Check out our Top Rewards Cards to boost your points earning and travel more!
I had a business trip last week in Vietnam and squeezed out a spare day to fly to Hue for the day.
Southeast Asia is a budget traveler’s playground so I expected rock-bottom fares and instead the usual travel search engines and OTAs came up with only Vietnam Airlines and fares starting at USD 437.30.
Vietnam shares much influence from the Russia and China in how things work, so my first thought was a system similar to China’s, where government sets full-fares and airlines discount from those in approved ranges. Pull up China domestic flights on most international websites and you’ll get eye-popping numbers. Use ctrip, eLong, travelzen or other domestic OTAs, or the airlines, and you’ll get substantially cheaper fares.
I popped over to the Vietnam Airlines website and the fare was USD 76.
The other major airlines in Vietnam, budget carriers VietJet and Jetstar Pacific don’t list on most websites, so go to them direct as well.
I did not hunt around to find a local OTA since the fares were so cheap. That is often a recourse when airlines’ own websites make it difficult to ticket overseas, such as problems accepting foreign credit cards. Both Vietnam Airlines and VietJet ticket from my US credit card with no issue.
I booked my outbound on Vietnam Airlines and my return on VietJet for the sake of variety and a schedule that worked best. Neither operated anywhere near schedule or had much to offer beyond the eye candy approach of VietJet.
So, book your Vietnam domestic tickets with the airline and don’t forget to check all three.
Related posts:
Check Out Our: Top Rewards Cards ¦ Newsletter ¦ Twitter ¦ Facebook ¦ Instagram
[…] in the local currency of your departure country, that’s for sure! A couple of years ago, Rapid Travel Chai wrote about a similar occurrence booking Vietnam Airlines flights. Lesson learned: when paying for an airline ticket, always check the airlines’ local site […]
for thailand where is it best to go?
@richard – I don’t know a local OTA, I have only used the websites of the local carriers to get anything other than Thai and Bangkok Airways. For awards, JAL has good long – running promo rates for awards on Bangkok.
[…] See here for How to Book Vietnam Air Tickets Without Losing Hundreds of Dollars. […]
[…] Travel Chai shows you the difference for travel on Vietnam Airlines. He searched for travel on the Vietnam Airlines website – and so issued locally in Vietnam […]
I also bought a tkt on Vietjet and was much cheaper than VN. From BKK-sgn.
In 2013, I was unable to book via the internet so I went to the travel agency in the lobby of my 5-star hotel. They booked it, but instead of charging 5 million Vietnamese Dong (about $200), I was charged $5000. As my custom, I wanted the charge in local currency – that was a mistake! I didn’t notice until too late, it took 2 months to clear it up.
Next time, if I book something in Vietnam, I’ll just leave the currency in USD.
Do these low fares show up on ITA matrix or only from the airline website?
@Joey – ITA only has Vietnam Airlines and only the huge price like the Expedia example.
I was just using Vietnam domestic itineraries yesterday as an example of fares varying based on point of sale, where issuing tickets in-country is cheaper than abroad.
One does need to be careful with this, there are some locations where local fares are restricted to locals (mostly in South America).
But for many destinations it’s always worth comparing local point of sale.
@Gary Leff – good point on those elsewhere with residency restrictions. For these their US/global sites listed the same fares and no residency requirements.