VIETNAM AIRLINES FROM NARITA TO VIETNAM
One thing about my travels is it's quite spontaneous. I booked this flight the night before in my hotel while having a shandy gaff in Tokyo. My background is Vietnamese and after a week in Japan, I needed Vietnamese food so where else would be suitable for that dose than the actual country itself.
This flight was scheduled on a B787-10 and I do generally try to chase flights on wide than narrow body aircrafts.
The check in counters at Narita airport were extremely busy this morning as it was a row of counter for three Vietnam airlines flights which departed around the similar time. I took this opportunity to get a coffee hit at Starbucks and by the time I came back around 20 minutes later the queues had vanished.
Security and immigration lines were very quick leaving Narita that morning which was a bonus as I've heard how busy this airport can be.
The aircraft taking me to Vietnam.
The cabin was very comfortable especially when the ground staff assigned me a block of three seats.
Legroom is quite generous for economy and my knees didn't touch the front seat pocket which in this day and age is quite luxurious.
Hand towel and headphones distributed prior doors closure. Beverage and snack service commenced quite quickly after crew were released from their seatbelts with the service starting 7 minutes after.
Cabin crew preparing the cabin for departure. Cabin crew were poise, sweet and fast on this flight to Saigon. P.A's were made in Vietnamese, Japanese and English.
Boarding was completed extremely quick and efficient as I've noticed with Japanese procedures and how fast and efficient boarding is. We pushed back a few minutes before ETD and made our way to the runway.
The service commenced with a wet packaged towel, sparkling wine, orange juice and a packet of mixed nuts and rice crackers.
I fly so much and always find these snacks so delicious.
There was a universal powerpoint underneath the seat and there were two power points shared between three.
Lunch then started with 6 crew and tandem 4 carts from doors 2 onwards.
I went with the Japanese which was pork and rice with cold soba, an assortment of sushi, bread roll and butter and mochi for dessert.
Drinks cart followed lunch cart and hot drinks temporarily suspended due to turbulence.
The food out of Japan is exceptionally delicious.
The economy tray was very elaborate and generous for it.
Meal tray was cleared and another round of drinks were offered before the lights were dimmed along side the windows so passengers could rest. I went for a little walk and stretch and checked out the lavatory which was stocked with toothbrushes and razors.
I'm curious.. has anyone actually shaved mid flight? I've brushed my teeth but not the former :D
I managed to doze off for around an hour and didn't find anything I really wanted to watch on the IFE. I find Vietnam airline's IFE selection is quite limited with choices to watch as in there is content but I didn't find anything I really wanted to focus on.
A good to know is that the crew will collect headphones when they prepare the cabin for landing so it would be handy to have a pair of your own if you want to continue to enjoy the entertainment.
Nice to see a review on the VN 787-10, as there aren't many out there! Mood lighting looks cool, but I'm not a huge fan of VN's choice of seat-cover pattern...makes a new aircraft cabin look older than it should. The meal looks great, and yeah catering ex-Japan is always good on any airline.
I never really understood why the 787-10s don't have a Premium Economy cabin like the 787-9s. I guess it has something to do with the -10's shorter range and therefore flying more regional routes than the 789, which is mostly on long-haul. But either way, a 6h flight between Vietnam and Japan is getting pretty close to long-haul.
Thanks for sharing!