Now we’re getting into the really fun part of this review trip. After flying from Bahrain to Singapore on Gulf Air and Singapore to Ho Chi Minh City on Singapore Airlines, I connected from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi on Bamboo Airways. I can’t even begin to explain how excited I was to start…
Continue reading: Bamboo Airways’ A321neo Business Class: What An Experience
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I love that you're back doing these uncharted (for your readers, anyway) types of reviews again!
I have J FJ on the A350 coming up and RAR-AIT (as well as RAR-PPT) on GZ coming up soon and I can't wait to try them out!
It looks like a really nice airplane. How do you decide if a new or foreign airline is safe enough to travel on?
Loving this content recently, it feels like the good ole days of OMAAT of flying seemingly random airlines again this week. This one is especially useful as I'd like to fly Bamboo next year. Thanks for doing these trips, they're a blast to read!
@ Patty -- That's a great question. While I do put some thought into airline safety, it doesn't impact whether I choose to fly an airline or not. I explained that in more detail here:
https://onemileatatime.com/insights/airline-safety/
Love Bamboo!
Sadly, I'm no longer full time in BKK, but when I am in SEA (about 2 months/year now) I always get to Vietnam...flying Bamboo is just a joy - their employees seem to truly care about their work and their passengers, and seeing the airline succeed. I've only flown them between within Vietnam and between Thailand, but they are just a really great airline and I hope to fly them long haul soon.
I agree - this is a great review and I love this content.
Whatever happened to Tiffany? We miss her and her reports as well!
Echoing the others, this feels like the good ole days again. I'll tell you why/when these are especially helpful (notably the pictures), is when it's like 2 years from now and I'm trying to decide how to fly to Vietnam. I'll Google "bamboo airways OMAAT" and these always serve as a great recap.
This is the type of content we've been missing for the last couple years! Glad things are finally returning to "normal"...and by normal I mean flying weird airlines in Southeast Asia and having awkward moments with the crew.
Looks like a great product for a short domestic flight! I will say though you shouldn't judge beer by 333, there are far better ones to try!
Vietnam is one of the few countries in Asia who know their coffee. I would say Malaysia/Indonesia/Singapore and their Kopi also know their coffee.
I love Bamboo Air! They were trained right and its good to see that hospiltality hasn't dropped since they started.
Hah hah Ben!
You cannot probably realise what 333 means as a beer...
It is very funny because it is like the French 33 so-called export beer with the same type of design but of course brewed in Vietnam.
The Viets have done their own one: the 333.
Nice you had it and you could not see all the meaning behind it.
Excellent post.
Thank you.
I once visited few southern cities of India, they know their coffee. Granted they consume coffee with milk and has a very unique and strong taste, but those are really good! Specially the way they make it and the flavor.
Impressive airline, interesting report. Thank you! Have you ever considered flying Go First Airlines? They just proved to be worthy of their name and forgot 55 passengers standing in a bus on tarmac when the plane departed to Delhi. Flight GB 116, BLR-DEL, Monday 1/9 at o6.20.
I would've thunk that they know their tea better than coffee, who knew?! I'm sure Ben would love to indulge on a iced chai! But yes, I always thought that Indian subcontinent would be more on tea than coffee.
@ Jason – Awww, that's sweet! I'm here, just handling the operations and such for the business(es) takes way more time and brain power than pre-Covid, so I'm pretty wrapped up in the behind-the-scenes stuff.
Besides, Ben has always (more than!) had the fun reviews and content covered, so while I miss having the space to write, it's realistically better for me to be focusing my efforts on the other parts for now. 🙂
I recently returned from Vietnam and had the chance to fly Bamboo Airways domestically from Hanoi to Hue. I had a similar fantastic experience with them, with absolutely wonderful staff on the ground pre-departure and then crew on board.
But what really blew me away was this: I made a horrible mistake of forgetting my passport on the plane, only realizing it when I reached my hotel in Hue and the plane was already flying back to Hanoi. The Bamboo ground staff at Hue was truly incredible, tracking down my passport that same night when the plane landed in Hanoi, texting the receptionist at my hotel so I would know it had been found, and having it flown back to Hue the next day. When I went to the airport to pick it up and asked how I could thank them, they asked me just to write an email to Bamboo Airways so they would be recognized internally and by their managers. Below is the email I received back from Bamboo. Talk about an airline that clearly has incredible staff across the board!
Dear XYZ,
Warm greetings from Bamboo Airways.
We would like to express our sincere thanks to you for trusting and choosing Bamboo Airways’ services.
It is truly grateful when receiving your compliment regarding happy and joyful moments on your journey with us. We have forwarded your message to Ground Services Department at Phu Bai Airport, Hue to promptly encourage our staffs. This positive message is a great motivation for us to put more efforts on the path of perfecting our services towards our guests as well as delivering comfortable and safe flights in the spirit of the Airline of Hospitality.
Once again, we would like to express our sincerest gratitude to you. Wishing you lots of health, success and we long to welcome you on the upcoming flights with Bamboo Airways with remarkable experiences.
Yours faithfully,
Tracy, Bamboo Airways Customer Service Quality Control Department.
My mum really liked her BKK-SGN-SYD trip. She didn't give a full trip report but also didn't say anything bad the on board experience.
The ground experience left a little to be desired logistics wise. In BKK they only gave her a ticket to SGN, leaving her to get the connecting boarding pass in SGN.
She had a 6hr layover in SGN and realized Vietnam doesn't do visa in arrival, so she was told to wait in a transfer area until 3hrs before the departing connection. An agent came a little after the 3hr mark she received her ongoing boarding passes and went to the lounge, and then boarded her flight without issue.
I'm a little bit jealous because she's getting to try out carriers that I would have want to try. 🙂
It doesn't surprise me a bit that the congee was tasty. I've had in a number of countries in Southeast Asia and it has always been good. Was the bread also tasty? When I visited Vietnam more than 20 years ago, I was impressed at how good the bread was.
It’s worth remembering that SouthEast Asian airlines including SQ and Bamboo only allow flight attendants and many other personnel to work for a short part of the employee’s live which keeps labor costs much lower
They also tolerant diversity which should matter to the author and many readers.
The service is indeed impeccable but it comes at the cost of sacrificing a lot of western values
There has got to be a balance of service on western airlines but let’s not kid ourselves about why many Asian airlines excel at service and consider whether we are willing to go against many of our own human values just to get good service
We just came back from Vietnam. Stayed there for a whole month and tracked around. While we were there we flew with Bamboo four times. First from HCMC to Dalat, then from Dalat to Danang, then from Danang to Hanoi and then back to HCMC. Always a great experience, and yes, I loved it when they bowed. All the aircraft were A3..., but there were quite differences. On the first flight the pitch between the seats was almost like on Delta's Comfort+, while all the other flights had seat pitches that were rather close together my knees were hitting the seat in front of me (I am 6'). Still totally enjoyed flying with them.