Vietjet Air has expanded aggressively into Australia this year. It currently offers flights to Ho Chi Minh City from Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane on its Airbus A330s. It also plans to add Perth to its network from November, using Airbus A321neo jets.

The low-cost carrier has an extensive domestic network in Vietnam. You can also connect on Vietjet to a number of countries within Asia such as India, Japan or China.

On the Melbourne-Ho Chi Minh City route, Vietjet Air competes with Jetstar, Vietnam Airlines and Bamboo Airways – although it’s the only one to offer an overnight flight. Find out what the service is like as I review Vietjet Economy Class on its Airbus A330-300 from Melbourne to Ho Chi Minh City…

Flight Details

Flight number	VJ84
Route	Melbourne (MEL) to Ho Chi Minh City (SGN)
Aircraft type	Airbus A330-300
Class of travel	Economy
Seat number	48K
On-time performance	We arrived 35 minutes late
Star rating

The route

Flight Cost

Booking as part of Vietjet Air’s launch sale, my one-way ticket from Melbourne to Ho Chi Minh City cost me a total of $213. This included a $5 seat selection fee. This was for the “Eco” fare, which only included 7kg of carry-on luggage. As it was a late night flight, I didn’t purchase any food to have onboard.

For what it’s worth, you can purchase extras such as checked baggage and food individually, or you can purchase an add-on bundle. The “Deluxe” bundle is very similar to Jetstar’s Plus bundle, as it includes checked baggage, seat selection and food, for around $100 more than the “Eco” fare.

The incredibly-named “SkyBoss” option is actually still a standard Vietjet Economy seat, although you can choose an upfront seat for free. It also comes with lounge access, a shuttle service, priority check-in and priority boarding.

However, this costs much more than the lowest “Eco” option. You’d effectively pay almost $1,000 more and still sit in an Economy seat.

Vietjet Air also offers a Business Class option, with the same angle-flat beds that you would find on AirAsia X. The pricing is not much more than the “SkyBoss” package, but includes everything the “SkyBoss” fare does – with a much better seat.

Airport Experience

I ended up arriving at Melbourne Airport very early, around four hours prior to departure time. It worked out well, as check-in opened shortly after. The line at this point was already massive, and there were only two agents serving all the Economy passengers.

After around an hour of waiting, I presented my passport and visa for inspection before heading through immigration. Melbourne Airport Terminal 2 was comfortable enough, although there was nothing to get excited about.

If you have a Priority Pass membership, there are three lounge options to choose from at Melbourne’s international terminal.

Boarding commenced around 11.50pm, with Business Class and “SkyBoss” passengers ostensibly invited first. However, enforcement of priority boarding was non-existent. People crowded around the small lines erected by the ground staff from the first boarding announcement, making the gate quite chaotic.

Unfortunately, pushback didn’t occur until 1.05am, 35 minutes late, as the plane was still loading cargo.

During boarding though, the catchy “Hello Vietnam” song was playing on loop – in combination with a rap reminding people to fasten their seatbelts! This almost made up for the delayed departure…

The Hard Product

This Vietjet Air A330-300 used to fly for AirAsia X, set out in a high-density configuration. Vietjet Air has not changed the seating layout since acquiring the aircraft.

The plane has 12 angle-flat Business Class seats in a 2-2-2 configuration, and 365 Economy seats in a 3-3-3 setup. The last 8 rows of Economy have a 2-3-2 configuration due to tapering of the A330 fuselage.

I selected 48K, a window seat in the last eight rows.

There were substantial signs of wear on the seat, and it was unfortunately not very comfortable at all. Like AirAsia X Economy Class, the biggest issue is the seat width, as they are only 16.5 inches wide.

Even though I’m quite skinny, I was rubbing shoulders with my seat-mate for most of the flight. This was extremely uncomfortable, especially on an overnight flight.

Thankfully, the legroom was tolerable at 31 inches, with my knees just touching the netting infront.

Also, the overhead bins above the window seats are quite small. They struggled to fit a regular sized roller bag.

The Soft Product

The flight attendants were nice, but were always rushing around, whether that be serving meals or assisting passengers during boarding.

The cabin lights stayed on until around 2.30am, to complete the first meal service. I slept from then until they turned the cabin lights on three hours later, which kept me awake for the rest of the flight.

Added to this, the flight attendants did not close or motion passengers to close any window shades, so the cabin was bright seven hours into the flight. The view on sunrise was quite nice, at least!

The pilots were also trigger-happy with the seatbelt sign, turning it on and off constantly for most of the flight.

There were no amenities provided of any kind, as you’d expect from an low-cost carrier. There was a “sleeper kit” available for purchase for $20.

In the seatback pocket provided there was an inflight magazine, as well as the safety card. There was no other in-flight entertainment at all, so you might want to bring your own!

You should also bring a water bottle (which you can fill up after security) and possibly some snacks, as all food and drinks on board are only available to those who pre-purchased. For what it’s worth, meals on the flight included both hot and cold options, and started at $13.

Arrival Experience

We landed at 6.55am local time, arriving at the remote stand at 7.05am. Disembarkation was via both the front and rear stairs, which got me to the terminal 20 minutes later.

The visa process was relatively quick, which was good.

As an aside, if you’re looking to transit in Vietnam, potentially to take advantage of cheaper Business Class airfares to Europe, you will need to enter the country as Vietnam requires physical boarding passes.

Wilson McTaggart

Wilson's love of travel started from a young age, but his love for points developed after figuring out ways to travel on a gap year for less - leading naturally towards Australian Frequent Flyer! Wilson's hobbies include skiing, cricket and planning trips, both with and without points.

Wilson posts on the AFF forum as @WilsonM.