soorox

Vietnam Airlines & Tarom are expected to join SkyTeam in June next year!

Wow VN only took 1 yr to join! This would help promote tourism in SE Asia and puch SGN & HAN to be major HUBs!

Vietnam Airlines to join SkyTeam alliance in June

Vietnam Airlines Corp., the country’s state-owned carrier, and Romanian carrier Tarom SA will join the SkyTeam alliance in June as the group expands its operations in Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe.


The governing board of SkyTeam made the decision Thursday in a meeting held in Incheon, South Korea, Korean Air Lines Co., the country’s biggest airline and a SkyTeam member, said in an e-mailed statement Thursday.

Joining the alliance will help Vietnam Air and Tarom expand their networks, boost sales and cut operating costs through cooperation with other group members. SkyTeam comprises 11 airlines at present including Delta Air Lines Inc. and China Southern Airlines Co.


http://www.thanhniennews.com/travel/...7&newsid=53483

Aviatrix

I can hardly contain my excitement...

hsnu84053

still no news on CI and MH??

it sounds more and more ridiculous to me...

N830MH

No, not yet. We hasn't hear anything more news lately. I will find out any more new info from CI or MH. I would like to be consider to joins into the Skyteam Alliance in near of the future.

Supersonic Swinger

Has anyone here had any experience of VN airlines? Also, what are SGN and HAN like to connect through? Their website seems to assume Vietnam is your destination and doesn't allow you to book say SIN-SGN-Vientiane?

TheDrIsAirborne

I flew VN HAN-SIN in October to connect an open jaw I was flying on AA/JL (NYC-NRT-HAN...SIN-NRT-NYC).

Normally, this ticket purchased online would've been extremely cheap (like $49, competitive with LCC's, but VN is a major airline!)--but I booked too late and had to book premium economy. The plus side was this got me an exit row, lots of space.

More to the point, I thoroughly enjoyed my VN flight in coach. Best Y experience I had--and I had nice things to say about JL Y as well. Great food, great service, and the plane (which was at capacity) just felt spacious. I'm not sure what it was, it just felt spacious and open. (Perhaps it was just because I'd spent a week in Hanoi, which is quite crowded!).

Anyway, very impressed. Wish they were joining One World instead!! (98% of my paid travel is on AA).

Enjoy!

Question:
Will you still be able to get AsiaMiles on a VN flight once in joins skyteam??

soorox

Vietnam Airlines current code-shares;

OW: QF, AA, JL, CX
Strong links with both CX & JL don't know if these will last, but who knows

ST: CZ & KE
Strong Links with KE & VN was the first SE Asian airline that CZ code-shared with

Possible scenarios,
1. VN drops the AA code-share in favour of DL & code-shares with them
2. QF code-share might be dropped, but who knows as QF code-shares with AF anyways
2. VN might pull in JL to SkyTeam
3. VN code-shares with AF, SU, DL for flights in & out of VN
4. MH might jump on a code-share with VN
5. VN might launches it's own flights to AMS, LHR, LAX, ATL, PRG & SFO while increasing OZ flights to daily & European flights to daily
6. Subsidaries Siem Reap Airways & VASCO to also participate in SkyTeam
7. A better Product on VN birds
8. A better Golden Lotus Plus FFP to compete with others
9. SkyTeam airlines to base SEA flight in SGN
10. VN might even order the Airbus A380

Denolloyd

I'm hoping with Tarom joining DL will have more feed to/from OTP in order to bring back DL134/135. I hate having to connect in CDG...

florin

RO is totally behind the times. I find it a crappy airline in almost every way. I'm surprised SkyTeam let them join the club, but OTOH more earning/redemption options are always welcome.

I did fly that DL route once (JFK-OTP); thankfully it was in BE. The crummy old 763s that DL uses are awful, especially in Y. Why not connect in AMS instead of CDG tho? Is PRG an option?

bodory

Good news !

VN is an excellent airline IMO. And their network is expanding. That will be a great addition to fly from Europe to Australia and vice versa.

I do not know about RO.

Denolloyd

I generally user award Tix when flying to OTP. Thus, I take the lowest redemption route offered. Often, its via CDG. I have gone through AMS and FCO. Naturally, AMS is preferred. The best option however is BE JFK - OTP.

As a side, what negative experiences have you had with RO? Although I have never traveled with them, my wife (Romanian so potential for bias ) swears by them.

Lastly, while the 763s may not be state of the art, I do not find them to be crummy. BE on the 763 is perfectly comfortable, and Y is pretty much "ok".

N830MH

VN has already been on orders 4 A380 will expecting to be deliveries in between 2014 or 2015 timelines. Please referred the original thread from Newsstands:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/newss...rs-4-a380.html

I am looking forward to see A380 will expecting to be there.

STelite

Just to confirm, Vietnam is going to be joining as a full member and Tarom as an associate?

I've been hearing conflicting information on the Skyteam official page they say that the airlines will be be joining as full and associate members respectivly.

However in a few other articles I've read that both are joining as full members, can anyone clarify?

http://skyteam.com/news/headlines/20091021.html

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news...117_54972.html

sbm12

What program does Tarom use for their loyalty scheme? If it isn't one of a sponsor airline then they wouldn't be able to join as an associate member, right?

Henry III

Tarom currently have their own FFP (SmartMiles); but you're right: as a SkyTeam Associate Member, they have to adopt their sponsor's FFP. In this case, the sponsor is Air France so, Flying Blue gets even bigger!

-- Henry