Flight: Jetstar Pacific BL 585
From: Da Nang (DAD) To: Ho Chi Minh City (SGN)
I flew with Jetstar Pacific from Da Nang to Ho Chi Minh City. There are multiple flights a day between the two cities by Jetstar, Vietjet Air, and Vietnam Airlines. I don’t have a particular preference for an airline, so I usually just go by price and time of day. I flew up with Vietnam Airlines, and for this return flight Jetstar had the most suitable time and price combo. I used Skyscanner to compare price and flight times.
Jetstar offer different packages when booking the ticket. For this flight I was travelling carry-on, so I went the starter page with no checked bags.
I usually check a bag but this was only a short trip, otherwise it would have been an additional 160,000 VND ($6.80 USD) for 15 KG.
I didn’t check in online so I waited until I was at the airport.
I used the check-in kiosk, which was an easy process with no queue.
Interesting to see that the English language option shows the Australian and New Zealand flags instead of the UK/USA flags. Jetstar is part Australian owned, and there are more travellers from AUS/NZ in Vietnam, but this was the first time I’ve seen this anywhere in my travels.
I went cheap and didn’t select my seat, so it’s always an anxious moment when my seat is selected to see if I got assigned a middle seat. Today I lucked out and got my preferred isle seat.
Domestic departures from Da Nang – lots of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City flights.
There is no free meal service on Jetstar so I loaded up with a pre-flight pho.
The domestic departure lounge at Da Nang. There were advertisements for one of the big construction projects in Saigon.
Like Tan Son Nhat Airport in ho Chi Minh City, there are lower gates here which means boarding by a bus.
Flight delayed by 30 minutes – a not uncommon scenario in Vietnam.
I don’t usually travel by carry-on only because I tend to have over 7kg of stuff, and I would rather have what I need than go without. Even on this trip of 3 nights I was struggling to fit everything into my bag. I often see backpackers with large bags bringing bags way over the limit onboard. Today they were checking bags to make sure they were under 7kgs, and they caught a number of people.
My bag was under the limit, and was tagged accordingly.
A bus to the plane.
Onboard the A320.
Not as roomy as my Vietnam Airlines flight, but at least my knees aren’t touching the seat in front of me.
Jetstar Pacific inflight magazine.
The route map for Jetstar Pacific.
There are hot meals available onboard for a very reasonable 60,000 VND ($2.56 USD).
A soft drink is 20,000 VND ($0.85c USD).
And a domestic beer is just 30,000 VND ($1.29 USD).
The scheduled flight time was 13.00 to 14.25, which flying time of 1H, 25M. Actual flying time is closer to 1 hour. Our flight arrived slightly late, and as with Da Nang we were offloaded onto a bus at the chronically overloaded Tan Son Nhat.
Overall this was a good flight option for Danang – Ho Chi Minh City. If you are planning to make a connecting flight then I would pick a flight with plenty of time for connections in case of delays.
