Tan Son Nhat airport is packed with passengers, standing, sitting and lying around, endless queues.

Crowded, inching forward to check in at Tan Son Nhat Airport. Inside the terminal, seats are scarce, passengers lie on the ground waiting for the airline to announce a new flight time after many hours of delay.

'Choáng' ngợp ở Tân Sơn Nhất, khách quá đông, nhích từng chút ở nhà ga - Ảnh 1. — Passengers spilled out of the terminal on the evening of January 24, waiting in line to check in for their flight - Photo: C.LINH

On January 24 (the 25th day of the Lunar New Year), the "hot spot" of Tan Son Nhat airport became even more tense because of the large number of passengers. Passengers were pouring into the airport. The terminal was packed with people, many families were even "stuck" for dozens of minutes because of the slow movement to the check-in area.

Crowded station

As of 8pm tonight, the domestic terminal was still packed with people. According to statistics, on the 25th of Tet, 150,000 passengers arrived at Tan Son Nhat airport with more than 1,000 flights serving. The number of passengers today is considered the highest since the beginning of the peak season.

Tuoi Tre Online noted that the flow of passengers is tense as many flights are delayed, making the overload situation worse.

Specifically, some flights were affected by bad weather, causing delays. There were also flights that were due to the airline's fault. For example, the flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Da Nang, originally departed at 10:45. The airline reported a delay of more than 4 hours, until 14:45.

Ms. Thuy, a passenger on this flight, was upset when she had to "glue her eyes" to the flight display screen because the airline did not announce the check-in procedure until the departure time.

Thirty minutes later, at 3 p.m., the airline took the passengers to the plane. When they arrived at the plane's parking lot, hundreds of passengers were stunned when the bus turned around and took them back to the terminal. The reason, according to the airline staff, was that the flight crew had been late for the scheduled flight. Therefore, the flight had to change to another crew, take the passengers back to the terminal, and wait.

At 5:45 p.m., the airline picked up passengers on the plane but it didn't officially take off until 6:20 p.m.

"I bought a ticket to fly in the morning but arrived at night. Flying during Tet is so hard. We had to jostle every corner of the airport to find a seat, there weren't enough seats for everyone" - Ms. Thuy said.

Continued tension in the coming days

'Choáng' ngợp ở Tân Sơn Nhất, khách quá đông nhích từng chút ở nhà ga - Ảnh 2. — Lack of seats and long wait, customers lie down on the floor to rest because they are too tired - Photo: CONG TRUNG

According to the reporter, the domestic terminal is seriously overloaded. Passengers lack seats, lie on the floor to sleep or wait for their flights. The space for passengers is gradually shrinking, while the shops in the airport serving business are increasingly "bloated" with expensive prices.

Speaking to Tuoi Tre on the evening of January 24, an airline leader said the crowded situation would be more tense in the next two days when the number of passengers and flight frequency increased. Today's case was partly due to bad weather in the Northern region, affecting operations and slowing down the assembly line.

According to airlines, passengers need to prepare travel plans, especially arriving at the airport early.

TSN Airport has asked businesses such as Pacific Airlines and Viags to increase staff at the conveyor belt area to quickly clear luggage, and have staff on duty to handle arising situations.