Vietnam Airlines

Vietnam airlines are increasing their fleet and the countries they fly to. The planes are all pretty new and the stewards are polite and helpful. The problems lie with customer service and getting in touch with the airline via the Internet. We were in a situation at Hue airport in Vietnam where a whole group of people arrived at the airport to catch a domestic flight to Hanoi only to discover on arrival that the flight had been delayed 5 hours and in spite of having the passengers email addresses no one had been informed. No apology was offered and staff spoke very little english. The passengers were very angry that they had not been informed because they could have stayed longer in Hue before going to the airport. They were angry that the staff were unsympathetic and made a series of excuses which were in fact lies. Vietnam airlines seriously need to address their customer relations and communications if they are to be serious contenders in world travel.

For some reason, I got bumped up to business or first class on the first leg. On the return, I was in tourist class. While the latter lacked some of the extras, both flights were just fine (as far as flights go). The personnel were gracious.