It's been a few years since I had last flown with Vietnam Airlines but they are pretty good for domestic flights once you can get the right information (the website is awful) and actually book tickets.
Arrived at Tan Son Nhat airport a couple of hours before the 3pm departure in order to allow plenty of time with the two kids. Gave me a chance to look at the new International Terminal that is due to be opened next year and will hopefully put the airport on the map a bit more as an international hub. It really is amazing how few non-asian airlines fly into HCMC and even these fly through an Asian hub.
The current terminal is split into an international half and a domestic half and when the new terminal opens the exiting terminal will become 100% domestic. Most domestic flights are handled by Vietnam Airlines and in a country where it takes 36 hours to go Saigon to Hanoi by land (roads are improving fast though) flying is really the best option.
Check-in was good - fast and efficient (we were informed of a 10 minute delay) and we proceeded upstairs for a bite to eat. The prices in the restaurant were very western even if the food was not and came as a bit of a shock after the prices we had been paying in local restaurants - typically 10GPB for 6 or 7 people including drinks.
Flight was called and we all boarded and found our way to our seats on the A320. Departed pretty much on time and climbed out towards the coast before turning left and heading North up the coast. Very quickly the cabin staff were up and surprisingly for a 1hr 20 min flight started handing out light meals which were nothing more than water, fresh fruit and a kit-kat but very welcome as it helped pacify the kids.
Very soon we were descending towards the ancient capital of Hue and touched down very fast. As a legacy from the war most runways in Vietnam seem to be very long so fast landings seem to be quite common. We taxied to the terminal building and parked up outside as the lone aircraft on the ground. There were no gates so it was down the steps and across the tarmac into the baggage hall. I do like these sort of airports where there are about 6 flights a day and rarely more than one plane on the ground at the time. The Terminal building was small but very pleasant, clean and efficiently run.
We purhased taxi tickets in the terminal (about 4GBP) and headed outside for the ride into town.
Phil
