There are no cheap Tet holiday flight tickets.
Millions of airline tickets for the 2019 Lunar New Year holiday have just been officially released to the market by airlines, but even on the first day of sales, it was impossible to find cheap tickets.
More trips, more prices.
Vietnam Airlines, the national airline, has officially started selling tickets for the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday in 2019. Accordingly, from January 20th to February 19th, 2019 (15th day of the 12th lunar month to the 15th day of the 1st lunar month), Vietnam Airlines will provide 1.4 million seats across its domestic network, an increase of over 100,000 seats (equivalent to 566 flights) compared to the same period last year.
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Jetstar Pacific has also launched a total of nearly 600,000 seats (3,210 flights) to meet the increased demand from passengers during the Lunar New Year holiday. Both airlines continue to maintain a wide range of ticket prices with many flexible options. Previously, from September 18th, Vietjet also announced the sale of Lunar New Year flight tickets with millions of attractive fares, applicable to all domestic routes in Vietnam, domestic routes in Thailand, and many international routes. Both Jetstar Pacific and Vietjet have announced the opening of many new routes and the addition of more flights to serve the increased travel and family reunion needs of people during the holiday season.
Many passengers were eager to buy tickets early to find cheap fares, but they were disappointed because even on the first day of sales, there were no cheap tickets available. Checking the prices for the popular route from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi on January 26th (the 21st day of the 12th lunar month), all 17 Vietjet flights cost over 3.1 million VND per one-way trip. The low-cost airline Jetstar Pacific even pushed prices up to over 3.5 million VND.
"Biggest airline" Vietnam Airlines continues to record the highest prices, with over 20 flights reaching the ceiling price of nearly 3.6 million VND. This price remained stable until January 31st (the 26th day of the lunar calendar) and began to increase further from January 1st, 2019. Specifically, to get a ticket from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi for Tet on the 28th day of the lunar calendar (February 2nd), customers have to pay at least 3.4 million VND if buying from VietJet. The price range for the same day for Vietnam Airlines and Jetstar Pacific remains unchanged, at 3.5 - 3.6 million VND/one-way.
At some other travel agencies, in the week leading up to Tet (Lunar New Year), if you want to fly during peak hours (9 AM - 12 PM), Vietnam Airlines tickets for the same route can reach over 4.1 million VND/one-way/person. Tickets to provinces in Central Vietnam and some other provinces in Northern Vietnam also range from 5 to 7 million VND/round-trip ticket. Thus, from the very first days of sales, despite being advertised with various price ranges, most Tet tickets are only available at the maximum price.
Once you have a place to sit, you start thinking about the price.
Compared to the same period last year, airfares for Tet (Lunar New Year) this year have increased slightly. A representative from the national airline explained that Tet is always the busiest season of the year, and airlines always try to increase the number of flights to meet passenger demand, but due to various factors, supply will inevitably not be enough to meet demand. Therefore, according to market mechanisms, there cannot be cheap prices during Tet. The representative affirmed that the airline always complies with the requirements of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, not exceeding the price ceiling. The slight increase in ticket prices this year compared to last year may be due to the increase in system administration fees applied from the beginning of July.
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Explaining why tickets were already being sold at the maximum price on the same day they went on sale, this person said that demand was so high that most customers no longer waited for the airline to officially release tickets before buying. Instead, they pre-ordered through agents, and as soon as the airline officially released tickets, the agents would register immediately to grab the cheaper tickets. "The demand for travel during Tet is very high, so people should check if there are still seats available before thinking about whether they can buy them at a cheap price," this person warned.
A representative from another airline also stated that air tickets are always sold at various price ranges, depending on the time, flight, route, and seat availability. Generally, the closer to the departure date, the higher the price, so passengers sometimes have to book a year in advance to get cheap tickets. However, during holidays, especially Lunar New Year, the cheaper fares sell out quickly due to extremely high customer demand. Therefore, even if airlines don't increase prices, it's very difficult for customers to expect to buy cheap tickets during the holiday season.