Vietnam Airlines
 

Has anyone ever flown on Vietnam Airlines? I'm concerned principally about their safety record. Service is not an important factor as it will be a short flight. I noticed that some of their flights are on turbo-props which I like to avoid anyway, let alone in Vietnam!

I was on two of their flights, but it was December 1995. Both were quite memorable unfortunately. Things may have improved since.

The first was a flight from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City on a brand new ATR72. The pilot started down the runway and decided to abort the takeoff. We sat somewhere I presume about halfway down the runway for a minute, then he gunned the engine and took off, using what was left of the runway. I don't have a clue how much runway was left, and I know the ATR72 needs little to take off, but this was the stupidest cowboy stunt I ever experienced. Even my travel mate at the time, who was a very "amateur" flyer, thought there was something rather strange about the pilot's activities.

About a week later I flew from Da Nang back to Ho Chi Minh City in a ancient TU-134, that was about the worst conditioned plane I ever was on. It truly was being held together with yards of duct tape. In addition the air conditioning system was acting up (the outside temperature and humidity were both around 90). The entire hour trip the upper part of the cabin was foggy from the a/c. I've experienced this type of condition on US planes before, but it usually goes away in a matter of a minute or two.

Would I get on a Vietnam Airways flight again? Probably, if I bought a ton of extra life insurance for the benefit of my estate.

[This message has been edited by Craig6z (edited 05-01-99).]

Thanks a lot, Craig6z. Hopefully things have improved since the dramatic events that you experienced in 1995! I have to fly them this summer from Hue (in central Vietnam) to Hanoi in the north. It will be on a Fokker plane which at least it's a jet. Thanks for the advice - I have to fly them anyway ...

I seem to recall they had a bad crash last year or the year before. It was due to bad maintenance.