Vietnam Insider

Want to change ticket also no chance

This year’s Lunar New Year started early and had a long break, so these days, bus stations in Ho Chi Minh City such as Mien Dong and Mien Tay have been bustling with people from Ho Chi Minh City returning to their hometowns to celebrate Tet. Although most of the main bus routes have moved to the new Mien Dong Bus Station, the total number of passengers through the old Mien Dong Bus Station is still expected to increase compared to 2024, serving about 139,000 passengers. And at this time, buying tickets that suit your needs is very difficult.

Mr. Vu Thanh Hoan (living in Nha Be District, Ho Chi Minh City) had time to buy a bus ticket to Dak Lak last weekend, but he called all the familiar bus companies and they said they were sold out of sleeper tickets from December 23 to 29. He drove all the way to Mien Dong Bus Station to ask but there were only seat tickets left, so Mr. Hoan had to reluctantly buy a ticket for 800,000 VND. “A seat ticket is now the same price as a sleeper ticket, but what can you do? Flying at this time would cost a whole month’s salary. If I buy a ticket now, I’m glad there are still seats left,” Mr. Hoan shared.

Meanwhile, despite having waited to buy bus tickets for a month, Nguyen Thi Minh Tuyen (living in Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City) still could not choose the right itinerary to return to Phu Yen to celebrate Tet with her family. Tickets for the first day of Tet were no longer available, so Tuyen had to book a sleeper ticket for a night trip for 700,000 VND, double the usual price. Notably, Tuyen bought a ticket to return to Ho Chi Minh City on the fourth day of Tet for 650,000 VND. Now that the company has decided to close for an additional day, her family wants to change to the fifth day, but no bus company has any tickets left. “Every year, the bus tickets are sold out very early, so I still buy them without a holiday schedule, and then if necessary, I can find someone to change them later. This year is really stressful. My friends waited to buy tickets for a month in advance but still had difficulty, almost everyone had to buy tickets at high prices and did not get the desired time. The journey to hunt for Tet tickets is always very difficult,” Tuyen lamented.

According to a representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport, the number of passengers traveling during the Lunar New Year this year is expected to increase by about 6% compared to last year due to the long holiday and high air and train tickets. From December 20, the year of Giap Thin to January 10, the bus stations will serve an average of 94,000 passengers per day, an increase of 50% compared to the number of passengers on normal days. The situation of selling tickets for fixed-route buses this year has not changed much compared to previous years. Bus trips to the Central region and the Central Highlands have always recorded a very high demand, so they sell out quickly. Branded bus companies often sell out as soon as they open for sale, partly due to many regular customers, partly due to stable prices, suitable for many groups of people.

The Department of Transport also knew early that some companies would let workers go home early, and a number of workers would return home before December 20, so it proactively implemented plans to serve the needs of people during Tet. To ensure convenience for people to travel, the city’s transport sector will implement activities to connect passengers from the central area to bus stations, airports, and train stations, such as: increasing shuttle buses, coordinating train schedules of the Ben Thanh – Suoi Tien metro. At the same time, buses will be increased to meet the increased travel demand during Tet. Traffic situation will be updated between the terminals in Ho Chi Minh City and other localities, and scenarios for regulation will be prepared if congestion occurs on the route of the passenger pick-up bus.

Trains and planes are also racing to “close the books”

Crowded and bustling like bus stations, from the end of November 2024 until now, Saigon Station has been crowded with passengers every day, mainly people returning home early. There are still a few people coming to the station with the hope of getting the last tickets to return home for Tet, but most of the “hot” routes have been “closed”. For example, 10 trains running on January 25 – 29 (December 26 – New Year’s Day) on the Saigon – Hanoi route are all full . The Saigon – Tuy Hoa route has also been full since January 20. In the previous days, there were only a few trains with empty seats, the prices were quite high: The price of a soft seat ticket with air conditioning ranges from 660,000 VND to nearly 850,000 VND depending on the train brand, a 4-berth sleeper cabin costs more than 1.17 million VND. Some train brands have 6-berth sleeper cabins priced at 968,000 VND, but long-distance surcharges of up to 778,000 VND are required, totaling 1.746 million VND.

Speaking to Thanh Nien reporters , a representative of Saigon Railway Joint Stock Company said that as of January 6, the railway industry had sold over 282,000 train tickets, including tickets divided into many short routes. Compared to the same period on the opening day of Tet 2024, the number of tickets sold was 161% and the revenue was 181%. Up to now, during the peak period before Tet, there are about 9,000 train tickets from Saigon, Di An, and Bien Hoa stations to all stations. On January 20-26, there are still tickets to Nha Trang and Phan Thiet. After Tet, there are only a few tickets left for odd-numbered trains (from Hanoi to the southern region) during the peak days from January 31 to February 3; There are still many train tickets available for the remaining days from the Northern and Central stations to the South.

Compared to last year’s Tet, the total number of trains serving the 2025 Tet holiday has decreased by more than 20 trips, equivalent to a decrease of more than 30,000 seats due to not selling extra seats, and converting 11 seat cars into sleeper cars, reducing the number of trips and seats compared to last year. Notably, this year the railway industry has stopped the “buy a ticket to hold a seat and pay later” feature to avoid the situation of passengers holding a seat but late in paying. Therefore, in general, the train ticket situation will not have any unusual fluctuations such as passengers “canceling” or releasing tickets.

As for aviation, although it is close to Tet, airlines are still making efforts to charter aircraft and increase capacity. According to Vietnam Airlines (VNA), up to this point, the number of seats VNA provides to the peak Tet market in 2025 has increased by nearly 8% compared to the same period in 2024. The number of actual passengers purchasing tickets has also increased compared to last year. The occupancy rate for many peak afternoon flights, some good daytime flights are fully booked. To best meet people’s travel needs, VNA is coordinating the use of aircraft to operate in the late evening and early morning to take advantage of slots at airports, optimize aircraft flight times; at the same time, speed up wet leasing and receive aircraft early.

“Initially, VNA planned to wet lease 2 aircraft, but due to increased passenger demand, the airline decided to increase and lease 1 more aircraft, bringing the total to 3. The wet lease includes foreign flight crew and flight attendants. It is expected that the first 2 wet leased aircraft serving the peak Tet holiday will arrive in Vietnam on January 10, the third aircraft will arrive on January 13. As soon as the aircraft are received, VNA will work urgently with the authorities to put them into operation soon. The three wet leased aircraft will contribute about 75,000 seats, equivalent to more than 400 flights,” added a VNA representative.

Source: thanhnien.vn

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