***Video flight report available at the bottom of the article
VietJet Air (VJ) is a new budget airline in Vietnam and has kept expanding its network both internationally and domestically. I don;t travel with VJ oftenly because I stick with Vietnam Airlines. Seriously, I prefer tradional airlines to budget ones. But still, I decided to take a chance to experience this budget airline.
I bought the ticket few days in advanced. The flight was from Ho Chi Minh City to Da Nang. The fare was 48$ including base fare, fee, tax, front seat, meal combo. It was good enough for 1-hour flight.For the seat selection, I paid 4$ for seat 1A in the Skyboss cabin (aka VietJet Air's premium service). I also paid 2.5$ for the meal combo. It was cheaper if purchasing meal combo online in advanced.
I went to the airport early. I didn't check in online because I expected to check in at the kiosk at the airport. Unfortunately, the check-in kiosk didn't work due to some reasons. It was kinda disappointed because last time I used this machine for the flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Phu Quoc. I had no choice but lined up for check-in.
I got into the CIP lounge after that. I'm not Skyboss passenger although I bought the Skyboss seat. Skyboss passengers can access to Skyboss CIP lounge at the domestic terminal. I used my Priority Pass to get into the serviced lounge that serves both Skyboss and Priority Pass cardholders. The lounge was quite and I was the only one there at that time. It seems that not many people buy Skyboss tickets.
The flight was delayed 55 minutes due to late arrival of the aircraft. Then the gate was changed. The heavy raining happened after that and the flight was further delayed for about an hour.
For this flight, I traveled with VJ's first Airbus A321 (most of VJ's fleet are Airbus A320s). This plane is also the 9000th Airbus aircraft. What a special plane.
The chief purser welcomed passengers with big smile. My seat was 1A and surprisingly, there was no passenger in row 1 and 2 except for me. There were few passengers in row 3, 4 and 5 (Skyboss cabin).
After the flight took off, one of the cabin crew came and asked me if I purchased the meal online or not. After confirming by checking my boarding pass, she brought the meal combo to my seat. I chose Singapore style noodle. The meal came with a small Aquafina bottle. The food was good. I love it.
Video report of the flight:
Thanks for this FR.
How late did the flight arrive finally ?
It was 2 hours delayed :D
Thanks for this FR,
Cheap flight but not so confortable airline.
Meal and seat selection are really cheap too.
I have impression that they try to copy a bit Air Asia commercial strategy
Air Asia commercial strategy for sure !
Well, it's quite OK for 1 hour flight :P
Helle Travip
Xinh cam on for your flight report
VietJetAir is not my best experience but it's not so bad in comparaison with European low costs airlines. This low cost had some difficulties with schedules. Hopefully they still have great fares and i like to fly with them for short flights in Vietnam. I'm curious with their new long destination <> but the last report makes me a bit scary now. It's perfect for 1 hour flight.
Not so confortable ? as usual ; low cost is low cost ; 180 seats in a A320 is 180 seats !
I'm still waiting their cabin crew members in swimsuits !!
I have no idea about the flight to Seoul but 1 hour flight from SGN to DAD is quite OK. :)
Thanks for sharing this rare report on VietJetAir! The colors in the cabin remind me a lot of AirAsia. Interesting that a low-cost airline has a loyalty program that can give lounge access. Do they actually close the curtain in the Skyboss cabin? And what is the difference with skyboss seats and normal seats. Is it just more legroom or do they also block the middle seat like European Business class? The meal looks good--that also reminds me of AirAsia. Thanks for this nice report as always!
VJ doesn't have loyalty program. The lounge is just for Skyboss class passenger and Plaitinum/Gold members of Mobifone (mobile operator company). Well, there is curtain to separate 2 cabins but for this flight, they don't close the curtain. I forgot to write about this. Skyboss seats have more leg room than normal seats and they don't block the middle seats also. Sometimes I just feel that SKyboss is a very ridiculous class of VJ :P
I should buy Vietnam Airlines business class instead of Skyboss full fare. That's why I just bought normal ticket and buy separated Skyboss seat.