The only thing better than heading home after a long trip is doing so in style, discovers Nick Walton on a recent Vietnam Airlines flight from London to Hong Kong.
You’d be forgiven for never having considered Vietnam Airlines. The flag carrier of Vietnam has, much like the country itself, grown rapidly from relative obscurity over the past decade. Today, as a member of the SkyTeam alliance, it offers a thoroughly competitive long-haul business class product on routes spanning the globe — including a direct service between Hong Kong and London Heathrow that deserves far more attention than it typically receives.
Check-In and the Plaza Premium Lounge at Heathrow T4
My journey began with a minor flutter of anxiety. Checking the Vietnam Airlines app en route to the airport, I was alarmed to discover that my flight — VN50 from London to Ho Chi Minh City, scheduled for 5 pm — was showing as having already departed. Of course, it hadn’t. A glitch in the app, as the check-in agent at Terminal 4 reassured me with some amusement, had apparently sent several other passengers into a similar sweat. I was checked in swiftly and directed through a priority screening lane to the Blush Lounge, operated by Plaza Premium.
Unfortunately, the lounge is typical of the airport hospitality group: good hardware, middling software. Hot and cold dishes, comfortable seating and a full bar are all present and correct, but the staff were largely absent from the floor, leaving guests to hunt for cutlery and wine openers unaided. Fortunately, the lounge sits directly adjacent to Gate 2, where boarding commenced at 4.30 pm.
The Seat
Vietnam Airlines’ Boeing 787s are among the youngest aircraft in the fleet, though the business class cabin feels a touch behind the times by the standards of today’s very best. The herringbone configuration places 28 seats in a 1-2-1 layout — every passenger has direct aisle access — and my window seat, 2K on the starboard side, proved to be a genuinely comfortable perch for an 11-hour 55-minute overnight flight east.
At 21.5 inches wide and converting into a flat bed stretching 78 inches, the seat does the fundamentals well. Dual reading lights, personal air vents, and AC and USB ports are all present, and a 16-inch monitor serves the entertainment system. Storage is a little sparse, and the monitor is beginning to show its age — a faint green tinge around moving images is hard to ignore once you’ve noticed it — but these are minor complaints on what is otherwise a comfortable long-haul product.
A Cerruti 1881 amenity kit stocked with Payot products, along with a good blanket and pillow, were already in place at the seat. Crew soon followed with glasses of chilled Charles Mignon Premium Reserve Brut and cool face towels before taking dinner orders.
Stormy weather at Heathrow pushed our departure back; we began taxiing at 5.47 pm and were airborne by 6.10 pm.
Dining
Dinner opened with a well-made gin and tonic — the airline also offers a pleasing selection of cocktails developed by an in-house mixologist, which is a thoughtful touch. Appetisers included black cod with tomato salad and a lemon rapeseed oil dressing, alongside smoked salmon and beetroot with mustard dressing. I opted for the salmon, which was impeccably chilled, followed by a wild mushroom soup that was precisely the kind of comfort food you want at altitude on a dark evening out of London — particularly when paired with a glass of Maison Cazes Ego Côtes du Roussillon Grenache Blanc.
For the main course, four options were presented: beef fillet with herb sauce and roasted honey vegetables; roasted duck breast with orange honey sauce and potato fondant; pan-fried seabass with Chinese sauce and fried rice; or stir-fried prawns with ginger, onion sauce and rice noodles. The beef was well-cooked and generously portioned, and held up admirably alongside a Ventisquero Vértice Syrah from Chile. Cheese, fresh fruit, miniature pastries and coconut ice cream provided a more-then-satisfying conclusion to the service.
As we made our approach into Vietnamese airspace, breakfast arrived: yoghurt and cereals alongside a choice of a mushroom and spinach tortilla, beef bresaola with Wensleydale cranberry cheese, or braised chicken with soy sauce and egg noodles. The noodles were flavourful and carried a welcome chilli warmth — exactly what you want after a long overnight flight. The real revelation, however, was the Vietnamese iced coffee served alongside. Deeply aromatic and bracingly strong, it is one of the most memorable small pleasures in long-haul business class, and reason enough alone to consider the airline.
Service
Rather than pouring its resources into perpetual cabin refits, Vietnam Airlines has clearly invested in its people, and the difference shows. The crew throughout the flight were cheerful, attentive and genuinely hospitable — efficient without the stiffness that can characterise service on other Asian carriers. There is a warmth to flying with Vietnam Airlines that makes the experience a real pleasure from boarding to arrival.
The Verdict
Vietnam Airlines may not be the first name that springs to mind for long-haul business class between Hong Kong and London, but it very much deserves to be in the conversation. The cabin is not quite cutting-edge, but the flat-bed comfort, generous dining, exceptional service and that Vietnamese iced coffee combine to make this a route worth bookmarking.
Vietnam Airlines operates the Hong Kong–London Heathrow route via Ho Chi Minh City. Return business class fares from Hong Kong to London start from around US$3,354.
