Airline Fare Comparison Tool (This Website)

Booking apps vary a lot, some very good, some less so.
Google ads on the forum are decided by google based on your activity so I haven't seen the one you're referring to, but it sounds like a duff one.
Mine are mostly ads for tablets at the moment because I'm toying with the idea of a new one so been searching.  A few days ago all the ads were Indonesian flights because we're planning to pop over to Malaysia.

I fly a lot and use travel apps on my iPad, almost always the prices are MUCH cheaper than using the airlines websites.

Fred wrote:

Booking apps vary a lot, some very good, some less so.
Google ads on the forum are decided by google based on your activity so I haven't seen the one you're referring to, but it sounds like a duff one.

I'm not referring to a Google Ad, Fred.

I'm talking about a feature of this website (expatDOTcom)

https://www.expat.com/en/flights/asia/vietnam/

I reached it by clicking on this image:



Which then takes you to this tool; a part of this website:

Canman63 wrote:

I fly a lot and use travel apps on my iPad, almost always the prices are MUCH cheaper than using the airlines websites.

Hi Rob,

I'm specifically talking about:

1. Flights on Vietnam Airlines

2. Flights booked through the Vietnam Airlines website or app

3. Flights booked when accessing the internet IN VIETNAM or while using a Virtual Private Network to mask your IP address as originating in Vietnam.

4. Prices in VND

I also travel a lot.

This has now worked for me three times while flying within Vietnam and once when checking prices from the United States using a VPN to mask my location as Vietnam.

Very easy for you to prove me wrong:

1. Check prices on a Vietnam Airlines flight using your favorite travel site or app.

2. Then, after clearing your cache and cookies, check the same exact flight using the Vietnam Airlines website or app, masking your location as Vietnam (if you are currently in Canada).

I'm not simply being argumentative.

We get a number of advance travel itinerary questions in this forum from people planning a future trip WITHIN Vietnam.

Perhaps they are landing in HCMC and want to fly to Dalat or Danang or wherever.

IF they follow my advice, they will save about 50% off the fare they find through a travel app or website.

FYI: Same holds true for Vietnam Railways tickets.

Never book a train here through any travel site.

Always book directly through the official website or purchase tickets at the train station.

Train ticket prices can be inflated as much as 1000% or more when using a travel agency site.

Cheers!

Thanks for posting this issue!

From their website I searched your cities in late July... ECONOMY class however;
economy $109.20 USD
business $281 USD


Cheapo Air wouldn't "sell flights from the chose city/airport".

So I searched Kayak;
Jetstar $136
Bamboo $117
Viet Jet $98
Vietnam Airlines $92 economy
Business class;
$742 Vietnam Airlines
OUCH!!

This website's search tool $737

Not bad for economy. Note, I searched non-VPN so they knew country of ISP. I used a search anonymizer search tool.

I just tried it for air asia Jak to Kl. The prices were the same as air asia's own page.
On the bright side, it was far easier to use

Perhaps it's just crap in Vietnam.

Edit (again). Just found some cheaper ones.

MealsDavis wrote:

Thanks for posting this issue!

From their website I searched your cities in late July... ECONOMY class however;
economy $109.20 USD
business $281 USD


Cheapo Air wouldn't "sell flights from the chose city/airport".

So I searched Kayak;
Jetstar $136
Bamboo $117
Viet Jet $98
Vietnam Airlines $92 economy
Business class;
$742 Vietnam Airlines
OUCH!!

Not bad for economy. Note, I searched non-VPN so they knew country of ISP. I used a search anonymizer search tool.

I don't think you understand.

I just checked the same flight information for Monday, July 22 through the Vietnam Airlines app (using an ISP here in Vietnam).

Lowest economy fare listed:

₫875,000 VND (currently $37.41 USD)

If you prefer paying $92 USD for the same flight through Kayak, go for it.

Oh, and the lowest business class fare for that flight is ₫3,005,000 VND (currently $128.49 USD) compared to the $742 USD you found through Kayak.

USE THE VIETNAM AIRLINES WEBSITE OR APP!

Fred wrote:

I just tried it for air asia Jak to Kl. The prices were the same as air asia's own page.
On the bright side, it was far easier to use

Perhaps it's just crap in Vietnam.

Edit (again). Just found some cheaper ones.

Apples to (more) oranges, Fred.

I'm talking SPECIFICALLY here in the Vietnam forum about flights booked on Vietnam Airlines using the Vietnam Airlines website or app.

Try VietJet: https://vietjetair.com/

I use them almost exclusively for flights within the region. They have decent prices and solid, consistent service. My two cents worth.

Me thinks OB's ox has been gored. And OB is correct. And OB is off-target. Google was able to give me a graph of date/vs/price.
You need information from all sorts of sources in order to make an intelligent decision.

I found a route/fare from LAX to SGN in less than 22 hours @  using Google because they gave me a graph.

OB does make a great point - shop your Viet travel on a Viet site.

This is a website I used often for air travel.  It is global and very effective.  The only down side is that you cannot book a ticket from this website.  However, the breadth of the possibilities by airline, itinerary, costs etc. are exceptional with this tool:

https://matrix.itasoftware.com/

If you are interested in more information about this website, go here:

https://www.creditdonkey.com/ita-matrix.html

@OceanBeach92107 That's very interesting, I don't have the same type of "problems" when using Kayak and Google Flights for flights with Air China or other international airlines but always use Vietnam Airline's website directly for booking domestic flights in Vietnam.

OceanBeach92107 wrote:

MealsDavis wrote:

Thanks for posting this issue!

From their website I searched your cities in late July... ECONOMY class however;
economy $109.20 USD
business $281 USD


Cheapo Air wouldn't "sell flights from the chose city/airport".

So I searched Kayak;
Jetstar $136
Bamboo $117
Viet Jet $98
Vietnam Airlines $92 economy
Business class;
$742 Vietnam Airlines
OUCH!!

Not bad for economy. Note, I searched non-VPN so they knew country of ISP. I used a search anonymizer search tool.

I don't think you understand.

I just checked the same flight information for Monday, July 22 through the Vietnam Airlines app (using an ISP here in Vietnam).

Lowest economy fare listed:

₫875,000 VND (currently $37.41 USD)

If you prefer paying $92 USD for the same flight through Kayak, go for it.

Oh, and the lowest business class fare for that flight is ₫3,005,000 VND (currently $128.49 USD) compared to the $742 USD you found through Kayak.

USE THE VIETNAM AIRLINES WEBSITE OR APP!

Thanks Sir.... "OceanBeach92107"... I did tried your method and it is a lot cheaper than other.... Great Information!

I tend to stick with Skyscanner

However if you look for long haul flights then I recommend vietnam airlines. Book your ticket in economy... Then Google vietnam airlines option town. Register.. Pay small fee an dthen choose upgrade existing fligjt. If the seat is empty before you fly you pay a small percentage of the original cost. If the seat is not available to upgrade then they refund you.

Bought economy form UK to HCM for 600Usd. Used option town and got upgrade to business for 100usd. It doesn't always get yih a cheap upgrade but so far in six returrn trips only once was the upgrade not available.

I often upgrade to premium economy because the seat has more room around it than business. Business tends to be pod liek affairs and feel a little enclosed

I usually check multiple sites, including the airline web sites.  Sometimes the airline sites are cheaper, sometimes not.  For the last international flight I took, SGN-PER in February, the cheapest fare I found was through a Danish site, BudgetAir, for a Malaysia flight in C.  It was moderately more expensive on the Malaysia site.

If I have something important to do I don’t worry about ticket price.  Really what a thousand extra. If your work doesn’t justify extra cost perhaps it’s you