Melbourne to Ho Chi Minh City starting at $268.75 return.
Sydney to Ho Chi Minh City starting at $293.46 return.
Melbourne to Ho Chi Minh City starting at $268.75 return.
Sydney to Ho Chi Minh City starting at $293.46 return.
Looks like rest of the year. I just looked at some dates for July and September and there were plenty of seats.
Ooooooh, a banh mi and sugar cane juice at the Ben Thanh Market…
I am finding prices for ~350 when I finally found available SYD > HCMC, but can't find this 293 price
…and you have been ripped off 😂😂 Ben Thanh market is a tourist trap. You can get much cheaper price else where at any local shop near your hotel. There is a local market near Bui Vien in district 1.
"Ripped off" = paying $2 for a bánh mì instead of 80c!
@Flying Ace: Just to give you some example, you can get coconut in other area for $15k VND and you will need to pay $50k - $60k, you noodle soup $50k will cost you $100k in Ben Thanh market
Sugar cane juice is $30k - $40k when you can get it for $10k, so you are paying double or tripple the price.
@samehada: I know man, my wife is Vietnamese and we spend a few weeks there every year ;-)
My post was in joking!
@Flying Ace: Then you can apply for Mien Thi Thuc (Visa Waiver) it is valid for 5years, multiple entries and you can stay up to 6 months on each entry.
@samehada: Already have it :-)
Ben Thanh market is a tourist trap.
Sure…
There is a local market near Bui Vien
You know that Bui Vien is also an even bigger tourist trap. It is the Disneyland version of Vietnam just for whitey…
@1st-Amendment: You are wrong, Bui Vien area has plenty of cheap local shop, there is Thai Binh market near there which is even cheaper. Coopmart Cong Quynh is also nearby and there is a nice sticky rice shop just opposite.
You need to eat like a local then it is cheap, if you travel then just go to eat pizza, pasta then you can also eat those food here in Australia.
Bui Vien is super convenient, the airport bus stop directly in that area and it cost $10k -$20k VND for the bus ticket. This bus is right outside the terminal. I don't even need to take taxi from the airport. There are many long distance bus route directly from this area to Vung Tau, Nha Trang…
You can explore the other side which is district 3 and there are even more nice foods there.
If you want to go to the beach area, Vung Tau is just 3-4h bus or overnight bus to Nha Trang or Da Lat. Plenty of options
if you travel then just go to eat pizza, pasta then you can also eat those food here in Australia.
If you travel then go hang out in all the same tourist hot spots that all the other tourists are then you are in a tourist hot spot. But you do you…
Do you know why the sultana dates the old prune? Coz he couldnt find a date
Is this a new airline?
No, they're a bit over 10 years old.
Established budget airline in Vietnam. They're joining Jetstar, Vietnam Airlines, and Bamboo Airways in offering direct flights from Apr 8 to Melbourne and April 12 to Sydney.
It costs ~$300 to Vietnam or Thailand on a cheap flight, yet to Cambodia, the neighbouring country, always costs around $2k.
Fly to Vietnam and cross the border. Bus to Phnom Penh is super cheap.
Just dont bring back any 'poppy seeds'
Has anyone actually done this?
You'll need a multi-entry visa to take the return flight. Or get 2 visas? Not sure the restrictions. Viet requires a visa before getting there, while i believe all the other countries (Thailand, Cambodia, Laos) are visa on arrival
Yeh same boat here as Cambodia always need connections flight
Limousine bus from District 1, Saigon to casinos in Phnom Penh costs around $10.
There are loads of flights on AirAsia to Phnom Penh for $670 return, and Malaysia Airlines often has then for around the same price during their sales.
It costs ~$300 to Vietnam or Thailand on a cheap flight, yet to Cambodia, the neighbouring country, always costs around $2k.
I just googled this and the first hit for SYD to PNH was $610 return.
Gee, the website is a bit scratchy to navigate.
Any clues on the charges for a seat and a bag?
$9 for extra leg room seat and $15 for luxury seat.
$42 for 20kg, $62 for 30 and $82 for 40
Dates please
Any pitted?
Have only ever flown domestically within Vietnam with them and they are notorious for their delays
Vietjet Air - the most delays airline in VN.
Same day delays or next day delays ?
delay is acceptable considered it's an budget airline. However they're well known for delaying that delay for a couple of other delays.
Do they pay for hotels for delays in Australia? I will be going up from Canberra
@ChipP: I have no info but afaik if it's delayed for 6 or more hours then there should be some sort of compensation.
Though this case they're an budget airline so I won't keep my hope up
There's a button on their home page but it says it can't find a return flight no matter what date. And the prices are not as advertised.
Hell that's a good price!
From the press release;
"Jubilantly welcoming Australian routes, Vietjet offers tens of thousands of promotional tickets from only VND0 (*) for passengers during the golden week from February 14 to February 20, 2023, applicable to both routes connecting Ho Chi Minh City with Melbourne/ Sydney (Australia) at www.vietjetair.com and Vietjet Air mobile app, with a flexible flight period from now until October 29, 2023."
How could you not love an airline that makes its announcements jubilantly?
Vietjet is definitely a vibe. This song gets played on loop before take off and upon landing on their domestic flights https://youtu.be/KMcW3-_SutY
My flight got delayed 90mins. That song was on repeat……
Like I said, they’re a vibe 🤷♀️
Delay Airline?
The price is good but be prepared for delays. I booked a ticket from Da Lat to Phu Quoc and then they cancelled it. Seems like they don't even fly that route VJ668 but they still sell it. Trash airline but you get what you pay for.
Flown VietJet Air numerous times in Vietnam and never had an issue or a particularly delayed flight.
I can't find any return flights. Any success anyone?
Why would you want to come back?
Any good places here to do a deep periodontist cleaning of teeth (dentist place)
We were in District 1 a few years ago and my wife unexpectedly broke a filling.
The hotel staff made a call and pointed us to White Star Dental, which was about a 10 min trip in a cab.
Fantastic service. Looked clean and bright, just like an Aussie clinic, they ushered her in within 5 mins. She walked out 25 minutes later, I assumed they had just patched her up.
Nope, did a filling from scratch, she said it was painless.
Her dentist (a young woman) was very proud to have her diploma hanging on the wall, from Boston University.
About a third of the cost of getting it done at home. Next time we are there, we will both get a clean.
This is the worst airline in SEA imo. However, for the price, I can sit for a few hours.
The prices all seem to skyrocket when you select the flights…could someone please post an example of dates with the cheap return tickets 🙏
the majority of the price is from taxes. I remember my ticket was 100+ after fees but the actual flight was like $4. Below is a breakdown of the costs in VND, all tax inclusive. The actual seat is 53K VND which is 3.21 AUD
Airport Tax Domestic - 100,000
E1_ECO - E1 Eco - 52,920
Add Ons(1) - Bag 25kgs - 253,800
PMT Fee - 54,000
Admin Fee Domestic - 216,000
Airport Security - 20,000
Management Fee - 216,000
From Sydney: 31/07 - 16/08
From Melbourne: 25/08 - 05/09
I want to fly from Melbourne in March’s 2nd week by myself to have me time for a week. Can anyone help me in finding a ticket for the advertised price? PLEASE
Probably too close in time to buy for that price
Ended up booking Jul 12 to Jul 20 for $350 all ip. AND the best thing is my wifey agreed to that!!
enjoy mate, hopefully the weather is good for you (take a rain jacket)
@packeteer: Thanks Mate! Looking forward to it. Will get a rain jacket as advised by you.
@Yankyviking: it's usually wet season, so rain every afternoon. certainly better than the previous months which are HOT
VietJet doesn't start Melbourne flights until April 8.
When looking I found
Syd > HMCM
13th of July ($162)
HCMC > SYD
August 23rd, 13th of September (133AUD)
+$20 "utility fee"
I got flights for 13th of July to 13th of September. Now I'm looking at flights from Malaysia. KL > Vietnam is $30aud, so enter Vietnam eat all the good food, go through Thailand, then spend time in Malaysia (one of the 2 last countries I need to visit in SEA).
Do they have business / larger up front seats or just an economy plane?
Yes, they have 'skyboss' seats' and 'luxury seats'
They do have a business class/ premium economy seat but I can't see cheap prices for these. They do offer a better economy seat but I'd imagine that is just extra leg room as this plane (a330) seems to be using the dreaded nine abreast seating which squeezes everybody (most full service have 8 abreast)
VietJet's A330s are ex-AirAsia X with an unchanged cabin. Only AA's branding has been removed, everything else is kept the same.
That's helpful as I couldn't even find information on vietjets website on seat dimensions. I don't recall Air Asia X's economy having any comfort at all. The only benefit to using vietjets is its cheap prices and the fact the trip should be about 8 hours.
too much time to find the dates with discounted flights - site it terrible. momondo already indexed their prices so better to use it for a search
use this url to filter only for direct flights with VietJet and change the dates to find the price
https://www.momondo.com.au/flight-search/MEL-SGN/2023-04-09/2023-04-22?sort=bestflight_a&fs=airlines=VJ;stops=0
The best I found from the quick look in July was for 2 adults 1 child it averaged out to $449 each return no baggage
$619 + extras for Easter school holidays period is a bargain
It will always be Saigon to me.
Me too. “Saigon… shit. I’m still only in Saigon. Every time I think I’m gonna wake up back in the jungle. When I was home after my first tour, it was worse. I’d wake up and there’d be nothing. I hardly said a word to my wife, until I said ‘yes’ to a divorce. When I was here, I wanted to be there; when I was there, all I could think of was getting back into the jungle. I’m here a week now… waiting for a mission… getting softer. Every minute I stay in this room, I get weaker, and every minute Charlie squats in the bush, he gets stronger. Each time I looked around the walls moved in a little tighter.”
booked one way coming home (i like day flights , most of the ones coming back from SE asia are o/night - killer in economy)
Wife and 2 of our kids coming home during holidays - yes good bargain.
Meals $10
20Kg luggage just under $70
no stopovers and daytime flights -priceless
Awesome finally seeing some airfare deals. Jetstar and others pricing is absolutely crazy. Bali is circa 1k return in May, for a 6 hour flight?
It’s $700-$800 from Darwin. 2.5hrs!! I remember the good old days under $200 for return. I was going away most weekends. Fly Friday night, land Monday morning and straight to work.
Yeah Melbourne/DPS you could get for less than 5 hundy return easily
$200 return is insane, why wouldn't you!
Anyone else having problem with paying with Visa card? Their system seems to accept only Master or JCB, despite their website says that Visa and American Express are accepted.
You may have to call your bank as it will likely be getting blocked by their fraud team. This happened with my VISA.
Yeah same, doesn’t let me input at all.
money has been taken from my visa cc but no confirmation email from Vietjet, this is insane
Recently had return trips on vietair. 1st flight left 20mins early. I got to gate and the 90% of the passengers were already boarded. 2nd flight left 90mins late. Aircon problem then paperwork issues.
Denpasar - Saigon.
Price can’t beat it. Comfort was ok. Got lucky enough to get exit row on the return flight.
Ohh tip don’t wait last moment to get your visa. It takes 3 WORKING days not 3 days. And can’t get VOA. They won’t let you on the plane without one.
I’m a dumbass and did my VISA wrong and had to spend over $1000 for an emergency one as almost everywhere else was closed for an emergency visa
Wooooh!! I guess you went through a third party website or offical?
third party, I needed it within like an hour. After looking at multiple dozen sources for an immediate visa, had to go through some third party site that was US based that barely spoke any English (fortunately my mother knew Vietnamese and spoke to them for me) and the were very abusive but I had to play nice to get my visa
From what I hear usually the Flight Centre at an airport can give you an emergency visa but for some reason it was closed when I needed it
You need visa for Vietnam ?
Yep. But go through the official government site. Lots of third party websites offering it. Get it sorted straight away. I left mine last moment got it the morning i was flying to Saigon.
Oh god I would die of anxiety In that situation. Ta!
https://evisa.xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn/trang-chu-ttdt#:~:text=Vie….
Evisa official website $25USD for 30days visa, make sure you apply on the official website so you don't get ripped off by other scam website.
I got mine 4 years ago via the Embassy in Canberra. Loose-leaf style, no issues at Immi @ HCM. Cost AUD$99 tho!
The other half is on an MY passport, so gets ASEAN VoA.
ASEAN countries get 30days visa free. Evisa was just available for a few years before 2019 and it was suspended during COVID. Lots of scam site online that charge ppl hundreds of dollar.
The other "rush" option is in fact getting an pre-approval letter and you have to queue up in the airport to get VOA. You should get your evisa ans no need to wait at the airport for VOA.
Can this visa be extended if travelling again in 2 months time or have to apply another one?
No, you need another visa. Each visa is single entry.
Thanks for confirming!
I got a 3month visa in 2016… are they no longer available?
Evisa is only for 30 days, you will need to apply with the Embassy for other visa and of course with different fee.
anyone know what the "luxury" seats are like? seems the same as extra leg room seats but it costs more
Vietjet = Delay Airline = Bikini Airline LOL
Is this the airline where the stewardess dresses up in bikinis?
That was a one-time promotional stunt right when they started.
Good stunt though. People are still talking about it and recalling the brand.
I remembered. Marketing worked!
what dates?