Have flown VN a few times. They are ok - Skytrax 4 stars. Over the years I seen improvements… online check-in, choice of seats, more orderly at airport check-in, better meals, IFE, newer a/c, new crew uniform and better language ability of crew engaging pax in English (including check-in staff).
Overall, VN Economy is fine product if you’re satisfied with above average inflight service.
Meals – Comes with menu. Two choices of mains – nothing to shout about. A range of drinks. Lots of instant cup noodles for in-between snacks… that’s all they have though for main cabin.
IFE – Hardware: Your luck depending on the a/c. On my outbound flight (A330-200), about 50% screens were not working. Survived on movies on my notebook. On my outbound flight ex-DME (A300-200), had a newer a/c and all screens were working on the new AVOD touch screen. IFE Programing: This part sucks… Movies, documentaries, tv shows, music not the latest. But you can find something you miss to catch up.
Crew – polite, courteous, helpful and as stated earlier, much better English language ability and more smiles than previous years. However, you’d only see them actively working during drinks and meals service. After that, they are all resting/sleeping/doing their own stuff at the galley. On the 10 hour flight HAN to DME, there was only one water run service in between the 2 main meals but you can help yourself to drinks and cup noodles at the galley. Main announcements were made by Chief Purser in Vietnamese, English and Russian. Procedural announcements like fasten seat belts due turbulence, prep for landing were pre-recorded in the 3 languages. Captain came on at the start and ending of the flight to give the usual flight direction, weather, time information in Vietnamese and English.
I don’t mind flying VN long-haul again but on their new A350 and B787s.
3 Comments
You were lucky to have such nice service on your journey. I also travelled on Vietnam Airlines before, it was terrible!
You’re quite right too. Most of my previous flights with VN I had cabin who didn’t smile, engage with pax or just didn’t feel like working. This year was an exception. On all sectors short SIN-HAN and SGN-SIN and long to DME vv, I could see improvements. But, they are still miles away from TG, PR, CI. Let’s not even talk about SQ, CX, MH, etc.
1. http://flight-report.com/en/report/17899/Vietnam-Airlines-VN599-Hong-Kong-HKG-Ho-Chi-Minh-City-SGN
2. http://flight-report.com/en/report/17900/Vietnam-Airlines-VN598-Ho-Chi-Minh-City-SGN-Hong-Kong-HKG
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