Airline Review: Vietnam Airlines Flight from Singapore to Hanoi

Hanoi . 2013 . Aug 7

This post is part of our Hanoi 7 days 6 nights Trip Itinerary and Report. Do check out the full itinerary and our reviews here.

While Hanoi is well connected to Singapore via its extensive airways network, only a few airlines actually fly directly from Singapore to Hanoi.  These airlines are Singapore Airlines, Silkair, Vietnam Airlines and budget carrier Tigerair.  The other airlines (such as Air Asia, Malaysia Airlines and Thai Airways) make stopovers at other cities, effectively ballooning the total travelling time to get to Hanoi.  Since the flight time from Singapore to Hanoi is only 3.5hrs, it makes any stopovers largely undesirable.

Fantastic Travel Deal from Vietnam Airlines

Hanoi was one of those places that we had wanted to visit, mainly because of the famous Halong Bay region.  Since April 2013, we had been looking for travel deals for a vacation over the long weekend stretching over the National Day and Hari Raya festivals (8-11 August).  It seemed that many more had confirmed their plans earlier than us, as air ticket prices were relatively expensive for most of our other shortlisted destinations.

It was with surprise that we found a good travel deal at Vietnam Airlines (a full service airline) for a return flight from Singapore to Hanoi for SGD$237.80, inclusive of taxes and surcharges.  It also included 20kg baggage allowance and meals on board.  This is even lower than the fare quoted by some budget airlines which does not even include meals and baggage allowance!

Check out the cheapest flights to Hanoi!

Vietnam Airlines operates 2 flights per day from Singapore to Hanoi.  The earlier flight (VN662) which departs from Singapore at 1.05pm is the one that you should be looking out for, as you will reach Hanoi by 3:30pm, just in time for hotel check ins and some city sightseeing before a good dinner.  Note that Hanoi is 1 hr behind Singapore time (GMT +7).

Smooth Check In

We arrived at Vietnam Airlines’ check in counter at about 10:30am (relatively early for our flight at 1:05pm), and there was hardly any queues.  Check in was relatively smooth and hassle free.

Shared In-flight Entertainment System

Vietnam Airlines uses a Airbus A321 aircraft similar to Silkair.  There were no individual in-flight entertainment system, only a shared overhead monitor.  Earphones were handed out to every passenger and if you do not like the movie that you shown overhead, you could choose to enjoy a selection of music instead.

 Or enjoy the inflight magazines.

Reasonable Seat Leg Space

Seats were pretty ok for a full service carrier, with reasonable leg space.

Prior to the flight, Vietnam Airlines will keep sending you emails to entice you to upgrade to a business class seat for around SGD$40 per person one way through its partner, OptionTown.  So if you are keen, here’s how the business class seats look like.  It comes with a little more leg space and a more spacious arm rest. 

Average Meals

Unlike many other full service airlines, Vietnam Airlines does not give us a menu for meals on board.  Instead, the in-flight attendant would simply ask you for your choice of either a beef set or a fish set.  Food was really pretty mediocre, in our opinion.

Lack of In-Flight Service

Ok, I can be quite picky about service, because I always feel that it reflects the values of an organization and how happy their employees are.  I am not a difficult customer, but rather, I prefer to observe how service staff works.  And it never fails to amaze me how simple gestures like a smile or appropriate body language can change things so much.  Unfortunately, the flight attendants at Vietnam Airlines do look un-trained in the subtle art of service.  Do not be mistaken, we’ve not experienced any unhappiness during our flight, but rather, we felt a little neglected in that the attendants do not maintain eye contact with any passengers and seem to be in a world of their own.  It therefore becomes difficult when we try to catch their attention.

Final Verdict

Overall, this is not the best airline experience we had so far but for the price, we’ll still say it is value for money.  Vietnam Airlines is a full service airline, meaning that meals and luggage allowances are also included in the fare, and that makes it an extremely good deal if you compare the prices to that of budget carriers. Flight time from Singapore to Hanoi is only 3.5hrs, making any small inconveniences on board quite endurable.  We’ll definitely consider Vietnam Airlines again if the price is right.

Check out the cheapest flights to Hanoi!

This post is part of our Hanoi 7 days 6 nights Trip Itinerary and Report. Do check out the full itinerary and our reviews here.

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Airline Review: Fly Scoot from Singapore to Sydney

Sydney . 2013 . May 19

This post is part of our Sydney 7 days 6 nights Trip Itinerary and Report. Do check out the full itinerary and our reviews here.

This was the second time that we had taken Scoot, the first time being our trip to Gold Coast when Scoot has just started flying in 2012. It was another impulse travel decision as we simply couldn't resist the offer that Scoot was promoting that we took the plunge in December 2012, way ahead (close to 6 months!) of our planned travel dates in May 2013!

Air Ticket Costs

A pair of return "FLY" tickets to Sydney costs us SGD $382.40 per person (inclusive of ticket, taxes and seat selection). We bought our check-in luggage allowance separately, spending an additional SGD $85 for a shared luggage allowance of 20kg to Sydney and 25kg on the flight back to Singapore. Thus, the total cost for 2 person works out to be SGD $849.80 (or SGD $424.90 per person), which we would consider it relatively cheap as compared to full service airlines with promotional tickets of SGD $700 per person on average.

Total Luggage weight when we returned from Sydney was 22.7kg, within the 25kg luggage allowance that we purchased.

Check In

Our flight to Sydney was on FlyScoot TZ2 and was scheduled to depart Singapore Changi Airport at 2.10am. We were at the airport relatively early for the flight (almost 4 hours before flight departure) and went for our supper before boarding the flight.

Compared to our previous experience taking Scoot, this was a much better experience as there wasn't much queue at the check-in counter and we were able to check in our luggage and got our tickets in probably 10 minutes time! :)

The check-in at Sydney Airport when we returned. There was a longer queue compared to Singapore.

The Gate was opened earlier than scheduled time at around 1am and we were soon ushered into the waiting area before we board the aircraft.

On Board the Aircraft

Yellow Stretch Seats on board Scoot. They sure look spacious!

ScooTV - FlyScoot's on board entertainment option. We didn't try it as we had brought along our own IPADs on board the aircraft. We did see some passengers renting them for their children to play some games. If you have tried ScooTV before, we would appreciate it if you could give our readers some feedback / review of the system! :)

Legroom was spacious even for our normal seats. Using the Boeing B777 aircraft with a 3-4-3 configuration in the economy class, this was certainly a refreshing change from the single aisle budget carriers that we were used to taking for our trips to nearby destinations.

ScooTV Magazine. You may want to check out what's on offer on board your flight if you are interested in renting their IPADs.

Scoot In Flight Magazine and Scootalogue (Duty Free Shopping). For those who can't sleep on board the night flight. There were interesting articles about the destinations that Scoot flies in the in flight magazine.

Scoot Meal Menu, EAT. There seems to be more options compared to our first time on board a Scoot flight to Gold Coast.

Hot Set Meals cost SGD $17 and includes Coke/ Coke Zero, Pringles and a limited edition Coke Toothpick Holder besides the Main Course.

Being a night flight, we were soon in ZzZzZ land, but were lucky to wake up to this sunrise view from our window seat.

Soon we were approaching Sydney and we can't help by taking some shots as our aircraft makes the approach.

 Making our final approach towards Sydney Airport's beautiful coast line.

 Landed at Sydney Airport.

Final Verdict:

Overall, we thought that Scoot has improved its services and reliability since we last took it on our trip to Gold Coast. We love the extra space on board the bigger aircraft as compared to typical budget carriers. We would certainly take another Scoot flight when there are promotions to the destinations that they fly in future! :)

This post is part of our Sydney 7 days 6 nights Trip Itinerary and Report. Do check out the full itinerary and our reviews here.

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Airline Review: Alaska Airlines Flight from Fairbanks to San Francisco via Seattle

Fairbanks to Seattle (Alaska Post Cruise) . 2012 . September 25

This post is part of our Alaska Pre and Post Cruise Report and follow-up of our popular Alaska cruise series. Do check out our Alaska Cruise story too if this is your first time here! :)

We left Fairbanks with a heavy heart as we knew that this signals the end of our Alaska holiday. However, ther was also some sense of excitement as we were also looking forward to our Alaska Post Cruise portion of our itinerary where we will be visiting the Pike Place Market and the first Starbucks Store at Seattle and a revisit to San Francisco before returning to Singapore.

We boarded the airport transfer hotel van from Fairbanks Princess River Lodge to the Airport for our Alaska Airlines flight #124 to Seattle. Flight time was around three and a half hours from Seattle. We have chosen to take an early flight (again..) as we wanted to spend more time at Seattle. The flight would depart Fairbanks at 8.40am in the morning and reach Seattle at 1.15pm.

Booking the Flight Online

Our initial plan was to fly from Fairbanks to San Francisco and then followed by our flight on Singapore Airlines back to Singapore after a couple of days' stay at San Francisco. When we were doing our research, we realised that there was only 1 airline that flies from Fairbanks to San Francisco (and that is Alaska Airlines). Moreover, it actully transits at Seattle before flying to San Francisco.

Since we have not visited Seattle before, we decided to extend our holiday with a night's stay at Seattle before flying to San Francisco. On hindsight, it was a good decision as we managed to visit the Pike Place Market, the First Starbucks Store and had a good chinese meal at Chinatown.

Tip: Alaska Airlines has a Price Guarantee policy that we actually used to offset our next Alaska flight from Seattle to San Francisco. After you purchase a flight on Alaska Airlines, do monitor the price of your flight before your departure. If the same flight is now less on alaskaair.com any time before your departure, you can use its automated process to claim a Guaranteed Airfare credit towards your next Alaska flight purchase. We had booked our air tickets from Fairbanks to Seattle way in advance in anticipation of price increase due to the cruise crowd. However, there were some price promotion a few months before our travel date (USD $49 per person) which we could claim as credit to offset our next ticket purchase from Seattle to San Francisco.

Checking in at Fairbanks Airport.   Check in was pretty fast (as there were only probably a few flights in the domestic airport) and we were soon at the boarding gate.

We were simply stunned by the beautiful sun rise at the boarding gate and couldn't stop snapping some photos...

 Alaska Airlines Aircraft taxiing on the tarmac. Is that our aircraft?

Cloudy weather awaits us at Seattle, it seems..though the temperature is still a cool 13 degrees.

Cabin Amenities and Food

Seat Pitch for the flight was relatively ok.  It was a B737 single isle aircraft that Alaska used for this flight.

The flight was pretty full, though we suspect that most are Alaska Cruise travellers like us who have went on a land tour following their cruise. We could see a few familar faces which we have probably seen on the cruise on board the flight.

There was no complimentary food for the flight, but you could order from the airline's Northern Bites Menu with food-for-purchase options. A fresh meal is offered on almost every flight longer than 2 hours while pinic packs are available for purchase on all flight over an hour.

Breakfast options. Prices start from USD $6, which we thought was quite reasonable.

Lunch and Dinner Options. Mainly Cheeseburgers, Sandwiches, Chicken with rice or vegetables.

Complimentary beverages were provided, including Starbucks Pike Place Roast. You could aslo choose from sodas, juices, herbal tea or bottled water.

Besides complimentary beverages, a small pack of cranberry snack mix was given to each passenger.

We settled for the Pancake Skillet (USD $6), which comes with scrambled eggs, chicken-apple sausage and breakfast syrup.

Note that payment has to be made via credit card though.

Inflight Wifi is available for purchase and is provided by Gogo.

Safety Information Card.

In Flight Magazine and Shopping

Alaska Airlines In Flight Magazine. In case you are wondering, the moose soft toy is not a gift from the Airline, but our purchase in Fairbanks during our Alaska trip! ;)

After our breakfast and a short power nap on the aircraft, we were soon touching down at Seattle Airport.

We saw a few Alaska Airlines aircraft on the tarmac as we were taxiing to our alighting gate.

This flight continues to San Francisco after its transit at Seattle. However, we decided to stay a couple of days at Seattle to explore the sights (Pike Place Market, Starbucks First Store and Space Needle) before taking another Alaska flight from Seattle to San Francisco.

Final Verdict:  Overall, we had a comfortable flight on board Alaska Airlines. For the price that we paid, we were a bit disappointed that it did not come with a paid in-flight meal. However, we were pleased with Alaska Airlines' Price Guarantee policy which we managed to claim an amount of USD $49 per person to offset our next Alaska Airline ticket purchase.

This post is part of our Alaska Pre and Post Cruise Report and follow-up of our popular Alaska cruise series. Do check out our Alaska Cruise story too if this is your first time here! :)

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. To receive notifications on updates, subscribe to our blog via RSS feed and email.

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Do check out our Flickr photos & Youtube videos too!