Tet flight tickets are expensive and hard to buy, customers are struggling to find round-trip flights

With just over 20 days left until Lunar New Year 2024, consumers are increasingly impatient as they watch airfares "dance" continuously, with some flights even sold out and unable to buy even if they had money.

Many ways to choose tickets to go home for Tet

Mr. Thanh Binh (Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City) said that Tet flight tickets are not only expensive but also difficult to buy at this time. After finalizing the Tet holiday schedule, Mr. Binh and his wife decided to fly to Quang Ngai on February 3-4 (December 25).

Therefore, Mr. Binh chose a flight ticket from Ho Chi Minh City - Chu Lai (Quang Nam). However, what disappointed Mr. Binh was that Vietjet "sold out" tickets for several days, Vietnam Airlines only had business class tickets for 5.8 million VND/ticket. At the same time last year, this flight was 2.5 - 3 million VND/ticket on Tet holiday, and only 900,000 - 1.5 million VND/ticket on weekdays.

The option of flying back to Chu Lai was not feasible, so Mr. Binh accepted to choose a further flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Da Nang because there were many flights on this route. However, Vietjet still showed that the tickets were sold out for two consecutive days. Vietnam Airlines and Bamboo Airways still had tickets but the price was 5.1 million VND/ticket/way.

Mr. Binh said he will try to wait for information about the airline opening a new round of ticket sales at more reasonable prices, otherwise he will choose to celebrate Tet in Ho Chi Minh City to save costs.

Tet flights to the central provinces are expensive and the number of flights is limited, so buying tickets for many families is quite stressful. Many people have asked 4-5 agents to help them buy tickets for more than a week but still cannot find tickets at reasonable prices. With flights that are "hot" for tickets, some customers choose another option to still return to Da Nang on February 4 by taking a round trip.

Instead of flying from Ho Chi Minh City to Da Nang on February 3-4, Mr. Bao Chau (Phu Nhuan) chose to fly from Can Tho to Da Nang because the ticket price was only 2.3 million VND/ticket but there were flights and traffic was smooth, not too crowded like Tan Son Nhat.

Ms. Thu An, in charge of air ticket booking at a travel company in Ho Chi Minh City, recommends that customers book early. "This year, the three airlines Vietravel Airlines, Pacific Airlines, and Bamboo Airways have drastically reduced the number of aircraft. The shortage of capacity is obvious when people's demand to return home during Tet always increases," said Ms. Thu An.

Closely follow demand to increase flights

Statistics from reporters show that the wet leasing plan (including aircraft and crew) to supplement the Tet fleet has been completed by airlines. On January 15, Bamboo Airways announced the completion of leasing 2 aircraft, bringing the total number of aircraft serving Tet to 10.

Vietjet has also received 4 aircraft, increasing its fleet to over 100 aircraft. Pacific Airlines is expected to receive 3 aircraft from Vietnam Airlines from January 23 to 25, adding to its operating fleet of 6 aircraft. Thus, the additional leased aircraft for Tet flights are ready to transport passengers during Tet.

An airline leader also admitted that ticket prices have increased compared to previous years but are still within the regulated price range. There is a large shortage of aircraft but the service plan is still guaranteed based on the travel needs of passengers during Tet. The difficulty in buying tickets only occurs on days close to Tet or on weekends.

Furthermore, there are still night flights that have not sold out, the price for the routes from Ho Chi Minh City to the Central region and Hanoi is 2.2 - 3 million VND/ticket. According to this person, there is no such thing as airlines hoarding tickets to create scarcity and increase prices. Airlines compete fiercely to sell tickets quite early.

"When the order for leasing the plane was finalized, the airline planned to sell tickets, not to sell the plane upon its arrival in Vietnam. Therefore, the story that the plane had been added but no flights had been added was not accurate," he affirmed.

According to Mr. Dinh Viet Thang - Director of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, the plan to serve the Tet peak season was prepared very early and is closely following the needs of customers each week to promptly adjust.

Through monitoring, the number of passengers during Tet 2024 will increase by about 10 - 15% compared to Tet 2023. Even if the number of passengers increases suddenly, at about 30% compared to the previous forecast, the airline will still be able to serve.

However, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam said that the number of bookings is still increasing, so the booking rate is high on some days close to Tet and vice versa after Tet. Therefore, this agency will monitor and recommend airlines to balance and increase flights on routes with high demand during Tet 2024.

A recent report from the Civil Aviation Authority shows that although airlines have increased 472 flights with more than 92,000 seats during the 2024 Lunar New Year, Tet flight tickets on many routes have been almost sold out.