Tourists, travel agencies avoid night flights

Vietnam Airlines has added one million seats on various routes, increasing night flights departing between 9pm and 6am daily on many domestic routes, with fare reductions up to 30 per cent compared to regular flights. — VNA/VNS Photo

HCM CITY —Despite the increase in the frequency of night flights, tourists and travel agencies are not opting for this option due to the limited availability of services at their destinations during nighttime.

Upon learning that night and early morning flights are cheaper by a few hundred thousand đồng per ticket compared to other times, Lê Hoài An, a resident of Thủ Đức City, considered flying at night to save costs.

However, seeing flight times from 1am - 3am, she decided against it.

"This summer, my family plans to travel to northwestern provinces. However, if we book flights to Hà Nội around 2am - 3am, some hotels do not allow early check-in, meaning we would have to wait until around 5am to get a room. Transportation costs by service cars or taxis are higher at night. Moreover, traveling at night would be inconvenient for my two young children,” An stated, deciding against choosing night flights.

Currently, to reduce airfares during the summer of 2024, Vietnam Airlines has added one million seats on various routes, increasing night flights departing between 9pm and 6am daily on many domestic routes, with fare reductions up to 30 per cent compared to regular flights.

Vietjet's night flights have also increased by 46 per cent compared to normal, equivalent to 3,100 night flights network-wide, in the time frame from 1am to around 2:30am.

While Vietravel Airlines has added one flight per day on the HCM City - Đà Nẵng, Hà Nội, and Hà Nội - Đà Nẵng routes after 9pm; Bamboo Airways offers an 8 per cent discount on flights from 10pm the previous night to 2am the next day on weekends until the end of this year.

According to travel companies in HCM City, night flights between late evening or early morning from 11pm-1am or 3am-5am are the times when ticket prices can be 8-25 per cent lower than peak hours.

If one books tickets at the beginning of the week on Monday or Tuesday within these hours, fares can be up to 30 per cent cheaper than on weekends.

However, these night flight times are not suitable to build tours and sell to passengers.

According to Nguyễn Minh Mẫn, communications and marketing director of TST Tourist Company, night flights have been implemented by airlines for a long time, not recently, and are now being promoted due to aircraft shortages and high fares.

However, flights after 9pm are generally suitable for personal travel and visiting relatives, while it is very challenging for tourism.

If passengers fly after 10pm and face delays, they may arrive at the destination around 1am or 2am.

This timing is inconvenient if the airport is far from the hotel, requiring additional hotel night services.

"Although it saves some airfare, it incurs additional costs. Not to mention, summer tourists often travel with family, including children, so scheduling night departures is inconvenient as it goes against children's routines. Companies also cannot organise tours where passengers arrive and then go to sleep," explained Mẫn.

Similarly, Phạm Phương Anh, general director of Việt Tourism Company, stated that increasing night flights with cheaper fares is a solution to stimulate domestic tourism.

However, domestic tours usually last three to four days, and night flights can affect tourists' health and experience.

Since night flights waste sightseeing time and increase hotel, transportation and meal costs, Vietnamese tourists tend not to prefer night flights for domestic trips.

Suitable only for individual travelers

Phạm Quý Huy, director of Kiwi Travel Company, stated that travel companies cannot plan a domestic journey starting after 9pm daily.

Night flights are only suitable for international tours with long or transit flights.

“Domestic tours usually start in the morning and end at the airport in the afternoon or evening. Hotel check-in times are usually after 12pm, so if customers arrive early in the morning on a night flight, they would have nowhere to go. On the return journey, tours are typically designed so that guests check out of the hotel, visit a site, shop, and have lunch before heading to the airport,” Huy said.

“Travel companies like ours have yet to take advantage of the airlines' fare reductions, while the general fare level is still quite high. In many tours, airfare accounts for up to 50 per cent of the tour price, making it difficult for travel companies to make a profit. We are opting to increase summer tours by road or choose shorter journeys, such as tours from Nha Trang and further south," Huy added.

Currently, travel companies are entering the peak summer season, and most customers still choose to travel abroad instead of domestically due to high airfares.

Nguyễn Nguyệt Vân Khanh, director of marketing and communications at Vietravel Company, stated that as of now, the company has welcomed and served over 63,400 customers who booked tours during the summer.

Among them, the number of customers choosing international destinations for their summer vacations with family is still increasing.

Asian destinations such as Thailand, China, Taiwan (China), Japan, Korea and Singapore, continue to attract a large number of Vietnamese tourists.

Tours exploring Thailand, especially charter journeys, remain popular among tourists for their reasonable prices and diverse itineraries that include many new destinations.

“To serve the peak summer travel season and increase customer convenience, the company has launched many new products with various promotional programmes such as a five-day tour exploring Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand,” Khanh said.

“Currently, most tourists still choose reasonable flight times to ensure their health and travel schedule rather than prioritising night flights," Khanh added. VNS