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Flight Review: Bamboo Airways – Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City

July 3, 2019 By James Clark 4 Comments

Flight Review: Bamboo Airways - Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City

Flight: Bamboo Airways QH 203
From: Hanoi (HAN) To: Ho Chi Minh City (SGN)

Bamboo Airways is a Vietnamese airline that began operations in January, 2019. I had been waiting for an opportunity to review them, so when I had a trip planned from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City I booked a flight.

I compared flights first via Skyscanner to make sure I wasn’t going to be paying over the odds, and the flight prices were competitive with the other airlines flying this route. The cheapest flight in my set time frame was VietJet, but that price doesn’t include a bag.

VietJet Air alternative flight

The Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City route is in the top ten busiest international routes, and Bamboo already have five flights a day between the two cities. By the look of the flight times they are targeting business travellers as there are no flight options during the day.

HAN-SGN flights

Bamboo isn’t a low-cost airline like VietJet Air and Jetstar Pacific, and it’s not a full-service airline like Vietnam Airlines. It’s what is now known as a hybrid airline. Unlike a low-cost airline, you get a free checked bag and an inflight meal. It’s not a full-service flight either, as it doesn’t have alliances or a global points system.

HAN-SGN extras

My ticket was 1,726,000 VND ($73.68 USD) which is a good price for a flight booked a month in advance.

Flight cost

I arrived by taxi at Noi Bai International Airport and Bamboo Airways have already staked their fair share of branding at the departures entrance.

Bamboo Airways HAN

Online check-in is available for flights departing from Noi Bai (HAN), Da Nang (DAD), Tan Son Nhat (SGN) airports. When I tried to check in I was getting an error message.

Bamboo Airways check-in

I went to the airport early to make sure my ticket was ok. There is an open check-in for all flights, and there was no queue.

Check-in Hanoi

There were three Bamboo Airways flights showing on the departure board, so they have already muscled their way into the domestic market.

Domestic departures

Flight QH 203 departs HAN 17:50 and arrives at SGN at 20:00, for a scheduled flight time of 2H, 10M. Actual flight time is about 1H, 40M.

Bamboo Airways

The flight arrived on time and the door closed 5 minutes after the scheduled flight time. We were then stuck on the tarmac due to airport congestion and departed 50 minutes behind schedule.

Gate 6

When the aircraft arrived I noticed that it’s registered in Turkey. The aircraft is being leased from Freebird Airlines, though it has been given the full Bamboo paint job. While Bamboo Airways has placed an order for 50 Airbus A321neo planes, it’s not like you can just go down to your nearest Airbus dealership and fly them out.

Turkish registered

In addition to the aircraft being borrowed from overseas, most of the crew were foreign as well. There were two foreign pilots, which is not unusual. What was unusual was to see four westerners in the crew, alongside two Vietnamese crew. In all my time of travelling in Southeast Asia, I’ve never seen Europeans working on a domestic flight in Asia. This made me think about all the resources it takes to start an airline, from hardware to human resources. To cater for growing demand, Bamboo are setting up an academy in Quy Nhom that will train pilots, attendants, technicians, ground staff, and flight dispatchers.

Bamboo Airways at HAN

Bamboo Airways offer Business Class seating, setting it apart from VietJet and Jetstar.

Business Class

I was in economy for this flight. When I booked this flight for review purposes I picked the HAN-SGN route as I have also flown with Vietnam Airlines and VietJet Air on this route. I figured if they can’t fill a Hanoi-Saigon flight then they might struggle to be in business. The flight was full, so it might have been more instructive to fly a less popular route to see how they are doing.

Economy Class

Originally I had every intention of getting a regular economy seat so I could compare the legroom difference between the other airlines in Vietnam. As I checked in early I was offered an exit row seat. My brain is not wired to say no to an exit row, so I will have to save that review for another flight. I did look at the economy seats though and it looked like to be not much more room than low-cost airlines (ie not much space).

Exit row leg room

The inflight magazine for Bamboo Airways is named Look. It’s in Vietnamese with some articles in English. I usually flick through the magazine for the route map, but in this case there wasn’t one. Maybe the routes are changing so fast so they haven’t included it yet.

Look inflight magazine

I was curious to see where they fly now, so I checked the online route map. So far they have established a solid domestic network, and this is the route map as of July 2019.

Bamboo Airways Route Map July 2019

One thing you will find in the inflight magazine is advertising related to FLC Resorts. Bamboo Airways has their operating base at Phu Cat Airport in Quy Nhon. FLC has resorts here, and it’s likely that future international flights will include destinations in East Asia to serve their resorts. Quy Nhon is a city by the sea that has great beaches nearby, and it’s probably the next big thing in Vietnam after Danang and Nha Trang.

FLC Prior

The advertising isn’t a total walled garden though, as there are advertisements for other hotels and resorts.

Shells Resort

There is a loyalty program available for Bamboo Airways. According to the T&C’s you need to be a Vietnamese citizen or a foreigner with a Vietnamese address.

Loyalty program

There was a free meal service on the flight, which is one of the services that sets it apart from low-cost airlines. They only had one meal available by the time they got to me – prawn noodles. Seafood in the air is not my first choice, but it was actually ok. I will eat anything put in front of me, so this is not the site to come to for food reviews.

Prawn Noodles

There is also a free drinks service so I got a coffee.

L'amant Cafe

We arrived at Tan Son Nhat 30 minutes behind schedule due to the late departure at Hanoi. Tan Son Nhat is even more overloaded than Noi Bai, and our flight was disembarked on the tarmac as there are not enough airbridges in the domestic terminal. While the airlines of Vietnam are expanding at a rapid pace, the airports have not kept up with the growth. There is a planned new airport for Ho Chi Minh City, but will be years before it’s open.

Disembarking at SGN

Overall this was a good flight option and no doubt I’ll be on another Bamboo Airways flight again. I wait to see where they will fly internationally.

SGN baggage claim

Filed Under: Flight Review Tagged With: bamboo airways, hanoi airport, sgn airport

Comments

  1. Kevin Revolinski says

    July 31, 2019 at 12:38 pm

    The route map looks like this will be pretty useful even beyond the Hanoi-HCMC option. What are prices like for those smaller places?

    Reply
    • James Clark says

      August 1, 2019 at 1:06 am

      Just on the few flights I’ve checked this year Vietjet/Jetstar were cheaper, but I’m sure they have sales as well.

      Reply
  2. Steve Terrey says

    July 31, 2019 at 4:35 pm

    Hi James.

    Stupid question – maybe. How do you pay for your flight? Is it in Vietnamese currency or US dollars? Is the web site ok with you using a foreign (as in not Vietnamese credit card)? I ask – as I have booked internal flights in Thailand – from the UK and some sites are a bit of a nightmare paying for flight if you don’t have Thai bank card.

    Reply
    • James Clark says

      August 1, 2019 at 1:04 am

      Good question as the airlines can be difficult sometimes. For domestic Vietnam flights they charge in VND and I haven’t ever had a problem with a foreign credit card. I’ve had the most problems with domestic Indonesian flights, but that was a few years ago now.

      Reply

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James Clark from Nomadic Notes

Hi, I’m James Clark, and I've been travelling the world since 2003 while running a location independent travel business. Nomadic Notes is a travel blog featuring travel guides and notes from my travels.

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