s0ssos

Vietnam Airlines bombards your phone with bidding for upgrade offers. So choose your poison. But at least it is from Vietnam Airlines, plus Vietnam Airlines does let you know if your flight time changed (by phone). I think the other 2 carriers could care less.

As others have noted, if there is a little price difference you should choose Vietnam Airlines cause your chances of your flight getting cancelled is lower. If it is a lot, I guess you can take a chance.

ProleOnParole

Thank you for all the advice. I'm mostly concerned about the name-change scam as outlined by the OP. This would be something new to me as well.

Also, are flight delays in Vietnam airline-specific or is it more to do with airport or airspace restrictions, like in China? And then VietJet would get affected more because with smaller fleet they have less room for maneuver?

BTW, I wanted to compare the prices following your suggestion but VN website seems to be down for me at the moment.

IceTrojan

It's airline specific, there aren't airspace issues in Vietnam. VJ does seem to run their fleet at 105% of utilization, with no spares in place.

I don't know why the media keeps giving VJ's CEO props.

ProleOnParole

That explains everything. Thank you!

s0ssos

Cause she is female? Just a guess.

percysmith

Thanks too. I need to self-connect from Hanoi to Nha Trang next May. VN or Jetstar was my Plan As but I'll pay special attention to avoid Vietjet now.

s0ssos

Jetstar is even worse. Do not imagine anything similar to the Australian operations.

percysmith

I tried it once on a connect to Danang.

Very satisfactory, even on a self-connect. But then again, I am aware I might have lucked out - don't want to risk them on an IRROPS.

ftrichard

We just used them for an internal flight from Nha Trang to Hanoi - the afternoon departure.

I booked direct on the web site (I never book flights or hotels through a third-party agency as IMO you're just inviting difficulty if you ever need to interact with the service provider).

I checked in on line on the web site and checked in one bag at the airport.

Flight was a pretty new plane, on time, bag arrived, all good. Reminded me of Air Asia (ex-KUL) in pretty much every respect.

Reading this thread did remind me of our airport check in though. There was no queue and while I was fishing my boarding pass out of my bag to check the luggage in a woman marched up and literally pushed in front of me to check herself in first. I thrust my boarding pass on top of hers and gave her a truly filthy look. She recoiled. It's the only language these types understand.

I'd used VN for Saigon to Nha Trang earlier in the week. Didn't really see much difference except that I had to pay for the checked luggage with VietJet. Neither offered any service on the plane and VN was older.

Saigon to Nha Trang is a short cheap flight with both carriers so I chose VN. But on the Nha Trang to Hanoi route there was quite a substantial difference in price and I preferred the afternoon departure time of VietJet so they got my business.

myleguy

Can't tell from their website, do you get to bring on a "personal item" in addition to a legally sized piece of cabin baggage?

invisible

Please note that VietJet does wight hand carry luggage and even if the weight is even .5kg over, they will force you to check it.

myleguy

Okay, thanks. But still not clear on whether a personal item (e.g. purse or computer bag) is allowed in addition to one piece of cabin baggage.

IceTrojan

Only if the total weight doesn't exceed 7kg.

s0ssos

Yea, if it goes well all is fine. First time taking Jetstar Pacific intra-Vietnam was fine (delayed an hour, which is nothing there).
Next time took it and waited, and waited. Til past departure time. No info in English (nor much in Vietnamese, from looks of other waiting passengers). Had to exit (luckily other passengers told me we were exiting the terminal) and go wait for new tickets from Vietnam Airlines. Only 4 hours late (but then, the longest flight in Vietnam is only 2 hours) in arriving. You also had to be proactive in getting rebooked, because it seems sometimes the agent miscounted people (they handwrote names, etc).

LaydeeSarah

How rigourously is this enforced?

I'm looking to book at flight with them from Hanoi, I will only have one bag, a small rucksack. I would say it would be 6-8kg but have no scales to check - until I get to the airport. 7kg is a very small allowance. Do they proactively check weight of bags for hand luggage only passengers? Or are they looking to weigh bags that look large? I'm sure I could reduce the weight by wearing a couple of extra layers which seems daft. Be good to hear opinions/experiences.