Vietnam Airlines Boeing 787-9 business class

HO CHI MINH CITY-LONDON

BACKGROUND

Vietnam Airlines received its first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner in 2015, and now has 11 in the fleet, along with four Boeing 787-10s. The three-class configuration offers 28 seats in business, 35 in premium economy and 211 in economy. Vietnam Airlines is part of the SkyTeam alliance.

CHECK-IN

I arrived at Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat International airport at 2238 for flight VN51 to London at 0005.

Vietnam Airlines check-in counters are in C/D, with dedicated SkyPriority and business class lanes. It was quiet when I got there and with fast-track security I was through by 2250.

THE LOUNGE

There are two Lotus Lounge options. The larger option, which I visited, is on Level 3 above duty free. The smaller one is on Level 2 near Gate 18.

Facilities include showers, information screens, a pet area (sadly empty on my visit) computer and printing facilities, and plenty of seating and charging ports.

Food was weirdly breakfast-focused, with cereal and cold-cut offerings, along with some hot dishes including stir-fried pork in sauce.

BOARDING

I left the lounge at 2320 and headed for Gate 25. Boarding was already underway for business class (via a bus) and I was in my seat by 2340.

THE SEAT

There are seven rows arranged in a 1-2-1 formation (A-DG-K). I was in seat 6A, towards the back. A galley separated the cabin from premium economy.

The seat is a 180-degree flat-bed seat, angled away from the aisle, with a 42-inch seat pitch. The footwell was fairly narrow but it was comfortable enough and the bedding was nice – with a pre-attached seat protector plus soft pillow and silky duvet.

Amenity kits came in a grey Cerruti 1881 case, with an eyeshade, comb, toothbrush and paste, Payot body cream and lip balm, socks and ear plugs. Easy-to-navigate controls for the seat are located on the left-hand panel, along with a personal reading light, a removable IFE remote, charging ports and average headphones.

The meal table slides out from under the side counter. Under this is a plug socket, water bottle holder (although there was no water in place upon boarding) plus a selection of inflight magazines.

The seats have numerous air vents around them, which I appreciated.

The IFE and tech offering was a bit of a disappointment. The 15.4-inch IFE monitor was not touchscreen, the handheld controller was temperamental and the system kept sticking and crashing. The selection was OK, with a split between new Hollywood releases and Asian hits.

No wifi was available on the flight. Vietnam Airlines has launched paid-for wifi packages on its A350 aircraft, with plans to roll out to the Dreamliner fleet.

THE FLIGHT

Cold towels were brought round while passengers settled into seats, followed by water, juice or Champagne.

The flight safety video caught my eye – featuring Vietnam’s beautiful scenery and cultural assets.

Three menus were brought round at 0014 (for food, drinks and coffee) – but just one single copy of each that passengers had to share. There were two Vietnamese options and a Western choice for each meal service.

The Vietnamese noodles had run out for dinner, so I opted for the stewed spare ribs with beans, fried rice, spinach and corn. (The Western option was grilled garoupa.) As a starter, I chose Vietnamese chicken terrine. Dessert was a mango and condensed milk sweet pudding – which I enjoyed. For breakfast, I had a frittata with bacon, beef burger and cheddar cheese.

ARRIVAL

We landed at 0710 local time at London Heathrow Terminal 4. I disembarked at 0720 and whizzed straight through. I was on the Elizabeth Line by 0800.

The bedding was nice – with a pre-attached seat protector plus soft pillow and silky duvet

VERDICT

Decent seat and food. Inferior technology. A highlight was the intuitive service from cabin crew.