at SGN?

So. SGN will be in a week but I did it in HAN this morning. On the far left of the immigration there are two �special� lines; diplomatic and �skyboss� which is for business and status holders I think. That said, I took my boarding card out of my passport on the plane to see if I was asked for it; and I wasn�t. The arrivals hall was very busy but the skyboss line was empty so I was in the baggage hall in about 10 mins after setting foot on the air bridge, land side about 10 mins later. Very pleasantly surprised.

That's good to hear. I look forward to your comments for your SGN trip next week.

Sums up Vietnam in a nutshell. Officially, it doesn't exist as that would be unfair. However, if you are in the know or have the right connections then it is possible.

so, how was your experience ? As J class passenger, did you get fast track immigration?

+1. Would like to know the answer to this for both arrival & departure.
In the meantime, I can confirm the following for departure priority immigration lanes at SGN.
DO get access:
- J Pax on Vietnam Airlines (unsure of other airlines, but surely, they must).
- APEC Card Holders
- Possibly some other category of PR/business visa w/ special biometric ID that clears the priority eGates
DO NOT get access:
- FF status holders, even of Vietnam Airlines, in Y or PE (nothing unusual here, same as BKK)
- Families with babies/small children, elderly, mobility impaired, etc. Passengers in wheelchairs will have an airport employee escort them to the front of the lines, but of the main lanes, not priority ones -- at peak hours, this seems both callous and inefficient. Not a good look.

I fly into HAN a lot. Often on China Southern, so my boarding pass will have Sky Priority on it usually (from Delta Diamond status -- even though CZ is not part of Skyteam, they still have relation with Delta). The Skyboss line is where I head and half the time I get turned away because I'm not on Vietnam Airlines..... the other half the time, no problem. Sometimes even without a CZ or VN boarding pass, I can get in the line and not be hassled, other times no way. Families with small children are routinely allowed in that line so if you have a small one, head to the Skyboss line.

If you have an APEC card, you're also allowed in that line.

My experience with both SGN and HAN is sometimes you breeze through due to not many people, other times it is a zoo and very tiring to stand in line for a half hour or more.

Datapoint from yesterday: 1.5 hours (18:25 to 19:55) wait in SGN to get though immigration

I had actually been free-upgraded to Business on Cathay Pacific but didn�t think to try the �Skyboss� line (or the $25 USD hack suggested by my Viet line mate) ;-)

The "like" is for the data point, not for the experience you had to endure. That completely sucks.
1.5 to 3 hours as the "new normal" for arrival/departure immigration at SGN is going all kinds of viral on social media. The Fast Track providers may be chortling thinking this will drive more business their way, but it's equally likely to have the broader knock-on effect of diverting passengers to other destinations where there is a clear definition of who is and who is not entitled to the priority immigration lane -- the obfuscation of which they directly profit from.

Absolutely - though, to be frank, the Fast Track providers should do a better job at marketing themselves as I would have likely paid 25 to 50 USD in an official manner to skip that line once faced with it. There was no real signage and no �staffers� telling people where to go or what their options were.

As for returning, yes, absolutely, I�m less inclined to visit places a second time that have the level of hassle at Immigration (I had a similar experience in Jordan 2 years ago and would think long and hard before returning). I�m laughing in advance at how my Singapore immigration experience is going to go on my next stop - a world of difference.

Edit to Add: I am aware of the proximity to Tet, which could contribute to the crowds, but my other line mate, a woman from Hong Kong, told me that the lines are �always like this.� So, take that with what you will :-)

IME, they aren't always like this, but frequently very bad, and unfortunately quite unpredictable. We arrived on a very early flight a couple months ago and walked up directly to the counters with no wait at all, but this was purely a matter of luck. Looking at the monitors at baggage claim, five widebodies landed within minutes of our flight, and I'm sure the people on the last plane waited for a while. One antidote is to fly into smaller airports -- in the case of Vietnam, we had great success with PQC, although a friend just experienced a 20 minute wait there. DAD might still be ok in off-season, but is very busy nowadays in summer. When departing SGN/HAN, VN Business passengers can use the APEC/Diplomat lane, but this isn't posted clearly (or at least not easy to figure out in an insanely crowded immigration hall), so you have to know where to go. If you arrive at a peak time and aren't in VN Business, it's probably not a bad idea to use an expediter, although the cost I saw quoted in the PH Saigon thread was rather more than $25.

Few other things take the joy out of travel like arriving to an hour+ immigration wait. Over the last 20 years, I've had these lengthy waits frequently in Bali, Malaysia, and Macau (all of which have improved significantly), and these days Vietnam and Japan are my biggest problems. At least in Vietnam you can solve the problem with money (by flying VN Business or paying an expediter), but in Japan, the only option if you don't want to roll the dice on wasting two hours at HND/NRT/KIX is to fly into secondary airports like KOJ or SDJ.

Yeah, to Vietnam's "credit," I had an 1.5 hour wait in Japan at KIX last month, as well, so they aren't the only one with this problem. However, I am already dreading the wait at departure (at least with Japan, it's eGates on departure for me) and just know I'll end up getting to the airport far too early as I'm a ball of nerves when waits are quoted at "hours" and not minutes.

The more shocking thing I learned is that Vietnamese citizens are treated to the same ordeal unless they pre-register for Autogates on arrival (and aren't eligible for Autogates on departure). Wow!

Saigon also has very unpredictable traffic, so if you get stressed easily, it makes sense to plan to aim to reach the airport 2.5-3 hours before your flight. My SO gets panicky, so I have made a habit of aiming to arrive at the airport an hour before I would if I was traveling alone. Last week, we had unusually light traffic on our way to SGN and zero lines at priority check-in/security, so were at the lounge 2.5 hours before our scheduled departure. Vietnamese lounges are nothing to write home about, but better than sitting in a Grab with a woman who's screaming, "we're not gonna make our flight." I suspect booking a transport/expediter package through your hotel would give you extra peace of mind, but IME they will also often err on the side of suggesting an early departure from the hotel.