'Sold out' of plane and train tickets to Nghe An for Tet

Air tickets are scarce and expensive.

There is still nearly a month left until Lunar New Year but finding a plane ticket at this time is not easy, even accepting to pay more money, there are no more tickets to buy during peak days.

Mr. Ngo Quoc Hung, a native of Hanh Quang commune, Dien Chau district, has been living and working in Ho Chi Minh City for more than 20 years. In previous years, due to the impact of the pandemic and busy work, his family did not return home for Tet. This year, the Tet holiday is longer than previous years. He wanted to bring his wife and children home to celebrate Tet, but all flights were fully booked.

Mr. Hung said: According to the schedule, this year, people will have Tet holiday from January 25, 2025 (December 26), so I plan to finish my last working day on January 24 and arrange to board a plane to return home. However, according to the online ticket sales pages of Vietnam Airlines and VietJet Air, there are no direct flights on this day. If you continue to fly, you must arrange your work and ask for leave 2-3 days in advance to get a ticket. Otherwise, you have to travel by other means, which will take many times longer. This is very inconvenient because the number of extra days off is equal to the time it takes to travel by train or bus back home.

Not only Mr. Hung's family, but also many Nghe An people living far from home, especially those living and working in southern provinces such as Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Can Tho... In which, the Ho Chi Minh City - Vinh flight is always the flight with the largest number of passengers operating in Nghe An.

According to a survey on Vietnam Airlines' online ticket sales page, on January 24, the last working day, there were 5 direct flights from Ho Chi Minh City to Vinh airport that were sold out of economy tickets with prices of over 4 million VND. This price is twice as high as usual even though the flight time is during off-peak hours from 0:55 to 3:35. Business class tickets are still available, but with a price of about 6 million VND, very few people can access them, especially families with many members.

On January 25, the first day of the Tet holiday, all direct flights from Ho Chi Minh City to Vinh were completely sold out in all classes. If you accept a connecting flight from Ho Chi Minh City - Hanoi - Vinh, the time will be doubled and the ticket price will be more than 11 million VND, making it difficult for people to afford this price.

For VietJet Air, from January 23 to 26, flights from Ho Chi Minh City to Vinh were sold out of economy tickets (ranging at over 3.5 million VND). If you want to have a ticket for this route, you must travel before January 23 or after January 26, which means you will have to arrange your time and work to return home earlier than the Tet holiday or on the last two days of the year, January 27 and January 28 (ie 28 and 29 of Tet).

Mr. Nghiem Manh Tuan - Director of Vinh International Airport said: Currently, Vinh airport has an average of about 50 flights taking off and landing every day, but during the Lunar New Year, this number often doubles, due to the highest demand of the year. In response to the sudden increase in passengers, the airport has also had a plan to ensure flight safety, security and order for people returning home for Tet.

It is known that the country has 22 civil airports, serving the travel needs of passengers, including 12 international airports and 10 domestic airports. Vinh International Airport is currently operating 5 direct flights to and from Vinh including: Vinh - Hanoi, Vinh - Ho Chi Minh City, Vinh - Da Lat, Vinh - Buon Ma Thuot and Vinh - Can Tho. In addition to these 5 flights, if passengers want to go to the remaining provinces and cities by air, they will have to take connecting flights.

Proactive means

Train tickets to Nghe An during the Lunar New Year have also been fully booked. According to the ticket sales website of Vietnam Railways, on January 25, the first day of the Tet holiday, there were 11 trains from Ho Chi Minh City to Vinh serving people returning home for Tet, including: SE8, SE12, SE16, SE6, TN4, SE10, TN6, SE4, SE24, SE14, SE2. All 11 trains were fully booked in all compartments, regardless of whether they were soft seats with air conditioning or sleepers with air conditioning.

If people want to have tickets for this trip, they must book tickets from January 21 (4 days before the holiday). According to a survey, the ticket price on train SE14 from Ho Chi Minh City - Vinh is 2.1 million VND on January 21 for soft air-conditioned seats (normally 1.4 million VND). Other routes such as Vinh - Da Nang, Vinh - Hue, Vinh - Nha Trang, Vinh - Dieu Tri... also recorded an increase in the number of customers booking tickets. Trains are the means of transport chosen by many people, because of safety as well as cheaper ticket prices compared to other means of transport, however, in return, the travel time is longer.

For passenger transport by road, bus companies have also started selling Tet tickets for people who want to book early. People can buy tickets directly at the store or contact the bus company's phone number or ticket sales page for reference. At Bac Vinh Bus Station - the largest bus station in the province, there are currently about 200 vehicles registered to transport passengers in and out of the province, ready to serve people during the Lunar New Year.

Due to the high and scarce ticket prices during Tet, many people now tend to proactively find their own means of transport to return home during Tet, especially in the context of the North-South expressway section through Nghe An being opened to traffic, the time from provinces and cities to Nghe An is shortened, this helps people save time, costs, and proactively arrange work.