Amenity kit is removed, What happened to one of the world’s most Valuable Premium Economy Class when Departing outside of their main hub?

I just had a flight back home to Ho Chi Minh City after nearly 10 months. This time, I gave all to my country’s national airline and it was a little suprising.

I arrived at the airport 4h before departure and everything was as crowded as usual. My flight was also on the peak period of flights between Vietnam and Australia so check-in was pretty long although I used the check-in counter for premium economy class passengers.

  Check-in

However, custom went well, which was much faster than I had expected so I had a quick visit to Plaza Premium Lounge before boarding. The weather wasn’t great but seeing this bird made me feel better. And my aircraft was the latest Airbus 350-900 in VNA’s fleet VN-A899.

Vietnam Airlines Airbus 350-900_VN-A899

We boarded the aircraft through the middle aircraft’s middle door and I came quickly to my sear 11A. Waiting for me at the seat was a soft pillow, a blanket, slippers and headphone in the seat pocket and surpirse , NO amenity kit although the flight was on-time. I thought” Well, they may forgot it” but other passengers in the premiu economy cabin had the same experience as mine. Ignore that, service was normal and pretty good with a hot towel and a welcome-drink.

Amenity at the seat

Inside the seat pocket

welcome drink ( apple juice)

I forgot to take a photo of the hot towel . The flight departed on-time and we were served a pack of nuts and beverages after 30 minutes before our 1st meal of the flight. I asked them a cup of water and a cup of South Australian red wine, which was pretty good.

Snacks before lunch

For lunch, there were 2 options as always. However, I forgot the other option but it was really good too. I went with the 1st meal option, which was rice with seafood ( squid + basa fish ), broccoli and carrot. On the tray, there was a small tray of salad, a tray of fruits, coffee mouse cake and bread & butter as well. For beverages, I asked the crew for a can of Hanoi beer.

Tray-table for lucnh 

The food tasted very delicious, not too salty while the coffee mouse cake was fine, not to sweet for me. For this meal, I had no problems except the cutlery set. A year before, the cutlery set was wooden, which is environmentally- friendly, which was very impressive but this time wow, back to the plastic set, which I believe is used for all passengers except business class. Overall. I have no problems with this but it affected a little bit to the airline’s scope in sustainability I think.

Tea and coffee was served after the meal and I went for tea before the crew asked us to put down the window shade to allow other passenger to rest during this daytime flight. I had a quick visit to the lavatory and wow. The lavatory was very clean as the crew always check them after every use, which was fantastic. Moreover, the needed amenities that passengers need were also available except the eye-mask. Mid-flight snack such as instant noodle and sandwich were available. We could neither use the crew button to ask them for it or go to the galley to grab some of them. The crew checked the cabin almost everytime, which reminded me of Singapore Airlines’s crew. They saw me awake and double-check me if I need something. I was pretty awake and full after lunch so I didn’t need extra food. The crew then gave me a bottle of water.

2h before landing, the crew went to wake other passenger up. We were given another hot towel to refresh before the 2nd meal. For the 2nd meal, I forgot another option but it was much much better than my choice although I was confused what to choose as both options were very decent and I was disappointed with both. This time, I went for the beef pie+ fried dumpling option. Beverages were available as well. As this is not the suitable time for big meal like breakfast, lunch and dinner, I totally agreed why the meal at 2 or 3pm ( time at destination ) downgraded. People may be disappointed with this as they could pay a lot for the ticket so they expected a better meal. In my opinion, this is a plus point in how delicated the airlines is. They know lunch was served just 3 or 4h ago and it is not enough for a normal person to become hungry again. Mid-flight snack was served on request and they even served it after the 2nd meal, which was very nice and could satisfy other strict passengers to be honest.

2nd Meal

This tray table was a standard Economy class meal. In addition, with short-haul domestic flight and flights between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh and inverse, snack is served if the departure time is outside of main meal time ( breakfast, lunch and dinner). I was a little disappointed with this meal. The food was dry and it tasted fine, To sum up this decent meal, I finished the provided box of yoghurt, which tasted good and I asked the crew for another cup of tea.

For the seat feature, it is the same and you can visit my previous posts for that as for the route between Melbourne and Ho Chi Minh city, there has been a hidden power that push me to fly with premium economy in neither Melbourne or Ho Chi Minh city. For entertainment, the airline provides a wide range of movies, musics and other kinds of entertainment, which is fine and I think it’s good enough for this 8h flight.

We had a smooth landing, nice work from the captain and it was a fun flight. For booking with Vietnam Airlines, please visit their main website for a better deal: https://www.vietnamairlines.com/vn/en/home

What’s about your recent experience with my country’s national airlines? Feel free to leave a comment below!

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