Pawleys

I can"t seem to get Vietnam Airlines to book flights within V ietnam.. Does anyone know the secret to this? Or does anyone have US contact info for them?
Thanks

filmwill

Either try a SE Asia-based travel agent (such as Eddie @ SEA Tours--do a search here for the info) or try Expedia.

You cannot book with them directly online.

Also, when booking your tickets make sure your reservation is under the EXACT full name on your passport. Vietnam Air, for some reason, are a bit Nazi-ish about enforcing this policy and have denied boarding for a missing middle name.

scheps

Hi Pawleys, I'm not sure where you're booking from but I couldn't use my Westpac visa or my English mastercard booking our tickets through the VN air website which became a giant pain as had tried for days. My bank had confirmed that everything was ok and the problem was with the airline.

I then decided to ask Vietnamstay to arrange the tickets for us in addition to our visas, hotels and tours and to be honest we could hardly fault the company and the service for any reason. Though Vietnamstay was the first and the only company we'd dealt with in Vietnam, I'm quite sure that any local companies can book your tickets without difficulty.

rhkkmk

tonkin travel is going to book my flights...

Smeagol

I think you can book online? they had a website upgrade last year (and looking at the website just there is a book your trip section). However the problem may be the acceptance of your card. I had an issue with Air Asia last year and i couldnt get my card to go through, tried again a month later, it went thru!!!
However i would ask Tonkin or a VN based company as they got me tickets last year far cheaper than i could get

MichaelBKK

Will, according to new international air transport rules, the name on the ticket has to match the passport exactly. That's now the rule almost everywhere.

Smeagol

I have read that the middle name on the ticket is not important it has to be your family name(surname) and given name(first) which must match.

smacdvanbc

I have a VISA card from a Canadian based bank. I recently booked 4 flights on the Vietnam Airlines website. No problem whatsoever. If you have a VISA card, sign up for "Verified by Visa" which provides added security to you and which Vietnam Airlines uses.

I arranged 4 flights: Saigon-Danang, Hue-Hanoi, Hanoi-Luang Prabang, and Luang Prabang-Siem Reap. Total cost $450 USD, taxes included.

mohan

I flew from Saigon-HoiAn and Hue -Hanoi via Vietnam Air in Nov/Dec. I bought the first leg at Sinh Cafe (the real one, the name is constantly changing) in Saigon two days before departure, I paid about $6 handling charge for two tickets. The inconvenience was we had to return later to pick up tix which took up time. Later my hotel Metropole told us they could have bought the tix for us and we could have picked up in the hotel. The second leg I bought in the airport. The ticketing office is situated right in front of departure and it took no time at all. If the plane is full, look for Jetstar ticketing office which is right there also. Vietnam air let you change time and date in a year without penalty whereas Jetstar doesn't let you change at all. Hope this helps.

filmwill

smeagol, that's what i was thinking.

yes, the new "secure flight" rules (or whatever they're called here in the States) dictate that your full name and birthday is to be provided when booking your ticket, but I've found (at least here for domestic flights) that the full name doesn't ever show up on your ticket...and they're definitely not strict about making sure that your license and ticket match up with all 3 names.

i've had friends denied boarding (and this was a few years ago) to a Vietnam Airlines flight they were confirmed on for not having all 3 names printed exactly on their e-tickets.

filmwill

it's an interesting topic, though. i wondered myself for our upcoming Thai flights from LAX. last year we had our full names printed on our confirmation. this year it's just our first and last names. i called thai to ask about it since the last thing i want is a problem the day we leave for our trip...and they said not to worry--that they have our full names on record.

still don't quite understand how that translates into not being printed on our e-ticket...but hoping it all works out.