Flight delays and cancellations at Tan Son Nhat: Passengers suffer double losses, demand cash compensation

Vietjet operates its own flight services, customers check in stably - Photo: CONG TRUNG

While authorities are investigating the cause, the immediate priority is for airlines to ensure full rights for affected passengers.

Customers struggle with long delays

On April 23, records at Tan Son Nhat airport showed that flight operations had stabilized again.

Although there are still delays of 30 minutes to 2 hours occurring on many airlines such as Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet, Bamboo Airways, and Vietravel Airlines, delays lasting 8 to 10 hours like in the previous two days have decreased.

However, the aftermath of flight delays on April 21 and 22 still makes many passengers worried.

Ms. Tuyet Mai (Phu Nhuan District, Ho Chi Minh City), who took Vietjet flight VJ1380 to Quy Nhon at 6am on April 23, said that seeing images of people being delayed for 8-10 hours at the airport made her nervous the night before her trip. Luckily, her flight was not delayed too long.

Not everyone is as lucky as Ms. Mai. Passenger Thanh Hang reported that she was delayed from 4pm to 11pm on her Vietjet flight, during which time she did not receive any official notice from the airline.

Every two hours, the airline announced another delay, causing passengers to wait in endless waits. By the time they finally got on the plane, it was nearly an hour later because they had to find and unload the luggage of those who had skipped the flight.

After landing at Tan Son Nhat at 1:30 a.m., passengers continued to wait nearly an hour to receive their luggage because the luggage was divided into many batches on the conveyor belt, each batch... 30 minutes apart.

"I arrived home at nearly 4am, nearly 12 hours after the scheduled time. I was extremely tired but I still felt lucky because many others were not able to fly, their flights were canceled" - Ms. Hang was upset.

The series of flights arriving and departing from Tan Son Nhat airport being delayed and canceled has spread like a domino effect throughout the domestic aviation system. At many other airports, a chain of delays has occurred, when the planes have not yet turned around.

In particular, international connecting passengers' schedules were also affected, causing significant losses in time and opportunity costs.

According to Tuoi Tre's investigation, one of the causes of this incident is Vietjet's ground service provision process at Tan Son Nhat airport.

From April 19, Vietjet stopped cooperating with Saigon Ground Services Joint Stock Company (SAGS) and officially operated the entire ground service system at Tan Son Nhat - including check-in, baggage handling, passenger transportation... from the early morning of April 20.

According to many experts, the transition to this self-operating model has taken place without sufficient preparation in depth, breadth and synchronization.

The incident became more serious when it coincided with the peak season of the aviation industry, the weather in the Northern region was volatile, while at Tan Son Nhat, many equipment and personnel were being transferred to the newly operational T3 terminal.

Huge damage but "compensated" at "consolation" level

The consequences of the airline's switch to a self-service model were a series of problems that resulted in slow service processes, congested passenger flows, and planes unable to turn around on time, causing a chain reaction of delays across the entire system.

"Not only did the airline lose revenue, but thousands of passengers also missed work and personal plans, causing significant economic losses," an airline service company leader told Tuoi Tre.

Faced with a series of flight delays and strong customer backlash, on April 22, Vietjet publicly apologized and offered compensation.

Accordingly, many passengers said they had received compensation notices from the airline, mainly e-vouchers worth 500,000 to 1 million VND for domestic and international flights affected on April 20 and 21.

However, many passengers said that due to delays of many hours, even flight cancellations, customers were forced to cancel their round-trip tickets and bear the additional costs of hotels and travel. Meanwhile, the airline's "support" policy is only a "comfort" and cannot compensate for actual losses.

"The voucher requires passengers to fly again with the airline in order to use it. What if I don't want to fly with that airline anymore? The compensation should be paid in cash so that passengers have the right to choose" - said Mr. Hoang Minh, a passenger from Da Nang to Phu Quoc. His flight was delayed continuously from 13:05 to 16:30 on April 22.

Information from Vietjet said that vouchers used as cash equivalents is the airline's own policy, in addition to the compensation policy for flight delays and cancellations according to State regulations.

According to our research, according to the regulations of the Ministry of Construction (formerly the Ministry of Transport), if the delay is 15 minutes or more, the airline must promptly notify the passenger. If the delay is 2 hours or more, the passenger has the right to change the flight or another itinerary without incurring a fee.

If the delay is 4 hours or more, the airline must compensate in cash, no refund. If the delay is 5 hours or more, the passenger has the right to request a full refund of the ticket price.

According to the regulations of the Ministry of Transport, the compensation level ranges from 200,000 - 400,000 VND for domestic flights and from 25 - 150 USD for international flights. Normally, the compensation is processed by the airline within 14 days.

In fact, many passengers said they were not clearly informed of their rights, had no reasonable alternatives, and were made difficult to request a refund.

In the latest document, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam requires airlines to strictly implement regulations related to responsibility for passengers in case of flight delays or cancellations. Airlines must arrange support counters at the airport to record information of affected passengers.

Participate in supporting troubleshooting and maintaining stable flight schedules

Speaking to Tuoi Tre, many aviation businesses said they have participated in supporting the handling so that flights can operate stably, avoiding chain effects.

SAGS agreed to continue providing ground services for Vietjet's international flights at Tan Son Nhat, while domestic flights will still be operated by the airline itself.

Mr. Uong Viet Dung, Director of the Civil Aviation Authority, also requested Vietjet to arrange adequate human resources, especially passenger and baggage service staff, and ground service equipment at Tan Son Nhat according to the approved plan.

The airline is also required to coordinate with other ground service units at Tan Son Nhat to ensure flight service according to the announced operating plan; review the operating plan, aircraft turnaround time... in accordance with Vietjet's self-service capacity.

The Civil Aviation Authority also requested Vietjet to ensure and maintain the stability of its ground service at Noi Bai in case of internal personnel transfers...

Information from Vietjet said that the airline has increased personnel and equipment from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, cooperated with ground service businesses at Tan Son Nhat, and maintained stable flight service on April 23.

Not only delayed, canceled flights but also worried about going to the wrong terminal

Tuoi Tre newspaper on April 23 reported that a series of Vietjet flights were delayed on April 21 and 22, causing heavy losses to many customers - Photo: T.D.

An aviation expert (who asked not to be named) shared with Tuoi Tre about the reality at Tan Son Nhat airport in recent days, showing that improvements are needed.

In fact, many passengers missed their flights because they could not reach Tan Son Nhat Terminal 3 on time due to lack of instructions, drivers not knowing the way, and unclear signs. This is unacceptable in an international airport.

"It is no longer a technical error but a problem in management and service thinking," he said, adding that expanding infrastructure with terminal T3 is an important factor to reduce the load.

However, if we only build more stations without investing in human resources, management systems and communication coordination, the risk of "getting stuck in the new" is entirely possible.

According to this person, the fact that a large airline like Vietjet proactively operates its own ground operations is a noteworthy trend.

However, to do that effectively, careful preparation is required from personnel, technology to incident response capabilities.

The incident of a series of delayed flights at this airport is the clearest warning for the problem of service autonomy in conditions of limited infrastructure and high demand.

"As the largest aviation gateway in the country, Tan Son Nhat Airport not only plays a transportation role but also represents the national image. Every problem that occurs not only causes economic damage, but also directly affects the experience and feelings of millions of domestic and foreign passengers," he warned.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/cham-huy-chuyen-bay-o-tan-son-nhat-khach-thiet-don-thiet-kep-doi-boi-thuong-bang-tien-mat-20250423231312784.htm