Review of Vietnam Airlines flight Bangkok → Hanoi in Economy

INTRODUCTION

Given that we arrived the day before with Asiana from Seoul, South Korea, which we booked well in advance, we had about four spare days for ourselves before we had to return to my wife's parents as we had to celebrate our wedding with her parents as it was long overdue given that her parents weren't allowed to visit us in the Netherlands as we wed in January 2022, which was probably one of the strictest lockdown in our country.

Given that I've been a regular visitor to Thailand and my wife who is originally from there, we've pretty much seen the entirety of the country, my wife suggested to pay a visit to Vietnam. Given that my wife had already been in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang, I opted to pay a visit to Hanoi as this city has been high on my list for many years. After we both agreed, I found a decently prized one-way ticket with Vietnam Airlines for 109 Singaporean Dollar, which equals to 81 USD or 75 EUR, per person.

Flight

Given that we arrived yesterday, we decided to book us a hotel in the vicinity of the Airport itself and we opted to stay in the ''Siam Mandarina Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport'', which is one of the few airport hotels over there that is actually providing you with a free shuttle service in both directions, so we booked us our shuttle ride at 9.35 AM and were dropped off by another friendly chap who wished us a pleasant journey.

Given that we were fully booked and most of us went into different directions, the driver made it fair and dropped us off in front of entrance no. 4 as that would mean equal distance for most of us if someone was in the far aft with flights.

For us it didn't really matter though as entrance 4 was pretty close to our check-in counters.

Six check-in counters were in use for Vietnam, however three of them were used for the Ho Chi Minh flight only and the other three were used for any other Vietnam flight. It was however quite a surprise to see Vietnam Airlines as a Skyteam Member to use THAI as ground handling unit in Bangkok, but it was probably a matter of convenience and costs.

Check-in was rather slow and took about 20 minutes to clear with a limited amount of passengers. I assume they were quite thorough with their document checks to avoid any unwanted person as the lady that checked us in was comparing every detail of my eVisa to my passport.

As we had not had any breakfast yet, my wife wanted to go downstairs for some food, however I saw quite a line building up for the security and told my wife to grab some food in the lounge….. This is the reason I told her to cancel that plan. Ground staff were stopping people from entering security to not overload security. A lot of people were trying to jump the line, but staff members picked them out and told them to go further down, which to be fair was pretty good. Despite the long line, it went on an orderly pace and took another 30 minutes to clear security and immigration, so the entire process from checking in to pass immigration took me a solid hour.

Once again I highly recommend you to arrive well in advance on international departures out from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi if you are not eligible to use the fast-track lines.

The usual walk to one of our gates.

Given that we had about fourty minutes to our departure and didn't eat anything yet, we decided to pay a visit to the Miracle Lounge in the F section, which was pretty small, but also very quiet. There are tons of lounges you can take with Priority Pass in Bangkok and I did use a different one in my next flight, but given that we didn't have a lot of time, I simply chose to use this one.

The lounge offered a limited option on hot breakfast, which consisted of chicken in oyster sauce, stir-fried vegetables, steamed rice and Khao Tom, which is basically the Thai version of a Rice Soup.

Sandwiches, Desserts & Icecream was also available. 

And some salat and fruit were available too. Alcohol was also available if you opted for it in the early morning :)

Me and my wife's choice for breakfast.

After 20 to 30 minutes, my wife and me left the lounge and went to our gate F4, which was being used for our flight to Hanoi today.

Unfortunately there was a lot of glare from the windows, so I couldn't take a proper photo of the aircraft that was going to bring us to Hanoi today. VN-A323, an Airbus A321, would bring us over to Hanoi. This 12.7 year bird has solely been flying for Vietnam and joined their fleet in April 2011.

Boarding was called right on time and went in a decent pace. Upon embarking the aircraft, we were kindly greeted by two flight attendants.

To not hold up the line, I quickly shot the a photo of our seat. If you love to have a window seat, I suggest you to not book 21G on their Airbus A321. It doesn't miss a window, however the alignment of the window is with your shoulder, so it hurts your neck quite a while if you take a look outside for more than just a few seconds.

Legroom is generous and wasn't of any issue with me considering that i'm 1.83m tall (6''), however I'm not entirely sure the seats were as clean as they should be as my wife felt itchy throughout the entire flight. Though I didn't notice a thing. ;)

The view of my window with a KLM Boeing 777-300ER (PH-BVR) prepping for it's flight to Amsterdam as KL876.

Aircraft was still busy with the boarding process, while those in the seats could enjoy some highlights of Vietnam on the IFE.

The literature you can find in the seatpocket on their A321. A Sickbag, safety card and their magazine.

Upon completing the boarding process, the flight attendants came by to serve us a wet wipe. While this used to be a very common practise among airlines in Covid19, it is slowly disappearing as the norm. Though I highly appreciate it if I receive one.

Pushback was eventually 6 minutes past our scheduled departure with another 10 minutes of taxiing to Runway 01R for the departure. We passed by a lot of A380s and 777s of THAI still being in storage. I highly doubt any of those will ever see the skies again given that THAI recently announced that they were in chat with Boeing about purchasing 80 new dreamliners…. In terms of comfort, I wished they went for the A350s.

28 minutes past our scheduled departure time, we were rolling for departure to Hanoi. 

Thirty minutes into the flight, the complimentary meal service took place and we had either the option between noodles w/ chicken or steamed rice with fish. Both me and my wife chose for the fish meal, which to be honest did taste pretty good. It was served with a banana, hot bun and butter. Another wet wipe was found below the banana. Cutlery was plastic.

Drink service followed soon after by the 2nd flight attendant with juice and water being the options. Beers or Soft drinks were also available if you opted for them, but the chemical orange juice was served once again :).

Upon completing of the meal service, the flight attendants came back to serve us tea or coffee. I opted for some coffee, which to be fair, was filled not even to the half of the cup and she didn't bother to ask whether I wanted some milk or sugar with it. 

Most of the flight attendants on this flight were excellent and very friendly in terms of serving us, however the one that disappointed me was the actual purser of the flight and also the one that served me my coffee. She did her job to passable standards, however everything was rushed with no attention to details, little to no interaction with passengers and no smile at all… I don't want to complain too much about her, but it worries me a bit that the person, who is suppose to set an example for younger flight attendants, is serving us like that.

Clean-up was performed about an hour past our meal service and meant that we had like 30 minutes left before we were touching down in Hanoi. Not much else went by and touchdown was eleven minutes ahead of schedule and was very smooth.

Parked next to a Boeing 787 from Vietnam Airlines who was boarding for it's flight to Ho Chi Minh after previously arriving from an international destination.

The last view of the aircraft that brought us over from Bangkok.

The Boeing 787 that was boarding now from the front.

Immigration took another 30 minutes to clear, which wasn't too busy, so I can't imagine how it's going to be if it's so slow as it was here with a very busy immigration.

Belt 6 was for our flight and luggage was already on belt when we passed immigration.

See you on the next flight and here's a minor tourism bonus of Hanoi. A city I highly recommend you to visit.

Bonus : Click here display hide

After arriving to Hanoi, we took a taxi to our hotel, which in the end, overcharged us by quite a lot (as we were not familiar with the rates) and checked in with our hotel ''Bendecir Hotel & Spa'', which charged us 190 USD for for four nights and was rather comfortable and in a good location at the Old Quarter, which also had a nice rooftop called Pine & Dine. We only had a drink here, though it was very relaxing.

The following day we explored the city in the morning before our planned trip and I had to try Vietnam's famous ''Egg Coffee'', which is basically just a raw egg yolk, condensed milk and sugar with your coffee. It felt a bit weird for coffee in the beginning, though I could appreciate the taste.

Hoan Kiem Lake Park

Impression of the Old Quarter.

In the afternoon, we had a tour planned in an older Soviet Union GAZ-69 Jeep with a guide. Leo was our guide, which was a very chatty and funny chap and told us a lot of funny and interesting facts about the sights we saw.

One of the stops you make is this wreckage of a B52, which was shot down over Hanoi.

It also brought us to this touristic, yet very enjoyable spot to see one of the five train crossings closeby. Something you must have witnessed once if visited to Hanoi :).

The following day my wife and me did some sightseeing through the city ourselves and visited the Mausoleum. The body of Ho Chi Minh is preserved, though if visited, please be aware to dress properly with shoes, shirts that cover your shoulders and pants that are covering your knees.

Next stop was Hanoi Hilton. The infamous prison build by the French and also used by Vietnam to imprison US Pows. The photo belows shows you an indication of the way they had to live under French occupation if caught.

After many more stops, we finished our day by having a Vietnamese Red Wine (Special Cabernet Sauvignon 2022) by Chateau Dalat, which tasted decently for an Asian wine at the Balcony Beer Restaurant.

The last full day we've had, we had to make a one-day trip to Ha Long Bay, which was organized by Dragonfly Cruises and started with a 2.5 hour busride from Hanoi. Lunch with traditional Vietnamese food was served on the boat.

Upon finishing our lunch, we started to enter the Ha Long Bay area.

We took the four hour trip, which included a visit to the fighting cocks (not on here), 30 to 40 minute Kayak ride & a hike through one of the caves. It was for us enough considering we had another three hours by bus back to Hanoi.

The cave had a well accessible foot path.

A photo of the bay of the Cave.