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Ho Chi Minh City Direct Return Flight: Depart Melbourne from $302, Sydney from $311 (Fly Apr-Jul, Oct-Dec) (Sold Out) @ Jetstar

1140

Jetstar has a sale on right now to destnations across Australia and a few in Asia. These nonstop flights to Vietnam are the only ones I felt worth posting though:

Melbourne to Ho Chi Minh City $302
Sydney to Ho Chi Minh City $311 Sold Out

Dates are April to early July, and then October to December 2024.
These only include the standard 7kg cabin baggage, if you want to add a checked bag it's $40 each way for 20kg.

Found by Cheap Flight Hunter. Sign up (free!) to get deals like this sent straight to your inbox.
Head to the Jetstar website to find and book these, sale ends Feb 24 so get in before then!

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  • -1

    Another $40 each way for food and entertainment too, but even with the $160 extra in total for luggage and food it's still a decent price.

    • +17

      A lot of Jetstar are red eye, so food and entertainment not required…
      Most people I know these days just take a iPad/phone and dl some games and Netflix etc.

      • +2

        The flight I looked at is only red eye on the return but fair enough regardless, I was just trying to compare vs full service (which is hard as there is only one full service airline on this route direct from Melb) and it still works out a fair bit cheaper depending on dates. Agree entertainment isn't necessary but it's also only $10 each way. 9 hour flight I'd personally want food, at the very least it helps to pass the time as I'm not able to sleep in economy. But that's the point of budget airlines, if you don't need luggage or food then you can save $$$.

      • I just sleep!

      • +1

        Alot of Australians are overweight and sedentary.
        8 hours awake without food is beyond what some can bear.

    • +2

      I wouldn't bother with food and entertainment. Luggage on the way back at least depending how light you want to travel.

    • +1

      Budget airlines are not that competitive these days. Booked return to Bangkok for 1k on Thai because the equivalent AA flight factoring in luggage and food it was about $860.

      • +2

        Some would say $140 difference is still competitive.

      • +7

        It's not unusual for a budget airline to actually cost more once luggage and food are added in many parts of the world. Seen it a fair bit when booking recent trips within Europe and Asia.

        • +5

          Was over $80 for 20kg of luguage on The Sydney to Bangkok leg alone. Several years ago it was around $30.

          If $140 is ‘competitive’ the solution is to jump on airtasker. These are probably the same people who don’t buy travel insurance and then are featured on the Daily Mail with their GoFundMe link to beg for medical repatriation assistance.

          • +4

            @Icecold5000: Personally I'd pay the $140 difference just to avoid a stopover in KL with AirAsia.

            But I can also see how some may value the $140 saving. If you're a 2 adult 2 child family thats at least $560 saved, or more depending on food/luggage.

            • +1

              @hocus: I used to do the stopovers in KL as well but now AA have a direct Sydney to Bangkok so no need to waste time.

              With like for like comparison between full service and budget it’s the budget carriers who are pricing their offerings too high nowadays. I’ve booked ahead in the past and paid $400 one way Sydney to Bangkok peak season but now it’s fully priced 10 months out to $800 so what’s the point. Just pay a couple hundred more and travel in relative comfort.

              • @Icecold5000: Lucky you're in Sydney! Melbournians aren't as spoiled for choice 🥲

                I think it all comes down to the person at the end of the day, and how you value your time.

                I agree full prices can be pretty expensive, but if you wait budget airlines still often have sales or offers (kids fly free, return for free, etc) that bring the cost down far cheaper than full-service carriers.

                Also you don't need the extras (seat selection, food and baggage), it's good to know you're not paying extra for what you don't need. This is especially true for shorter flights - e.g. I find it hard to justify QF on MEL-SYD when JQ will get me there all the same.

                • @hocus: Mainly talking about international here but I’ve had Jetstar cancel on me then rebooked another only to have that be cancelled haha. In this post covid world of cancelations of you’re off to a concert or short weekend with rebooked hotels think carefully about your choice even domestically.

            • @hocus: I'd rather pay it with kids as every little inconvenience is amplified exponentially with kids. Full service airlines are more reliable, can put you on more alternative flights (including other airlines) if there is a delay/cancellation, and are overall just more accommodating and offer better service. A LCC needs to be much cheaper for me to bother with. This deal for example does seem to be significantly cheaper so I'd chance it but often it's not the case once accounting for luggage and food.

              • +1

                @CheapBrah: If you need food and bags, the savings will be diminished, but it great to have the option if you don't need them.
                e.g. I fly to NZ regularly for family, often saving ~$300-400 flying Jetstar instead of Qantas (without food/bag/seats).

                The extra support and flexibility definitely have their value, but at the end of the day it comes down to your individual circumstances.

              • @CheapBrah: Nowadays with the cancellations it’s way more worthwhile paying extra for full service not to have a flight cancelled. Jetstar could make it $1 but if that comes are the possibly delay of my holiday then I’d rather pay $500 for a full service airline any day.

          • @Icecold5000: What do you mean "jump on airtasker"?
            Are you suggesting to find a mule to take your bags overseas for you?

        • We always been taking shorter OS trips like singapore or bangkok, only thing we did was bought some bread with us but ended up never ate them, I slept most of the flight and once landed, went nuts smashing all the nice food over there instead!

    • +2

      Just bring your own food or just fast since it's not that long.

    • +2

      Eat before you get on and if you get hungry later, go for the banana bread/cake and coffee deal, it’s only $8

    • +2

      Another $40 each way for food and entertainment too, but even with the $160 extra in total for luggage and food

      no, no, no, you're doing it all wrong

  • +1

    7kg checked? Surely you mean unchecked cabin baggage?

    • Yes I did, thanks for flagging. Updated

  • +2

    I'd rather fly VietJet than Jetstar

    • +2

      Oh really, why? don't get me wrong I've flown domestically with VietJet and their seats are noticeably more uncomfortable. I'm not sure how well I'd go on a 9.5 hour flight back to Melbourne!

      • The crew are friendlier

      • Says you

    • +4

      I've taken a few VietJet flights this year and I am not sure why you would prefer them - it is as basic as it can get, and they charge you even if you wish to jump to an empty seat. On top of it, using your AUS credit card is a nightmare - you have to fill in a FORM, swipe your card 2 or 3 times for just a beer, as it hits their POS limit.
      The service was fine, the airplanes were decent, I would fly them again, but I've never taken such a "budget" flight before. But they have to be a lot cheaper then Jetstar to convince me to pick them.

      edit: typo

      • "cheaper then Jetstar" <—-another typo for ya

      • @renaldof Some solid points there, have you flown vietnam airlines before?

        • no, but after flying VietJet, for the difference (about 25% cheaper), today I would give Vietnam Airlines a shot

      • +1

        I took several flights with them in July/August international and domestic and had no issues at all. Of course I pre-paid my meals and didn't try to pay anything by credit card, I paid for beers with cash. The staff were very courteous and even saluted and bowed to the passengers, on the Danang to Hanoi leg, Jetstar crew are grumps and act like they're doing you a favour.

        • +3

          @laser I'm thinking i might just pay a bit more and try Vietnam airlines tbh, the chairs on Vietjet IMO are worse than jetstar, okay for a couple hour flights but just won't do for a 10 hour flight

          • +1

            @ignited141: I last flew VN Airlines 15 years ago and they were excellent.

          • @ignited141: I took 2 long flights with VietJet (5h and 8h I think) and yeah, if you have cash and pay things in advance, it works fine IMO, just like @laser said.

    • Same. Even though VietJet's chairs are not as good as Jetstar, to cut cost I assume, but I found their staffs are much younger and nicer than the Jetstar's staffs.

      Though they were both trained to try to get as much money out of your pockets as possible by making you as uncomfortable as possible, the young ladies on VietJet are much easier to navigate, especially when you can speak some (broken) Vietnamese (they'll love it). The menopause middle ages Aussie ladies on Jetstar's flights are the hardest ones!

  • +3

    A lot of people mention buying food, I just take some snacks and eat something I took with me to the airport just before I board.
    Plane food always looks crap, isn't it better to eat in a airport restaurant than on board?
    If eating a snack on board causes issues can't you just say it's for your diabetes management.

  • +11

    Beware I bought this sale about 6 months ago for flights at the end of may. They changed both our flights from and to Melbourne to via Sydney with a 5 hour layover.
    The return was a night flight with a 6 yr old so we had to pay extra to change the flight.

    • +1

      That sucks :(

    • +9

      Classic Jetstar

    • Wow, that sucks.

      Do they still fly an equivalent direct flight on your dates?

      • We’re flying home a day later for the direct night flight. I’m now waiting for that to also get change via Sydney. At that point I’ll lose it at them. Being a tightarse I refused to change the outgoing flight, if I did we’d just end up with your typical fare price.
        I just checked,30th May is the day we fly. They’ve currently got 4 morning flights going via Sydney at over $900 ow. The first leaving at 6am arriving Nam at 9pm.
        Bargain

  • +1

    Useless Jetstar webserver, search spinning for the last hour…

  • Is it visa on arrival for Vietnam?

    • +2

      Meant to do visa online in advance. Since they changed their online systems it can be a nightmare too i had friends that got approved but the link to download visa (mandatory) for some family members did not work and impossible to get any support to resolve. I tried to help them too but it was just impossible. They had to go to embassy and pay a massive emergency visa fee.

    • +1

      Yes and it is expensive. If you do in advance cost you $25

      • $US25. based on what the official website charged me last time, it looks like they convert USD to VND, add about 3% and charge you in VND. ends up being around $40 Australian currently.

    • +7

      I'd recommend using the website, lines for visa's on arrival can be long or they could flat out deny you for no reason and make you pay for an emergency visa.

      We had 8 in our party, 1 forced to get the emergency visa, which was at first $500USD; but we negotiated down to $150USD. Vietnam was probably the most scammy country I've ever been to and thats coming from a Vietnamese guy.

      Search: xuatnhapcanh Vietnam visa into google for the official website. The website looks dodgy as, but it's the official one.

      • -2

        it's your fault not applying for visa beforehand.

        • +8

          Not our fault at all; we all applied for and paid for the visas beforehand; even printing them out. Visa crew at the HCMC airport operate on a "whatever Im feeling like" basis. They wouldn't even issue receipt or official visa proof after paying for the emergency visa. That whole system is to trap tourists who are intimidated into paying.

    • +2

      Not sure whether Jetstar allows you to board the plane without sighting your visa.

      I flew with Scoot once and they didn't let us board the plane without seeing a valid Visa…

      • +1

        Melbourne airport shouldn't let you board without a Visa. I had a brother who wasn't allowed to board because his passport expired in 1 day less than 6 months, and Vietnam gov requires at least 6 months validity on your passport :P.

  • +4

    Stay away from Jetstar. I got my flight cancelled after 4 hours waiting. No apologies. There's no hotel arrangement if your place is within 50km range from the airport. It took me 2hr to go back at midnight with heavy luggage

  • +2

    Perfect Jetstar experience - found my flights, added my extras, filled in the details, and my card number, hit "pay now", wheel spun for five minutes, tried again, another five minutes, changed payment method to PayID, hit "pay now" - sorry, all those flights are sold out, please select new flights. How about f you Jetstar, I'll go somewhere else for my holiday.

    • Yep, had that experience trying to book Jetstar as well. Cheap flights might as well be non existent if you can't book properly - fix your website Jetstar.

  • +6

    WARNING: Do not book Jetstar!!
    Flew with them to HCMC in December, and everything was good….until the flight back to Sydney.

    Was meant to fly back on 26/12. Got an email that our flight had been rescheduled for the next morning at 7am (due to staffing issues). Got to the airport and checked in and sat at the gates. Come boarding time, they announced that the flight had been canceled due to 'engineering issues'. The plane was towed away and everyone had to go back through immigration and wait to recollect our luggage.

    Got an email, that the flight had been changed to that evening at 10.35pm. Again, we came back at 6pm, and waited to check in. Less than 2 hours until our flight was scheduled to fly, check-in had yet to open… Even the captain and crew were ready to fly… Airport staff then announced the flight had been canceled yet again as they did not have a timeslot booked to land in SYD and since SYD airport has a curfew they are unable to fly at a later time. Flight cancelled and rescheduled again for next day.

    We ended up booking Vietjet and had a great experience.

    • -1

      Damn that's hilarious LoL

    • +1

      Got an email, that the flight had been changed to that evening at 10.35pm. … and since SYD airport has a curfew they are unable to fly at a later time.

      That wouldn't make sense anyway. You'd have taken off at 2am Sydney time and arrived here at 10am, with 13 hours remaining until curfew.

      Luckily I had two completely uneventful flights SYD-HNL return this January on Jetstar.

      • They didn't have a booked landing timeslot, but 10am was the proposed time that they emailed to all passengers. Basically lied to customers

        • Yeah that would be insanely frustrating. I had an onward Westjet leg to Vancouver delayed due to snow. The inbound aircraft was on the way (delayed 2 hours) but instead of flying us on that, they rescheduled for a day later and provided no food/accommodation/compensation. And they got the new time wrong, it was an hour later than originally communicated because their check-in contractor was busy handling another flight at that time. Aviation is so complicated and airlines really need to be on the ball, Jetstar is a nightmare when things go wrong.

  • +2

    When I flew with Jetstar to SGN, the Australian fellow in front of me in the Immigration queue put a $US5 note in his passport.

    The $US5 note was quickly pocketed by the Immigration official.

    I did not bribe anyone and got through Immigration at the same time as the Australian fellow.

    • maybe its a tip?

    • I heard the standard "tip" was $20AUD these days, maybe they had something in their luggage that they didn't want to be asked about

  • +1

    Seems like today’s the day everyone needs a holiday.
    There’s a lot of people trying to grab one of our low fares at the moment, so there’s a queue.
    Please hold tight on this page and your flights should be displayed within 5 minutes. If it’s taking longer than that, please come back later and try your search again.
    アクセスが集中しています。

    ただいまサイトが大変混雑しているため、アクセス可能な人数を制限中です。
    フライト検索結果は5分以内に表示される見込みです。
    5分経っても表示されない場合は、恐れ入りますがしばらくたってから再度お試しください。

    今天似乎是每個人都想要度假的日子…

    現在有很多人正同時搜尋我們的平價機票, 請稍候片刻, 等待頁面自行更新。
    若5分鐘後頁面仍未更新, 請稍後再次搜尋。謝謝。

    今天似乎是每个人都想要度假的日子…

    现在有很多人正同时搜寻我们的平价机票, 请稍候片刻, 等待页面自行更新。
    若5分钟後页面仍未更新, 请稍後再次搜寻。谢谢。

    • -2

      Why on earth any one negging somebody for posting an unavailability message that's been showing pretty much the whole day on Jetstar web site?

      • +1

        Probably saw the Chinese/japanese writing and got scared

  • +2

    For anyone travelling, the 2 person sleeper trains are a really fun way to travel north-south. Great food and service and a really scenic line.

  • -1

    Lotto Airways no thanks

  • If you're ok with the high chance of long delays or your flight being cancelled, then go ahead. Jetstar only has 1 flight between Melbourne and Ho Chi Minh City.

  • Sydney people - what dates did you manage to get? and Sat - Sun combinations?

    • Managed 25 April to 16 May after about two hours worth of trying!

      • Im guessing thats sold out now - says $591 now

        • +1

          Yes it was selling out as I was trying to buy it, kept getting an internal server error then managed to snag the last one. I'm currently in Japan so also was getting the "are you a robot check" every few screens too!

  • Can you bring instant noodle cup and asked for free hot water on Jetstar flights? :P

    • +1

      Yes. Did that on the flight to Japan.

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