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Airport Bus - Air China Meals - Buy Chinese Tea - Buy Chinese Liquor - Fly to Cam Ranh Airport, Nha Trang - Getting Into The City (Rail) - Sleep In Beijing Airport -
SAIGON'S TAN SON NHAT AIRPORT IS ALREADY ON ITS WAY TO BEING A STOCK STANDARD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, THE KIND OF PLACE THAT MAKES YOU FEEL YOU HAVEN'T REALLY GONE ANYWHERE AT ALL WHEN YOU ARRIVE THERE. Ho Chi Minh City's Tan Son Nhat airport was known as the third busiest airport in the world during the American war with Vietnam, but over 25 years of neglect have eroded that distinction, and the airport is little more than a backwater on the Asian stage. Despite a renovation in the mid-1990s, the terminal facilities are still extremely basic. There are two terminals: international and domestic. The international arrival terminal consists of one large open building. This area lacks air conditioning, a PA system, and computerized information screens of any kind. The few signs displayed are in both Vietnamese and English. This is not a good place to ask for advice or information regarding your visit, since the majority of Customs officials and clerks speak little or no English.

The international departure terminal is slightly more modern, with air conditioning in the waiting area and a television screen that displays information on departing flights. Often, it is impossible to comprehend the announcement of your departing flight over the PA system. Keep an eye on the television screen. If your flight number is flashing, this means that your flight is boarding. Although there is a small souvenir shop and newsstand in the waiting area, do not expect to pick up a copy of the International Herald Tribune or Newsweek. This area was not designed with convenience in mind. If you need anything for your flight, make sure you bring it to the airport with you.

For years, there has been talk about developing the airport, but it's doubtful that a full-scale project will be undertaken anytime soon. The one benefit of Tan Son Nhat's small size is that the airport is very easy to negotiate. Ironically, the airport's lack of sophistication makes it relatively hassle-free.

There are no telephones available inside the Arrival hall. Also, it is best to use the restrooms inside, as those located outside are unclean and often closed.

AIRPORT BUS: CHEAP AND EASY
Few visitors seem to take advantage of the #152 bus service which connects Saigon Airport with the city, and this is a shame because the bus is cheap and easy to ride and possibly even less stressful, than dealing with a Vietnamese cabbie. You will probably have a better chance ending up at the right place riding the bus than you would if you trusted your fate in an unfamiliar city, with some scoundrel of a taxi driver. The bus driver for example won't give you any nonsense about your hotel being closed for repair, or try to pimp you on to his girls. The bus is clean and not so crowded and follows a set route dropping you off at strategic points around the city. If you get into an accident I reckon the #152 bus would also be a lot safer than a taxi or the back of some guy's motorbike. And did I mention it is cheap -- ridiculously cheap in fact, even by Vietnamese standards. For the princely sum of 3000 Dong (that's $0.18 American, or 1.04 Norwegian Kronur) you can get downtown, and then just leg it to your hotel from there. That's what I did the last time I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, in March 2007. For the first part of the trip I only had a couple of young Japanese travellers for company. You can imagine their gasps of "Sugoi!" the first time they espied the gnarling and chaotic Saigon traffic. Scary and amazing stuff indeed. We were riding right above it though, ploughing through it, sitting pretty pretty close to the top of the traffic food chain in our old and battered bus. No one was going to mess with us.
To find the bus: exit the airport, sidestep the all the milling cabbies trying to shepherd you into their vehicles, and scoot past the aircon tourist buses picking up and depositing their passengers. Look for a battered city bus with the number #152 on it. Pay your 18 cents or single Norwegian Kronur (if you are lucky they might even forget to charge you.) It's that easy.

PASSENGER OPINIONS OF VIETNAM AIRLINES

Vietnam Airlines - by Neil Keene 6 September 2005 Sydney-HCM City: unfriendly service, awful movies on screens that didn't work properly and too-hot cabin temperature. A morning flight, but after serving an early lunch staff made everyone close their window shutters and turned off all lighting within the aircraft. Are they trying to give us jet-lag? Only about one-fifth of the passengers slept and many people ended up at the back of the plane, peering out the one porthole near the toilet that remained open. HCM City-Tokyo: three hours late and no in-flight entertainment, and same story on the way back. For some reason though, domestic flights in Vietnam had great, new planes and TVs in the back of every seat. Why they use these for short, one-hour hops rather than intercontinental flights is beyond me. Maybe to make up for how often they are running late.

Serves me right for being such a busybody. It turned out that the dinner was dragged off the plane and served in front of one of the departure lounges - we had barely found out what was going on when the flight was called. No need to fear though - VN served a second dinner on board after take off. Makes you wonder why they bothered. Finally I have to comment on the very high temperature inside the aircraft. I asked the FA if the heat could be turned down but she returned with two blankets for me instead. Silly me. As the flight is codeshared with Qantas you have to ask why Qantas dont put some effort into getting simple things right. They overcharge and make no contribution at all. This was my second round trip on VN Air to HCMC & I like the direct flight rather than spending extra time flying to places I don't want to go. I hope this airline get their act together soon, as I have plenty more flights coming up & it's knocking me about a bit.

v i e t n a m + a i r l i n e s

MY EXPERIENCE FLRING WITH VIETNAM AIRLINES -- one of the world's great cheapies for budget travellers.

It was definitely a long and arduous trip back to Japan. Vietnam Airlines must have one one of the most boring entertainment programs in the world. The only movie they played was an old black-and-white film about some fishermen living in a small village. You could listen to it in English but all the characters' voices were done by the same person -- it sounded like an Australian man. So it sounded like listening to one guy reading a whole movie script -- rather tedious. When the movie ended, they started it again, so I must have seen it about three or four times. I still couldn't understand it though because of the illogical plot developments, strange and unexplained twists, etc. Maybe you have to be Vietnamese to understand. The 9-hour wait in Vietnam nearly killed us. The one redeeming feature was we found a souvenir shop selling very interesting things for very cheap prices. For example, there was a lot of art work with the shiny silver insides of oyster shells worked into the picture -- and often selling for just a couple of dollars. I saw a couple of elephant tusks which had lots of little Buddhas, temples and of course elephants carved into the surface -- and they cost something like 20 American dollars a tusk, which seems incredible. But you can imagine what would happen if I rocked up to the airport in Japan or Australia with an elephant tusk in my suitcase -- I'd be arrested! Another good thing which happened was that for some reason we ended up sitting in the first class section on the flight from Vietnam to Japan. So I could stretch out, put my feet up, and enjoy the first-class life. It seems to be quiter in the first class section (because it is in front of the engines?) The plane doesn't seem to be rock around as much during turbulence in the first class section as well, which might be a reason some people shell out so much money to sit here.

Thanks to this site and helpful travellers, I am sucking down free beers, cruising the net and filled to the brim with food. I am gonna have a shower later on and some massage chair. Lucky for me, I happened to run into my fiancee who was meant to be on an earlier flight that got delayed and he is paying for a night in the terminal hotel after midnight! Sweet.
Some more specific details for other travellers. The place is called the Plaza Business Centre and is located in the satellite building upstairs, across from an Italian rest. called Sbarro. It is 70MR or $18 US for 5 hours. After the 5 hours you gotta pay again or go.
The transit hotel is 120 MR for 6 hours, but doesn't give you food or stuff - If I could sleep in a chair and didn't want some nookie, then I would stay here the whole night. There is even a small putting green and a view onto the tarmac.
Thanks all for letting me know about this place. Rock on airport dwellers." Added 16 March 2005.

c i t y + t o u r s

Luggage Storage are not available for the time being. Your will have to bring along all of your luggage out of the Airport. If you have only some hours of transit, one good idea is to hire a car as a place to store your luggage and a mean of transportation for your city tour . Ask for this tour at the Visitors Information and Services Centre. A city tour at this Centre may included check-in services upon your request. Your tickets and send-along luggages will have been already checked-in when you come back to the airport for your flight, all you have to do then is go through Custom, Emmigration procedures and board.

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