Plane tickets are scarce and expensive during Tet, what about train tickets?

During the Tet peak season, airfares for many routes have increased dramatically, and tickets are scarce. Many people are looking to buy train tickets, but it is not easy because the prices are high and many trips are sold out.

Air tickets are scarce and expensive.

According to a survey by VTC News on the morning of December 15, round-trip economy class tickets on many domestic and international routes during the 2025 Lunar New Year (from January 24, 2025 to February 3, 2025) have increased from more than 1 million VND to more than 2 million VND/ticket compared to normal days, an increase of about 3 million VND compared to the same period last year and an increase of several hundred thousand to several million VND compared to the time of booking at the end of November.

Flight tickets are scarce during Tet. (Illustration photo).

Specifically, a round-trip ticket for the Ho Chi Minh City - Hanoi route (including taxes and fees) of Vietjet Air is 6,476 million VND, an increase of 200,000 VND compared to the time of booking at the end of November and an increase of 2.4 million VND compared to the current ticket price; of Vietnam Airlines is more than 7,722 million VND/ticket, an increase of 200,000 VND compared to the time of booking at the end of November and an increase of more than 2.7 million VND compared to the current price; of Vietravel Airlines is 7.2 million VND/ticket, an increase of 200,000 VND compared to the time of booking at the end of November and an increase of 2.8 million VND compared to the current price; Bamboo Airways is 7,706 million VND/ticket, an increase of 300,000 VND compared to the end of November and an increase of more than 2.8 million VND compared to the current price.

For the Ho Chi Minh City - Hai Phong route (round trip ticket including taxes and fees), Vietjet Air's ticket price is 7.436 million VND; Vietnam Airlines is 9.49 million VND; Bamboo Airways has no information found. The prices of all airlines have increased by more than 3 million VND compared to the current flight time, increased by about 2 million VND/ticket compared to the same period last year and increased by 300,000 - 1.2 million VND compared to booking Tet tickets at the end of November.

Other flights such as: Ho Chi Minh City - Thanh Hoa at the time of survey (December 15), the round-trip ticket price booked for Tet by Vietnam Airlines is 12.2 million VND, double the current flight price and an increase of more than 4 million VND compared to Tet 2023.

The Ho Chi Minh City - Nghe An route during Tet holiday is only available on Vietnam Airlines, the round-trip economy class ticket price is 9.9 million VND, an increase of 3.6 million VND compared to the ticket booking at the end of November. Vietjet Air and Pacific airlines only have tickets for the Vinh - Ho Chi Minh City route after Tet holiday.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority, some domestic flights during the Lunar New Year have achieved a 100% booking rate from Ho Chi Minh City to the Northern and Central provinces, while the return flight before Tet was low, even below 10%.

Specifically, in the period before the holiday (from January 21 to January 28, 2025), the booking rate on flights from Ho Chi Minh City to provinces and cities was recorded to have mostly reached over 50%.

Some flights have high booking rates (90%-100%) on the dates from January 23 to January 26, 2025, such as Ho Chi Minh City to Hue, Pleiku, Tuy Hoa, Quy Nhon, Quang Binh Thanh Hoa, Vinh.

On the routes from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi and Da Nang, the supply of tickets is still very abundant with the booking rate ranging from 20% - 50%; for example, the flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi on January 25, 2025 (ie December 26 of the Lunar calendar) is the day with the highest booking rate in the whole period but only reached 62%.

In the opposite direction from provinces and cities to Ho Chi Minh City, the booking rate on flights is mostly between 15-30%.

During the final period of the holiday (from February 1 to February 7, 2025), the booking rate for flights from the local area back to Ho Chi Minh City was high, showing the characteristics of air transport activities as every year.

Some days are full with rates of over 90% to 100% such as from Pleiku, Tuy Hoa, Thanh Hoa, Quy Nhon, Chu Lai Dong Hoi, Ban Me Thuot to Ho Chi Minh City.

"In a survey for departure dates close to January 25, 2025 (ie December 26 of the Lunar calendar - the start of the holiday), on flights from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi, Vietnam Airlines and Bamboo Airways offer tickets for around VND3.7 million/way; while Vietjet Air and Vietravel Airlines record ticket prices of around VND3.7 million/way, an increase of about 10-20% compared to the time before the holiday.

At the end of the holiday, the fares reversed with higher prices appearing on flights from the local area to Ho Chi Minh City. Surveying the fares on February 2, 2025 (the last day of the holiday), the route from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Airlines' fare was 3.7 million VND; Vietjet Air's fare was around 3.6-3.7 million VND; and Vietravel Airlines' fare was equivalent to around 3.7 million VND," The Civil Aviation Authority said.

Train tickets are also expensive and difficult to buy.

While plane tickets are scarce and expensive, train tickets from the South to the North are also sold out.

Specifically, as of early December 2024, the total number of train tickets sold by the railway industry for Tet was about 125,000 tickets, with ticket sales revenue of VND 189 billion, of which the number of tickets purchased online accounted for 61%.

Train tickets for Tet are also over 3 million VND/way (Screenshot on the morning of December 15).

“We have sold out all the train tickets from Ho Chi Minh City to the northern provinces and are continuing to sell 5,000 more tickets. However, by December 15, 2024, more than 90% of the additional tickets have been sold,” An officer of the Railway Transport Joint Stock Company, managing the Southern region, said.

Meanwhile, Ms. Pham Thi Anh Dao, Station Manager of Hanoi Railway Transport Station, said that there are still many tickets from Hanoi to the southern provinces before Tet.

“After Tet, from January 29 (the first day of Tet) to February 16, 2025 (January 19), there are still many tickets for all days and stations. Only the route from Ho Chi Minh City to the northern provinces before Tet is scarce. This year, Tet ticket prices range from more than 2 million to more than 3 million VND, an increase of 3-5% compared to Tet 2023 and an increase of 15-30% compared to normal ticket prices, depending on the trip and departure date,” Ms. Anh Dao said.

On the morning of December 15, reporters surveyed the online ticket sales page of Vietnam Railways Corporation and found that most of the trips from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi on January 24-25 (December 25-26), most of the trains SE2, SE4, SE6, SE8, SE10, SE12, SE24, TN4, TN 6 were sold out.

Only some SE2 trips on January 26, or December 27, have 01 soft seat ticket left; on January 27, or December 28, on SE10 train, there are 174 tickets left, SE4 has 127 tickets left, SE6 has 5 tickets left, SE 2 has 125 tickets left and SE24 has 257 tickets left... One-way tickets are also sold at quite high prices, ranging from 2,338,000 to 3,016,000 VND.

Train tickets for Tet are also scarce and expensive. (Illustration photo).

According to the representative of the Railway Transport Joint Stock Company, like every year, the demand for travel during the peak Tet holiday to the provinces and cities in the Central region and tourist destinations is always "hot". To meet the travel needs of passengers, from the 29th of December to the 3rd day of Tet, the company also organizes trains to serve people traveling to spring such as Hanoi - Vinh, Hanoi - Dong Hoi, Saigon - Nha Trang...

Currently, the railway industry is applying many preferential policies to support train passengers such as: Discounts for social policy beneficiaries, union members, passengers with customer cards, 3% discount on ticket prices for trains departing from Saigon station on January 27, 2025 (ie December 28) and traveling from 1,000 km or more, 5% discount on return ticket prices for passengers buying round-trip tickets, especially students will receive a discount of 10% to 20% on ticket prices depending on the date of travel.

In addition, the Railway Transport Joint Stock Company has opened for sale trains that run regularly during and after the 2025 New Year holiday such as: Trains SE1/SE2, SE3/SE4, SE5/SE6, SE7/SE8 (Saigon - Hanoi), Trains SE21/SE22 (Saigon - Da Nang), Trains SNT1/SNT2 (Saigon - Nha Trang), Trains SPT1/SPT2 (Saigon - Phan Thiet). When passenger demand increases, the Company will organize additional trains and add more cars to best serve customer needs.

"In case people's travel needs increase, the unit will calculate and open more trains to exploit and serve people's needs," said a railway representative.

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