Review of Vietnam Airlines flight from Frankfurt to Hanoi in Economy

Introduction

Hey all,

Last January my wife provided me with wonderful news about her being pregnant and that we can expect a new family member. She however made a request to me whether there was a possibility for us to head to Thailand prior to giving birth to visit and surprise her parents in Thailand too. This of course was no issue at all as I always love to head over to Southeast Asia and need no reason to not go.

My wife had preferences for going in late June, but knowing that travel becomes much more restrictive for her given the strict airline policies regarding pregnancy, I decided to look for tickets in late May instead. To my surprise it was quite expensive to travel in the last week of May to the first week of June 2025 with direct flights selling for up to 1.500 EUR per person.

In the end I did manage to find a very reasonable itinerary with Vietnam Airlines for about 750 USD per person return. The first leg to Thailand would be via Frankfurt and Hanoi, while the return leg would head via Hanoi and Paris. In the end we decided to drop our return leg in favour for a more reasonable and better leg back to the Netherlands, but more on that in the actual report of that flight.

Also the first leg of this itinerary with KLM on their E175 will not be reported as I lost the majority of photos and I'm unable to determine how and where the photos went to, but expect the service to be similar to the last report I made on the leg from Amsterdam to Brussels.

Connecting through terminal 2 in Frankfurt Airport

Given the fact that I lost the majority of my photos from the previous flight, we were dropped off by bus in the schengen part of terminal 2 as KLM was using a busgate given that the aircraft they were using is the smallest jet in their arsenal. In order to transit to a non-schengen destination, one has to exit airside first via baggage claim and to head up one floor to re-enter the non-schengen part via Passport Control.

While there is an automatic passport reader available for European citizens, I decided to stay with my wife and wait in line for the staffed counter for all passports as my wife is not in possession of an European country (soon she is though!). The most annoying part is that the wait here took quite a while as there were only 2 counters open with approximately 100 passengers in line…. This took quite a while and even longer when one counter decided that their duty is over and closed right in front of us forcing us all to go the only counter left open.

It took a solid hour from disembarking your aircraft to clearing immigration for your next flight. Not a very impressive statistic I must admit and you are now left in an area that felt more like a prison (the ceiling was fenced off) rather than an airport with just a few eatieries and shops around. The shops itself are those standard duty free crap that nobody wants to buy that travels frequently. The choice of eateries was not more impressive though with some famous fast-food chains and a few local ones that offer bad food for high prices.

Priority Lounge

There are a few lounges available here with a few private ones and a few ran by an airline, but my wife and me decided to use the priority lounge which we could enter through our Priority Pass as it was the closest to our gate. Primeclass was also available to enter, though this was about a 100m walk  further and both of the lounges were somehow familiar.

The lounge itself is split into two different rooms with the first room being more focused as being a work station / Restaurant styled room, while the other one was more of a restaurant / chilling area, yet the chilling area in the back felt crowded to me as most passengers decided to sit there. I'd prefer the quiet area more, so we decided to sit down in the first room at one of those restaurant seats.

Given that most of the flights that would depart at this hour were bound for Asian destinations, the lounge had set up an Asian-styled catering breakfast with a limited selection of international options.

The first item of the hot food was congee which you could flavour yourself to the way you liked it.

A close up on the hot food available if you didn't fancy congee, however it was quite odd to see that there was a limited option of food to side with your rice if you fancied that other than the mixed veggies. A more local option was available too by having a frankfurter hotdog :).

Unfortunately I can't show you more photos as I did not take them, which I thought I did…. Guess the age is coming quick.

On our way to our gate.

About ten minutes prior to our scheduled boarding gate, my wife and me decided to leave the lounge and head over to our gate for our flight to Hanoi. Those of you who did pay attention noticed that we haven't done any security yet and that is correct indeed as security is split up and performed at the gate of your departure. Once you clear security, there is not a lot to do other than to sit and wait for boarding to be called.

Once clear of security, which didn't take long, we decided to head to our boarding pass only to be refused entry by one ground attendant who told us to head over to a staffed counter as they didn't accept the boarding pass issued by KLM for some weird reason. Once I contacted the ground attendant regarding our boarding pass, I also asked whether she was able to check us in for the last leg of our first rotation.

She told me that we did order something for that specific flight, but never paid for it. She asked whether we still wanted it or not and I told her to remove it to avoid any further confusion. (I tried to surprise my wife by ordering VN Bubble Tea, but the system failed on the payment page and never wanted to work, so I guess the system glitched and the order went through without payment). She eventually managed to cancel it and gave us our boarding pass for our flight to Hanoi and the flight to Bangkok afterwards.

Once boarding passes were obtained, the ground attendant did accept our boarding passes now and it was now time for boarding to be called.

The gate area does offer you a nice view over the airport's apron, though it's not the best area to spot the bird that is going to bring you over to your destination.

The view below you shows you VN-A863, a 9.8 year old Boeing 787-9 that has solely been flying for Vietnam Airlines and was delivered to them in September 2015. While I have been flying regularly on the Boeing 787-8 with other companies, it is actually a first for me that I've been on an -9 version. The -10 version I have yet to experience.

VN-A863

Serial number 35153 LN:333
Type 787-9
First flight date 15/08/2015
Plane age 9.8 years
Seat configuration C28 W35 Y211
Hex code 8880E1
Engines 2 x GEnx-1B

Boarding was called about 5 to 10 minutes past our scheduled boarding time and was performed by zones. Ground attendants made sure that you were in the correct zone.

Upon embarking our aircraft, we were kindly greeted by two flight attendants with one asking for my boarding pass and than giving me instructions where to go.

Flight to Hanoi

Upon booking this flight, the last window row was still available and I made sure to book me and my wife on this seat as it is only configured in a 2 seat configuration with plenty of space available next to you to store items. Upon reaching your seat, you will find a pillow and blanket awaiting for you.

I'd say that legroom is quite generous in the back of the plane.

Boarding was completed about 10 minutes prior to our scheduled departure time, but it took actually quite a while for pushback to be engaged after. The flight attendant came by and asked whether my wife wanted to move forward in the cabin as they had some seats available, which she declined as the flight attendant was worried it may become a bit noisy in the back (which it didn't in the end). Must say that I usually do not try to photograph cabin crew so openly, however I must admit that I do love the outfit they wear.

The view of my seat isn't too shabby either and gave us a view of a neighbouring 787-9 of Vietnam Airlines bound for Ho Chi Minh.

The table is foldable and clean with cupholders in both configurations.

The literature you can find in the seat pocket in front of you contains of a safety card of the correct aircraft, Vietnam Airlines' their magazine and a waste bag.

While boarding was already completed about ten minutes ago, no information was given from the flight deck as to why push back was delayed. Eventually flight attendants came by to hand us over a bottle of water.

Followed by some earphones. Can't say I have seen those earphones for quite some time. They're still the same shit though as the earplugs you receive with many others.

By now it felt that flight attendants didn't really have much to do and decided to start doing their first round of service on ground as they came by again to provide us with a cold wet towel.

Followed by receiving a small bag of mixed nuts.

Our neighbour was pushing back for it's flight to Ho Chi Minh, while this specific flight was suppose to depart 15 minutes later than ours.

The cabin however looked well maintained and was equiped with individual air vents.

Eventually when the neighbouring flight was clear of our tail, we finally pushed back with a delay of approximately 15 minutes and about 30 minutes past the ''boarding complete'' call.

Nice reflection of our bird.

About 32 minutes past our scheduled departure time, we were rolling down runway 18 in southerly direction before making a left turn to head in southeasterly direction to Vietnam.

Also during the departure I eventually found out that your seat is equipped with a power socket right below your seat itself, however it did not work on my seat and I could only use the USB-A plug of the IFE to charge any of electronics.

About 40 minutes into the flight, the flight attendants came around to serve us our first meal of the flight. There was an option between some chicken with Knöpfle or Pork Belly with Teriyaki Sauce.

Option 1
- Chicken breast with bell pepper sauce, Knöpfle & Green beans

Option 2
- Pork belly with Teriyaki sauce, steamed rice & Pak Choi

While the flight attendant gave us the menu like we had a choice and I asked for the pork belly option, she told me that she ran out of it and told me to wait a few as she was going to check with other flight attendants whether they still had them.

About five minutes later she returned with a plate and  told me that they fully ran out and whether we wanted the chicken or not. I told her that it wasn't a problem and she provided us with the meal.

The main meal came along with a sad salad as starter, a warm breadroll and a chocolate tart as a dessert.

And asked for a beer along my meal….. Probably more to help me consume this food as it wasn't really good.

The salad itself was dreadful to unedible. While the chicken itself was nicely cooked, the sauce with the German noodles ''Knöpfle'' and green beans were a huge miss and the tart was too chemical.

Coffee and tea were offered during the meal and eventually clean up was engaged about an hour past our meal. Once my table was cleared, I decided to pay a visit to the lavatory right behind us, which to now was well-maintained, clean and offered a few amenities like a moisturizer and mouthwash. One could also find some shaving kits and toothbrushes in the pocket in the aft.

The pillow and blanket. 

Also having not touched the IFE system until now, I realized that the system on my seat was frozen and was stuck on this screen. The buttons in the bottom were working, though the touchscreen to select the language was simply not functioning. While I didn't really intend to use it, I turned off the tv and did not bother using it anymore.

About five hours into the flight, flight attendants regularly came by to provide us with some drinks and now the first snacks started to appear in the form of sandwiches.

So far till now the lavatory and galley behind us were not bothersome at all as the use of the lavatory was light and the flight attendants were gentle in their movements and the seat has normal recline, so I would highly recommend passengers to select this seat.

Eventually paid a visit to the lavatory again which was very clean about eight hours into the flight and was cleaned on regular intervals by flight attendants, so well done!

Eventually walked into the aft galley to request a beer and some noodles. No snack or drink basket was available, but flight attendants were happy to provide you with a request. The flight attendant handed me a beer and told me that she will bring me the instant noodles very shortly.

The instant noodles came shortly after and was packed with a carton cover to make it more stable and not to burn your hands on the hot surface.

Eventually managed to get a few more hours to sleep until flight attendants came by about 2 hours prior to landing to provide us with a hot towel.

Also by now I realized that I didn't take a photo of the additional legroom one gets when he is sitting in the last window row of an 787-9.

Once the towels were served to everyone, it took about 15 minutes for the flight attendants to re-appear again to provide us with the 2nd meal service. This time the flight attendants remembered those who didn't have a choice to be asked first.

Option 1
- Scrambled Eggs, Grilled Bacon, Fried Potatoies & Sauteed Spinach

Option 2
- Stir-fried Rice Flat Noodles with sliced Beef & Pak Choi.

I eventually chose to have the 2nd option as I hate to eat eggs on board a plane. The meal itself was served with some fruits, a croissant and some yoghurt.

This meal, despite the portion being small, was definitely much more enjoyable than the first round. The only problem was that flight attendants came by to provide us with some jam after they finished their meals resulting in an useless hand-out to me as the meal was already finished by then.

With only an hour left to landing, the flight attendants came by to clean our tables and by now it was just a waiting game for the descent to start.

Smooth touch down at 5.53 AM in a very foggy Hanoi providing us with an arrival time about 32 minutes ahead of our scheduled arrival time with a short five minute taxi ride to our stand.

Disembarkation followed soon after and I decided to provide you a better view of the last window row we sat down. Small tip though, but do not book window seats in row 37 of Vietnam Airlines' their 787-9 as they are lacking a window.

Hanoi Airport

Once we were in the terminal, we had some final looks of the bird that brought us over to Hanoi.

While I have heard some horror stories of people trying to transit through Ho Chi Minh City, I felt like Hanoi was a breeze to connect through as it wasn't overly crowded, had clear signage with limited waiting lines for international flights.

I will continue my report from here on the next report.