Is VietJet worth flying? With VietJet, you get what you pay for. This VietJet review is based on my own flights of 2 November 2026, and my answer is no, not if your trip involves a connection in Vietnam. VietJet cancelled my direct Denpasar–Hanoi flight two weeks before departure and only rebooked me after Trip.com, where I had booked, stepped in. It then left me queuing for over an hour at Denpasar check-in and an hour at Ho Chi Minh City immigration, and asked me for USD 7 to check in for the second leg of a ticket I had already bought. The onward flight then left 70 minutes late, and the only place the delay was announced was a handwritten board by the gate that you had to walk back to every 15 minutes, because nothing appeared on the screens. Communication on the ground was very poor. A journey that should have taken about 5 hours took more than 10. The fare was cheap when I booked it; by the time I landed in Hanoi it did not feel cheap at all.
How I Know This
- Flights: VJ894, Denpasar (DPS) to Ho Chi Minh City (SGN), an Airbus A321, then VJ156 from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi, both on 2 November 2026 on a single VietJet ticket.
- Original booking: a direct VietJet DPS–Hanoi flight booked through Trip.com, cancelled by the airline roughly two weeks before departure and replaced by the two-leg routing above.
- Paid extras: exit-row seats and 20 kg of checked luggage, both bought in advance.
- What I tested: the cancellation and rebooking process, check-in at DPS, the buy-on-board menu and payment, and the international-to-domestic connection and boarding at SGN.
- Limitations: one trip, economy cabin, one direction only. I did not test VietJet’s business-class product, a domestic-only sector or VietJet’s online check-in. Schedules and fees change; the prices quoted are what I saw on board on the day.
The Cancellation: A Refund Is Not a Solution Two Weeks Out
I booked VietJet for one reason: it offered a direct Denpasar–Hanoi flight, roughly 5 hours, at a good fare. About two weeks before departure, VietJet cancelled it.
This was my seventh trip to Vietnam. I have stayed in some of the best hotels in the country, including the Four Seasons Nam Hai in Hoi An and Six Senses Con Dao, so I know how smoothly travel here can go.
VietJet offered me two options: a refund with no compensation, or a flight a day later. The later flight was not an option, because I was boarding the Bhaya Soul cruise in Halong Bay the next day. And two weeks before departure, a refund is close to worthless, because other airlines’ fares on the route had climbed far above what I had paid when I first booked. What I needed was a seat on another VietJet routing that day, and VietJet first refused to rebook me. Fortunately I had booked the ticket through Trip.com, whose customer service took up the case and got VietJet to put me on a connecting itinerary via Ho Chi Minh City.
The lessons are ones I now apply to any budget carrier. When a low-cost airline cancels on you, push for a rebooking rather than accepting the refund they lead with; the refund protects the airline, not you. And book low-cost flights through Trip.com rather than direct, so you have its customer service on your side when something goes wrong.
Check-In at Denpasar: Three Queues, No Signs, Over an Hour
I have flown out of Bali many times, and I have never queued as long to check in at DPS as I did for VietJet on 2 November 2026: over an hour. VietJet was checking in VJ894 and VJ848, its two afternoon departures to Ho Chi Minh City, at the same block of counters.
There were not enough check-in staff for the number of passengers. Three separate queues had formed with no real signage or guidance explaining which was which, and there was no separate, faster line for passengers who had already checked in online: everyone ended up in the same queues. At an airport like Denpasar, where staffing a few more desks costs an airline very little, this was unprecedented in my experience.
What really slows VietJet check-in is the airline’s own baggage policy. VietJet is very strict on allowance, and at the counters I watched passengers open suitcases on the floor and repack everything to avoid an excess-baggage charge, holding up the line each time.
If you are comparing VietJet with full-service carriers out of Denpasar, my KLM Business Class review, Amsterdam to Bali shows how differently a connection can be handled when the airline checks your bag through.
On Board VJ894: USD 4 Water and an Indian Menu
VJ894 is an Airbus A321 in an all-economy layout of gray leather seats, and it was full.
I had paid extra for an exit-row seat, which on a 4-hour daytime sector is the one upgrade I would still buy on VietJet.
Nothing on VietJet is free. Water, soft drinks and meals are all buy-on-board, and the prices are high for Southeast Asia. These are the international prices from the menu on VJ894:
| Item | Price on international flights |
|---|---|
| Soft drink or water | USD 4 (VND 100,000) |
| Beer | USD 5 (VND 120,000) |
| Hot meal (nasi lemak, Singapore noodles) | USD 7 (VND 170,000) |
| India hot meal | USD 12 (VND 280,000) |
The menu had an interesting selection of Indian meals, from vegetarian fried rice to malai kofta with paratha and a vegetable curry with basmati rice, probably because most passengers on VJ894 that day were traveling from India.
The regular hot meals, such as nasi lemak and Singapore noodles, cost USD 7 on international sectors, and the menu says pre-booking meals online saves up to 30 percent.
Payment is where you can lose money. I tried to pay cash for a USD 5 item and was charged IDR 120,000, which is closer to USD 7–8, a markup of roughly 50 percent on the conversion alone. If you do not have Vietnamese dong, pay by card. Mine went through, although a few passengers around me had problems with their cards.
The flight itself was the calm part of the day, with cloud cover below the wing most of the way north.
The Ho Chi Minh City Transit: An Hour at Immigration, an Empty Desk and a USD 7 “Choice”
This is the section that decided my verdict.
Immigration. Landing at Tan Son Nhat’s international terminal, I walked into an immigration hall with hundreds of people in line. Worried about my connection, I approached a border officer. The reply was that if I wanted to skip the queue, I should put EUR 30 in cash inside my passport. I refused and queued for about an hour. To be clear: that was a border official, not VietJet, and I am reporting only what was said to me that day, not drawing conclusions about anyone else.
The unattended transfer counter. VietJet’s own connecting-flight guidance says that for an international-to-domestic connection at SGN you collect your bags and go to a Transit Service Point, where staff guide you to the domestic terminal for check-in and bag drop, with a 150-minute minimum connecting time. The process on paper is reasonable. The VietJet transit/transfer counter I found after immigration had nobody at it. So despite having bought a single ticket, I was checking in from scratch for the second leg.
The walk and the queue. The walk from the international Terminal 2 to the domestic Terminal 1 is easy, about 5 minutes, and it was the smoothest part of the connection. The check-in queue at the domestic terminal was not. It was long enough that I would have missed the Hanoi flight.
The USD 7 fee. A VietJet helper working the queue laid out my options: stay in line and miss the flight, or pay USD 7 for priority check-in and make it. I have never seen an airline anywhere in the world charge extra to check in for a connecting flight on a ticket I had already paid for. It felt like a racket. I paid.
The delay. Once in the departure lounge, I learned that the Hanoi flight was delayed, in the end by 70 minutes. Nothing appeared on the screens. The only notice was a handwritten board by the gate, which gave VJ156 a new departure time of 20:40 and the reason as the late arrival of the aircraft, and the only way to keep up with any change was to walk back and re-check it every 15 minutes. The priority fee had bought me access to a wait.
Boarding. The boarding gate brought more drama: people were shouting at each other in Vietnamese, over what seemed to be a luggage issue. Boarding was by minibus out to the aircraft, and the minibuses were overcrowded.
Arrival. VJ156 landed in Hanoi at 23:13, almost an hour after its scheduled 22:15 arrival.
The Real Cost of My VietJet Ticket
| Item | What I Planned | What Actually Happened | Extra Paid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Routing | Direct DPS–Hanoi, about 5 hours | DPS–SGN–Hanoi, more than 10 hours | 5+ hours of my day |
| Exit-row seat | Paid in advance | Paid in advance | VietJet lists extra-legroom seats at VND 220,000 per sector on Southeast Asia routes |
| 20 kg checked bag | Paid in advance | Had to be checked in again at SGN | VietJet lists 20 kg at VND 480,000 on Southeast Asia routes when bought at booking |
| Check-in queues | Normal DPS wait | Over 1 hour at DPS, long queue again at SGN | Time |
| Immigration at SGN | Not a factor on a direct flight | About 1 hour in line; asked for EUR 30 to skip, refused | Time |
| Priority check-in at SGN | Not applicable | The only way to make the connection | USD 7 |
| Cash purchase on board | USD 5 | Charged IDR 120,000, about USD 7–8 | Roughly USD 2–3 |
| Onward flight VJ156 | On time | 70-minute delay, announced only on a handwritten board; landed 23:13 | Time |
Add it up and the cheap direct flight became a two-leg day with roughly USD 10 of unplanned spending and more than 5 hours of lost time. None of the extra cash is large; what grates is that each charge arrived at the moment I had no alternative.
Tips If You Do Fly VietJet
- Weigh your bags at home and buy your allowance at booking. VietJet’s counters enforce the allowance strictly, and repacking at the counter is what turns check-in into an hour. VietJet’s published fee for 20 kg on Southeast Asia international routes is VND 480,000 at booking, VND 580,000 if added later and VND 720,000 at the airport.
- Book through Trip.com, not direct. When VietJet refused to rebook me after cancelling my flight, Trip.com’s customer service got it done.
- Arrive early at DPS. I did not try VietJet’s online check-in, and I saw no faster line for the passengers who had; everyone stood in the same queues. Plan for more than an hour at the counters.
- Pre-book your meal or carry Vietnamese dong or a working card. VietJet’s menu says pre-booked meals save up to 30 percent, and paying in another cash currency cost me about 50 percent extra on a USD 5 item.
- Avoid connecting in Vietnam on VietJet if you can. VietJet does not process the onward leg for you at Tan Son Nhat: you clear immigration, collect your bag and check in again at the domestic terminal.
- If you must connect at SGN, allow 3 hours or more. VietJet’s stated minimum of 150 minutes assumes a staffed transit point and a short immigration line. On my day, neither existed. Frequent travelers suggest at least 3 hours, and I would now say that is the floor.
- Budget for the USD 7 priority check-in. If the domestic check-in queue is impossible, priority check-in exists, and the helpers will sell it to you.
- Watch the gate board, not the screens. At Ho Chi Minh City the 70-minute delay appeared only on a handwritten board by the gate, so check it every 15 minutes.
- Expect bus boarding at Ho Chi Minh City. Keep your hand luggage light and manageable; the minibuses to the aircraft are packed.
- Book direct routings, and if VietJet cancels, insist on a rebooking rather than accepting the refund they offer first; two weeks out, a refund will not buy you a comparable seat elsewhere.
- Never pay a border official to skip a queue. Queue, however long it takes.
When I compare flights out of Bali, I search on Trip.com, which accepts international cards and lists the full-service carriers alongside the low-cost ones, so the real price gap between VietJet and a through-checked alternative is visible before you book. For the long sectors,
How to Skip the Queues in Vietnam: Fast Track and Lounges
On this trip, the queues cost me more time than the flying: over an hour at check-in in Denpasar, about an hour at immigration in Ho Chi Minh City, and another line at the domestic terminal that I only beat by paying for priority check-in. In Vietnam, priority check-in and lounge access are not luxuries; they are the difference between making a connection and missing it.
The way I get both is a Revolut account on the Ultra plan. It costs me €70 a month and includes unlimited airport lounge access and unlimited Fast Track. On this trip it got me into the Concordia Lounge at Denpasar before VJ894, and into the Le Saigonnais lounge in Ho Chi Minh City’s domestic terminal while VJ156 ran 70 minutes late, which is a far better place to wait than a gate with a handwritten delay board. On a day when a single line can swallow an hour, the fee pays for itself at the first airport. You can open a Revolut account here.
Tip: Revolut Ultra also includes free Fast Track through passport control on arrival, but it has to be booked in the Revolut app at least 24 hours before you land. I only found that out after I had queued for an hour at Tan Son Nhat, so book it before you fly.
ugh passport control on arrival, but it has to be booked in the Revolut app at least 24 hours in advance, which i didnt know about before this trip.
Sun PhuQuoc Airways vs VietJet: Night and Day
A few days later I flew Sun PhuQuoc Airways from Hanoi to Dong Hoi on flight 9G1425, and it was night and day compared with VietJet. At Hanoi’s Noi Bai airport, Sun PhuQuoc had 8 check-in counters open and no line at check-in.
In the same hall, VietJet had 3 counters open for more flights, and once again a long line at check-in.
Boarding was smooth and the flight was on time. Despite the flight being only 50 minutes, the crew gave every passenger a bottle of water and a cookie; on VietJet, the water alone costs USD 4. It was a great flight, and much better than VietJet.
Who VietJet Is (and Isn’t) For
VietJet makes sense for a traveler on a single nonstop sector, such as DPS–SGN on VJ894, who is carrying hand luggage only, has eaten before boarding, has a card that works abroad and has nothing time-critical at the other end.
VietJet is the wrong choice for anyone connecting onward within Vietnam, anyone checking a bag who dislikes handling it twice, anyone who expects an airline to look after them when it cancels a flight, and any traveler for whom a day of queuing cannot be absorbed. The luxury reader of this magazine falls into the second group more often than the first. If the alternative is a full-service carrier with a through-checked bag, such as Malaysia Airlines’ A330neo out of Denpasar, pay the difference.
My VietJet Review Verdict
My rating: 1.5 / 5.
VietJet got me from Bali to Hanoi, but everything around the flying was the problem: a cancellation that put me on a connection I never wanted, a Denpasar check-in that took longer than any I have known in Bali, pricey buy-on-board with a poor cash rate, an unattended transfer counter at Ho Chi Minh City, a USD 7 fee that was the only way to make a connection VietJet itself had built, a 70-minute delay announced only on a handwritten board, and shouting at the gate before an overcrowded bus to the plane. I will avoid VietJet on future trips, and I will avoid connecting flights in Vietnam altogether. Once I was in Vietnam, the trip got much better: read my reviews of the Bhaya Soul cruise in Ha Long Bay and Auko Eco-Wellness Lodges in Phong Nha, and my alternative to the classic Vietnam route.
FAQ
Is VietJet a good airline?
VietJet is a low-cost carrier: paid seat selection, paid baggage and buy-on-board food. My 2 November 2026 experience was poor, with a cancelled direct flight, a 1-hour check-in queue at Denpasar and a chaotic connection at Ho Chi Minh City. For a single nonstop sector it may be acceptable; for a connection it is not one I recommend.
Does VietJet check bags through on connections at Ho Chi Minh City?
Not on an international-to-domestic connection. VietJet’s own guidance says you collect your bag after immigration, go to a Transit Service Point and check in again at the domestic terminal. On my trip the transfer counter was unattended and I checked in from scratch at Terminal 1.
Is food free on VietJet?
No. Everything is for sale. On VJ894 the international menu listed water and soft drinks at USD 4 (VND 100,000), beer at USD 5 (VND 120,000), hot meals at USD 7 (VND 170,000) and Indian hot meals at USD 12 (VND 280,000). Pre-booking meals saves up to 30 percent; on board, pay by card or in Vietnamese dong.
How strict is VietJet on baggage?
Very. At Denpasar, passengers were repacking suitcases on the floor to meet the allowance, which is a big reason check-in took over an hour. Buy the checked allowance you need at booking, when VietJet charges VND 480,000 for 20 kg on Southeast Asia routes against VND 720,000 at the airport.
What happens if VietJet cancels my flight?
In my case, VietJet offered a refund with no compensation or a flight a day later, and refused to rebook me on the same day until Trip.com, where I had booked, took up the case and got me onto a connecting itinerary. Ask for a rebooking rather than accepting the refund; two weeks out, other airlines’ fares had risen far above what I originally paid.
How long do I need to connect at SGN on VietJet?
VietJet’s minimum connecting time for domestic airports is 150 minutes, but that assumes short immigration lines and a staffed transfer point. I spent about an hour at immigration alone and still needed a USD 7 priority check-in fee to make the flight. Allow at least 3 hours, or better, avoid the connection.
More on luxury travel in Vietnam: the best luxury hotels in Vietnam · the best luxury hotels in Hoi An · Azerai La Residence Hue review · Namia River Retreat review (Hoi An) · what to do in Con Dao.
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