Vietnam forum

Thank you once again...

The critical thing is to be checked in at least half an hour before or they won't let you fly. An hour should be fine, I find any earlier than that and no one else is there. At the big airports, like HCMC, leave enough time to get lost but the small regional airports, like Phu Quoc, are small enough that there's no where else to go.

Yiu cannot check in on-line; however, every flight has it designated counter so for example a flight to Hanoi from Hue will only check in passengers at a specific counter -- very efficient way of handling customers.

Posted from within Vietnam.

Well if I were you I'd catch a bus/boat/taxi or anything else that may get you there.
We had booked and paid for a flight to Nha Trang last Tuesday. Arrived in good time, but suspiciously there was no activity at the check in gate. After 15 minutes the flight was put back 15 mins. Then 4 hours. Then CANCELLED.We had pre-paid accom for a week in Nha Trang with return flights. We were only told that it was "bad weather" Didn't know if there were flights the next day or whether we could re-book ( no we couldn't). The response by Vietnam Air about our situation was..."Not my problem."
We were left like shags on a rock ( along with everyone else) to fend for ourselves. I took the sensible approach and immediately caught a Vinasun Taxi to the Caravelle Hotel in HCMC.It wasn't until the next morning when the newspaper arrived that front page news indicated a cyclone had hit up north, 31 dead ( now 90) and all flights were cancelled. A terrible tragedy but it would have been proper to inform us and make some arrangements. However, we are now comfortably ensconsed here and loving it. Great Hotel, great staff...perfect! HCMC is very user friendly, easy to walk around, great little bars and coffee shops, lovely people. So we won't be flying anywhere with Vietnam Air. Back to Bangkok in a few days with Thai Air.I'll leave the rest to our insurance company. If you don't have insurance you shouldn't be travelling.