Planes, trains, and cars for Tet Quy Mao 2023: Many flights are fully booked, ticket prices increase sharply

Tickets for Tet holiday are hard to buy, prices are high

All this week, Ms. Dam Thi Lien in Dien Nguyen commune (Dien Chau), working in Ho Chi Minh City, has been searching for Tet flight tickets to Nghe An on online ticket sales sites. Although Tet is nearly 2 months away, finding a flight ticket that fits her schedule and income is not easy.

People's travel needs increase sharply during Tet. Photo: QA

Ms. Lien shared: “I plan to return to Nghe An on the 27th of Tet, however, most flights are fully booked, especially economy class tickets. For business class, although there are still tickets, the price is too high, for ordinary workers like me, I cannot afford it, so it is likely that I will have to travel back to my hometown by other means.”

According to a survey by PV on online ticket sales sites, the Ho Chi Minh City - Nghe An route is always the peak season, with a large number of people booking tickets during the Lunar New Year. Currently, the number of air tickets from Ho Chi Minh City to Nghe An from December 25th onwards has basically sold out of economy class tickets, with only a few higher class tickets left. Other routes such as Vinh - Da Nang, Vinh - Hanoi... are also in a state of ticket fever.

People check in at Vinh Airport. Photo: QA

Current ticket pricesairplanes during Tethave also increased rapidly. For example, on the Ho Chi Minh City - Nghe An route, the economy class ticket price ranges from 900,000 - 1.4 million VND on normal days, but from December 20 to 25, the ticket price ranges from 3 to 3.5 million VND, and on peak days from December 26 to 29, the ticket price is approximately 4 million VND. For business class, it is over 6 million VND/ticket. Ticket prices on other routes have also increased about 3 times compared to normal days.

Mr. Dao Van Khanh - Deputy Head of Vietnam Airlines Branch in Nghe An said: "Currently, the airline's Tet flight tickets are basically full on fixed flights due to the large number of people booking tickets since the time of sale. Currently, passengers who want to have tickets to Nghe An during Tet must wait for additional flights in the near future, and we will notify passengers as soon as possible."

Not only plane tickets, other means of transport such as trains and cars have also been sought after by passengers at this time, some trips on peak days have also sold out. For example, the Ho Chi Minh City - Vinh trip on January 19 (December 28) has 12 train trips, however, currently, according to information from the online ticket sales page of Vietnam Railways, all trains are fully booked. Train SE14 alone has about 30 empty seats in the carriages, however, it is expected to be fully booked in the coming days. Ticket prices for this route range from 2 - 2.5 million VND, depending on the seat, double that of normal days.

Train tickets from Ho Chi Minh City to Nghe An on January 19 (28th of Lunar New Year) are fully booked (red boxes are sold seats). Photo: QA

For passengers traveling by car or inter-provincial bus, currently, bus companies have also begun to announce ticket prices for Tet for passengers to refer to. Many bus companies also have ticket price promotions if customers book early during the first sale period. Mr. Nguyen Duc Tu - Head of Bac Vinh Bus Station said: "The entire station currently has nearly 200 passenger cars of all types and is ready to operate 100% to serve passengers during the upcoming Tet holiday. Currently, although most passengers have booked tickets online or called the bus companies, however, there are still many passengers coming to the ticket booths at the bus station to buy Tet tickets directly, the number of people buying tickets is gradually increasing".

Enhance passenger service

According to forecasts, in the Lunar New Year 2023, passenger transport will be bustling again after 2 years of stagnation due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Mr. Cao Ngoc Tuan - Head of Vinh Railway Transport Station said: If in the 2021 and 2022 Lunar New Year, Vinh Station was forced to return more than 1,000 train tickets due to the complicated developments of the Covid-19 pandemic, up to now, most of the train tickets to Vinh Station during the peak of the Lunar New Year have been sold out. There is no longer a situation of exchanging or returning train tickets like in previous years.

Passengers buy train tickets at Vinh Station. Photo: QA

This year, the epidemic is under control, combined with the 7-day Tet holiday, the travel demand of people has increased, so the scarcity of train tickets is inevitable. Therefore, increasing the number of trains to serve people during Tet is the most feasible solution.

Mr. Cao Ngoc Tuan added: If on normal days there are only 4 pairs of North - South trains running each day stopping at Vinh Station, during Tet there will be 9 more pairs of trains to meet passenger demand. In addition, other additional train routes such as SE13 - SE14, SE15 - SE16 running on the Vinh - Saigon route and NA train route running on the Vinh - Hanoi route will also operate at full capacity. It is expected that during the upcoming Tet peak period, Vinh Station will welcome over 3,000 passengers per day.

Due to the high number of passengers during Tet, airlines have also planned to increase flights to meet people's needs. Mr. Dao Van Khanh - Deputy Head of Vietnam Airlines Branch in Nghe An said: On average, the airline has 9 flights per day at Vinh Airport, then during the upcoming Lunar New Year, it will increase 6 more flights to serve passengers, focusing on the Vinh - Ho Chi Minh City route. The number of passengers during Tet is estimated to reach over 4,000 passengers per day.

Airlines are increasing flights during Tet. Photo: QA

Mr. Hoang Van Thu - Director of Vinh Airport said: Currently, airlines with flight schedules at Vinh Airport all have programs to increase flights to serve people returning home for Tet in the coming time. If on normal days, Vinh Airport has about 50 take-off and landing flights, during Tet it will increase to about 100 take-off and landing flights. Serving over 10,000 passengers per day. Although the number of passengers has increased many times compared to normal days, the unit has also had a plan to ensure flight safety, security and order for people returning home for Tet.