Disappointed with 'millions of unsold Tet flight tickets'
Many people were "excited" when the Civil Aviation Authority informed that there were still millions of Tet flight tickets that had not been sold. However, when they went to buy tickets, many flights were reported to be fully booked.
According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, as of January 31, the total capacity of all Vietnamese airlines during the peak Tet period (from January 30 to March 4) was 5.1 million seats, an increase of 9.8% over the same period last year.
Of which, the total domestic supply capacity reached 3.7 million seats, up 7.5%; the total international supply capacity reached 1.4 million seats, up 16.4% over the same period last year.
Currently, of the total number of seats offered on the entire network during the peak Tet period, airlines still have more than 44% of unsold seats, of which 49% are for domestic flights and 29% are for international flights.
Ms. Nguyen Thi My Chi (Go Vap District, Ho Chi Minh City) said that she read that there were still many Tet flight tickets, so she discussed with her husband about going home to celebrate Tet this year.
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| With 44% of tickets unsold, most are return tickets during Tet, the rest are bad flight times, business class tickets and a few tickets from agents that have been registered for pre-purchase. |
However, according to the websites of Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet, Jetstar, flights from February 9 to February 14 (ie December 24 - 29) on the Ho Chi Minh City - Vinh route, there are no more economy class tickets, there are still a few business class seats with "sky-high" prices of over 3 million VND/ticket.
"I don't understand why I heard there were still many plane tickets left, but when I went to book them, they were all sold out. I searched until my eyes were red but couldn't find a ticket to go home before Tet. My family has small children so we can't travel by car. If we can't buy tickets, we'll probably miss Tet in our hometown again this year," said Ms. Chi.
Mr. Hoang - owner of a level 2 airline ticket agency (Tan Phu District, Ho Chi Minh City) said that many customers called to ask why there were information about many Tet airline tickets but the agency announced that they were sold out. Meanwhile, flights such as Ho Chi Minh City - Thanh Hoa, Ho Chi Minh City - Vinh - Hanoi are in a state of sold out, with few business class tickets priced at over 4 million VND/ticket on these routes.
According to Mr. Hoang, customers do not have clear information and are subjective when they hear that there are many Tet flight tickets left and do not proactively book tickets. Normally, flights from the South to the Central and North before Tet sell out very quickly, while the return flight is deserted.
Mr. Hoang said that he recently bought 2 tickets from Ho Chi Minh City - Thanh Hoa on February 10 (December 25) from any airline, as long as they had tickets to return for Tet. However, the airline's system announced that the tickets were sold out, so Mr. Hoang had to ask a level 1 agent to "issue tickets" to sell to this regular customer of an airline. The ticket cost more than 6 million VND, but the customer had to pay an additional 400,000 VND in fees to the level 2 agent to "ask" for tickets from other agents who quickly collected tickets for this flight.
"Many people have already booked their tickets to go home close to Tet, while on the busy routes, it is impossible to get tickets," said Mr. Hoang.
Meanwhile, regarding ticket prices, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam said that for the Ho Chi Minh City - Hanoi route, Vietnam Airlines' ticket price is at the lowest level of 800,000 VND/ticket and the highest level of 3.1 million VND/ticket. Meanwhile, Vietjet's lowest ticket price is 399,000 VND/ticket and the highest level of 2.8 million VND/ticket. Jetstar Airlines sells the cheapest tickets at 23,000 VND/ticket and 3 million VND/ticket.
A representative of an airline said that the number of tickets announced by the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam up to now includes the wrong flight and the night flight ticket price is slightly cheaper than the day flight. With 44% of tickets not yet sold, most of them are return tickets for Tet, the rest are bad flight times, business tickets and a few tickets from agents that have registered to buy in advance.
According to this person, before Tet, the hot flights before Tet such as Ho Chi Minh City - Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City - Vinh - Thanh Hoa... were almost sold out. The remaining flights on the opposite direction were very empty.
