Intra-Vietnam Air Travel
 

Any advice for booking flights within Vietnam (Saigon-Hanoi, maybe with intermediate stops) ending up in Bankgok? Is there an airpass arrangement that is available and worthwhile?

there are travel agencies all over vietnam, who can do it for you. unless you are going at an unsually high time, i don't think it's worth doing in advance. I don't believe you save much

as a practical matter, the flights are probably ho chi minh city to da nang. then hue to hanoi. you can go from da nang to hue by bus or by train.

Are there choices of airlines or is it only Air Vietnam?

Your choices are VN or Pacific Airlines. Both are generally acceptable.

VietNam - Monopoly Air System
 

As other Poster said - there are two carriers who are very incestuously linked - financially, with VietNam Airlines on top.

The country uses a two-hub system: HCMC/SaiGon and Ha Noi with all destinations south of Da Nang going to HCMC/SaiGon and all destinations north of Da Nang going to Ha Noi EXCEPT Da Nang has flights to both HCMC/SaiGon and Ha noi.

Both carriers are rated US safe and generally employ Foreigner pilots.

VietNam Airlines has a bad habit of cancelling a flight if there are few passengers - with none to minimal advance notice.

Tickets are best bought from Travel Agents with shops (few are IATA rated) or at VN Airlines offices (all over the country).

Flight attendants cute and good service; food services minimal - most flights are around one hour.

External services to Bangkok (~80 minutes) are numerous - Thai and VietNam Airlines are high priced - others (regional) are far better priced with Laos Airlines being the cheapest from Ha Noi.

DON'T FORGET THE DEPARTURE TAX MONEY - USD$ or DONG.

Great info on VietNam (especially the FAQ) at < www.wompom.ca/vietnam/index.htm >. Checkin at airports One Hour Prior.

They accepted Yuan from me a few weeks ago. I suspect they'll take any hard currency.

Hmm. I wonder if this would be a good way to get rid of some Francs and Marks that I never converted to Euros... Probably better not to is my guess.

Hey, maybe the agent you deal with never got the memo on the euro conversion -- you never know.

One way flight SGN - HAN or the train?
 

Mrs. Don in LA and I have to get from SGN to HAN on March 1. I'm still in LA and Cathay Pacific today quoted me a Vietnam Airlines fare of $262 each for that one way trip. Seems awfully high to me, but I have no experience with intra-Vietnam travel.

1. Anyone lnow if that is the price I should expect to pay?
2. Is this a fare I could arrange on one or two days notice and get it cheaper in Ho Chi Minh City?
3. Is the train to Hanoi a viable option? I'm thinking not as we only have seven days total in Vietnam (3 in HCMC and 4 in Hanoi).

Thanks in advance for any guidance.

Don

You can buy a one way SGN - HAN ticket in Vietnam for about $100 USD. There's a VN ticket office not too far from the Caravelle Hotel.

from HAN to DAN
 

I'll be in Vietnam for second time at the end of the month. I want to fly from Hanoi to Danang...then cab it to Hoi An. (good advice re: cabs, etc. here....)

I was going to book in advance, on Pacific, since it seems to be about $45. Will it be considerably cheaper to buy tkt in Hanoi? And, if so, any suggestions for where to find a good tkt office. I should be staying in the Old Quarter.

Also, thinking of taking train from Hoi An-area (know train doesn't stop there) to SGN. Has anyone done this? Should I book this in advance as well?

Thanks.

I'm staying at the Hilton Hanoi Opera right now. One way flight from Saigon was USD $97, far better than the price quoted me back home. Thanks to all the FTers who guided me appropriately!

The hotel is very nice: surprising that it's one of two international Hiltons which will be downgraded come June 1 (Level 3 to Level 2).

In any case, I cant imagine a plane ticket from Hanoi to Danang is going to be much cheaper than $45, so if you can book and pay for it now, you'll save spending your time in the airline's ticket office.

Cheers.

Don in Hanoi

Wiil be in Vietnam next week and looking forward to our revisit to Hilton Hanoi Opera- any new things I need to know as a gold, Don in LA?

We booked out flights from Hanoi to Danang through an agent in Vietnam and the price was 55 USD. Sounds like you got a better price- I would take it!

thanks for replies!

hey - thanks for all the tips. Pricing those intra-vietnam flights while here in the states also got me scared. Its good to know that we can buy good walkup fare while in the country.