Hi guys. Welcome to my next report on Flight-Report. Today, I will fly with Vietnam Airlines from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi on Airbus A330. But first, please check out my trip report about this flight on YouTube. This video is more detailed than the script version on Flight-Report and has more special things there, so I hope you guys will check out, like the video and support to my channel by subscribe Vinavia on YouTube :D
Before dive into this report, I would say that this will be the last trip report about Vietnam Airlines' A330, since the last A330 had left their fleets since last month, ending 12 years of A330's services at Vietnam Airlines.
And here is the script report. Hope you guys will enjoy :D
Today's flight would start at Dometic Terminal, Tan Son Nhat International Airport, Ho Chi Minh City.
Today, I would fly on flight VN246 to Hanoi, and the estimated departure time would be 2:30 pm on the last A330 of Vietnam Airlines (like I said before)
Time to go inside the terminal
Vietnam Airlines' check-in area for Business Class passengers
After check-in was done, I went upstairs to the security check …
… and made into the airside.
Since I'm a full-package Business Class, so I can go inside the Business Class lounge. There are 2 Business Class lounges in Domestic Terminal: one is Vietnam Airlines' Golden Lotus Lounge, and another one is Le Saigonnais Lounge. And I decided to go to Le Saigonnais Lounge, simply because this lounge is bigger and better than VNA's lounge.
Here are some interior views of this route. This lounge was designed in the signature French colonial style in Vietnam in the 40s and 50s, which makes this lounge beautiful, luxurious, and a bit vintage.
Another impressive thing about this lounge is that there were many selections of hot food, and also deserts. (you guys can see that in the video)
I chose some grilled chicken with pasta and Olivier salad …
… Rice porridge with salted egg
And some cakes.
After staying in the lounge for a while, I went to the gate.
The gate for this flight was gate 14, and I would board through jetbridge.
Here was the aircraft for this flight. The registration of this A330 is VN-A381, and this was the last A330 of Vietnam Airlines. This plane had left the fleets of Vietnam Airlines on August 17th, 2019, and it was 7.9 years old.
Business Class passengers would board in the different jetbridge.
This Business Class cabin was in alternating 2-2-2 configuration, with 24 seats.
My seat on this flight was 4K.
Typical Business Class thing: Legroom was humongous ;D
Welcome drink, and cold towel were served after boarding. For drink, I chose a cup of orange juice.
Let's have a look at the seat interior :)
The back headrest can be adjustable.
Reading light
Universal power sockets and USB ports below.
On the left side of the seat, there were IFE controller and cup holder.
Personal screen
On the right side, we had a foldable tray table, which located inside the armrest.
I also had coat hook, and more storage spaces in front of me.
View from my window, and cabin view from my seat.
30 minutes after boarding, the aircraft started taxiing, and safety video was screened.
Take-off
After take-off, menus on flights between SGN and HAN at all times of the day were distributed to the passengers.
And here was the menu on this flight.
During the wait for the meal, I checked out the IFE system. Unfortunately, the IFE system wasn't available on this flight :(
15 minutes later, the meal was served to me.
The main course was a French pasty called "quiche lorraine". It tasted alright, not not my palate though.
And for desert, I had some fruits.
For drink, I asked for a cup of apple juice.
After the tray was cleaned, I asked for a cup of tea.
After a while, I went to the lavatory for Business Class at the front. It was really cleaned and well-equipped in my opinion.
Cabin view and view from my window.
In the seat pocket, I had: a sickness bag, a safety card, 2 Vietnam Airlines' inflight magazines: one is Heritage, and another one is Heritage Fashion.
On the rest of the flight time, I had the Bed mode of this seat.
Even though this seat cannot reclined into 180 degrees flat bed, this angled bed still brought comforts.
After about 90 minutes flying, the aircraft was started to descend and prepared to land.
Hot towel and a cup of water were served before landing.
The sunset view outside the window started to appear while approaching.
Landing
Disembarkation. And it's time to say goodbye to A330 for the last time :(
A last look of VN-A381.
My journey had ended at Terminal 1, Noi Bai International Airport, Hanoi. Thank you for reading and watching, and see you in the next report :D
Nice work catching the last VN A330! Looking at that business class cabin it's easy to understand why they're in such a hurry to move them on out the fleet. Any idea if this frame will also head to Bamboo Airways?
Yes, they really want to modernize the fleets and the cabin too. That's A330s were out of VN's fleets really soon. And I'm not sure if this one will join Bamboo Airways' fleets in the future.
Lovely report as usual! It's crazy to think VN have retired the A330 fleet, which weren't that old. It's great that they're really modernising the fleet with A350s and 787s.
Yes, the main reason they retired all the A330s and B777s is the modernize their fleets with the brand new A35s, B787s, and also A321neos.