Vietnam Domestic Options
 

Hi Everyone. We are flying HKG-SGN then we need to get over to DAD to fly back to HKG (yes - we booked the new year mistake fare) in late September.

Right now we will arrive in SGN at 10:15 then our departure from DAD is at 20:10. Both are on CX.

We need to book a one way ticket to get ourselves from SGN to DAD. There are a ton of options, so we are thinking of aiming for something around 14:00 arriving at DAD by 16:00 as that hopefully will give us enough time to clear customs and check in as well as give us some buffer for delays.

Although VietJet and Jetstar are the cheapest but when adding in all the fees (i.e. booking fee and luggage fee) VN is only about $5-10 more per passenger.

I am hoping you can impart some general thoughts on which airline we should book and whether we are risking this too much or if you feel we have enough buffer built in?

Thanks!

VN is a much better option if the price is even in the same ballpark. I have flown VietJet and Jetstar when it cost half the price of VN but it takes a pretty big savings to get me to make that decision.

Also, particularly with VietJet, your actual arrival time may vary quite significantly and quite randomly from your scheduled arrival time.

So given the fact that I have things relatively tight it’s best to go with VN as they are more reliable.

One more question how much time should I plan for Intl to domestic transit at SGN?

VN is better. VietJet is several steps above Jetstar in my opinion. I wouldn't hesitate to fly Vietjet if it's a decent savings. But VN is definitely better if anywhere similar in price.

Timing depends on visa and bags, specifically if you're doing VOA or have e-visa, or already have a full visa. But basically looking at immigration time of 15-45 minutes most likely, up to an hour once in awhile. Baggage is usually done by 30 minutes, so if you wait on visa it's maybe already on the carousel, if you move quickly through immigration a short baggage wait maybe. Walk to the other terminal is 5 minutes. All in all, an hour is usually pretty good plan to get to domestic terminal check-in for a tourist.

Thanks everyone! We went with VN as it was only $10/pp more over VietJet and $5/pp over Jetstar after factoring in the additional fees. Since we do have a firm schedule and need to be in DAD in time for our HKG flight I figure VN is much more reliable operationally than the LCCs.

If the fares are similar , I would just go for the schedule suiting me the best. VN, Jetstar and Vietjet are fine for that sort flight
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I do not envy you. You will have to get up very early to catch your SGN flight at 8:35 and by the time to get back at HKG at 23:05, you will be tired/bored of airports.
VN is clearly the best choice and they have very frequent flights (every hour till 14:00).

I would second the word of caution about visa on arrival. The line can be quite long..Maybe not at 10 in the morning, but you should err on the prudent side. If you are visa-exempt or already have a visa immigration should be pretty fast. I would include a possible delay of CX767, one hour for getting the bags and clear customs, then transfer to domestic and check bags. Maybe book the 2pm VN flight or later. I think next is 4pm arriving 5:20.
The problem at DAD is that CX check-in counter only opens like 2h before departure and nothing to do even if new terminal is nice..The lounge that CX uses at DAD is nice but you need to check-in to access it.

We are actually flying YYZ-HKG-SGN with 3.5 hours layover in HKG before hopping on the SGN-DAD flight to begin our uber cheap biz CX trip to JFK. Not ideal and will be a long trip, but a small price to pay for the $700 biz fare. We will have an overnight in HKG before our HKG-JFK flight though. We are spending a week in Vietnam on the return.

We booked the 2pm SGN-DAD flight on VN as I figured it would be good to balance the buffer on both ends in case we run into issues. I am thinking about applying for a multi entry visa as we will be entering Vietnam twice in less than a week...

Does the domestic side of DAD have a lounge that may be accessible by PP?

there is no PP lounge in the DAD domestic terminal, only international. There is a VN lounge, so if you have ST status...
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