crossjay

I am travelling to Vietnam in April 2007 and intend to travel from Saigon to (Danang) Hoi An and then on to Hanoi. Should I purchase airline tickets before I arrive in Saigon or is it cheaper to wait until I get there. I know I can purchase from Vietnam Airlines and Pacific Airlines - are there any other cheap airlines. Thank you in advance for your assistance. Robyn

pkight

Wait until you arrive in Saigon. It's easy and cheaper. Several flights per day on Vietnam Airlines

Kathie

You can also buy from a local agency. Many people here have recommended vietnamstay.com

Waiting is fine if you have some flexibility in your itinerary.

crossjay

Thank you for your advice. Cheers Robyn

martas

We just returned from a great trip, but we needed to buy our internal tickets in advance because it was busy season. They were more than twice the price to purchase in the US. I read on another post that someone had purchased his tickets at the Saigontourist desk at his hotel in Saigon, so I called from the US the concierge at our hotel in Saigon. After some follow-up emails and sending my credit card info, he got the tickets - we had no problem and saved several hundred dollars!

stlblew

I've also been reading that we should wait to arrive before buying domestic air tickets. Someone said that many seats were reserved in blocks by tour groups and open up in the last few days when not sold. We leave for VN in 2 weeks. We wanted early morning flights and, as of right now, they're all full. Our alternative is to buy evening flight tickets for the night before (now from the US) or wait and hope more tickets will be available once we're there.

Will there really be more of a chance to get a morning Vietnam Airlines flight once we're there?

We also still need to purchase tickets for a flight from HCMC to Siem Reap. Again the earliest flight is 11:30AM. We hoped to arrive and still have a morning visit to Angkor Wat. If no more tickets are available in HCMC I hope the evening flights the day before don't sell out.

mrwunrfl

Good job, martas. I mentioned getting a ticket from Saigontourist at my hotel (Saigon Sheraton). I bought the ticket to Hanoi less than four hours before departure from HCMC. It was $135 one-way business class or $90 ow coach.

mrwunrfl

... but that was a frequently flown domestic route and I was flexible on the departure time.

martas

Yes, now I remember, it was you - mrwunrfl. Thanks for the idea! We actually did not have much flexibility, and even a month in advance, our first choice was already sold-out in coach
so we had to take business class. Incredibly, it was only an extra $15 for the trip from Saigon to DaNang - and well worth it!

tkurt

Hi there,

You have no need to purchase tickets in Vietnam when April is not rush time like TET Holidays.

Vietam Airlines and pacific airlines are the main carriers in Vietnam now.

Check the updated Domestic routes and price at:

http://www.guidevietnam.com/flight/v...c-flights.html

Kurt