William Chen https://wmchen.com/tags/vietnam-airlines/ Recent content on William Chen Hugo -- gohugo.io en-gb Tue, 19 May 2026 02:16:35 +0000 Go Show Standby on Vietnam Airlines https://wmchen.com/posts/go-show-standby-on-vietnam-airlines-in-practice/ Tue, 19 May 2026 02:16:35 +0000 https://wmchen.com/posts/go-show-standby-on-vietnam-airlines-in-practice/ <p>I wanted to write about my experience using Vietnam Airlines&rsquo; Go Show (standby) policy on the domestic HAN-DAD route, because I didn&rsquo;t find a lot of clarity online about how it works in practice. The only thread with real-world data points I found was this <a href="https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/other-asian-australian-south-pacific-airlines/2155186-vietnam-airlines-standby-earlier-domestic-flight.html">FlyerTalk thread</a>, where every comment seemed to contradict the last, and some off-hand remarks in reddit threads. There&rsquo;s also a 2018 trade manual on Go Shows floating around, but I guess that&rsquo;s obviously out of date. Someone also told me about their past successful free change experience on a different route in a group chat.</p> I wanted to write about my experience using Vietnam Airlines’ Go Show (standby) policy on the domestic HAN-DAD route, because I didn’t find a lot of clarity online about how it works in practice. The only thread with real-world data points I found was this FlyerTalk thread, where every comment seemed to contradict the last, and some off-hand remarks in reddit threads. There’s also a 2018 trade manual on Go Shows floating around, but I guess that’s obviously out of date. Someone also told me about their past successful free change experience on a different route in a group chat.

I booked an Economy Classic (L) fare from HAN-DAD for May 7, 2026, ticketed on January 3, 2026.1 I chose Economy Classic over a cheaper lite fare specifically because it includes the Go Show option, in case my inbound connection to HAN on a separate ticket arrived on time.

The fare conditions stated:

  1. Go show

Free flight exchange at check-in to a same-day flight that departs earlier than the scheduled time. For flights between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, passengers can exchange for an earlier flight within 4 hours of the scheduled time for free. Other Goshow cases: Fare difference applies.

In hindsight, this is clear wording, but my understanding at the time was contaminated with online data points that an exchange could potentially be made for free on other routes at the end of ticket sales. That was probably wishful thinking based off the online data points.

As it turned out, my inbound flight arrived on time, which I wasn’t really optimistic about given the CAN-HAN route’s reputation for delays. Despite the horror stories about immigration, it took me about 40 minutes to clear (even with a few people cutting in line), then another 20 minutes to change terminals.

A flight screen showing the number of seats remaining for sale on the day’s outstanding flights.

In the domestic terminal, I went to the ticket desk. A screen at HAN showed 4 economy seats remaining on the earlier flight to Da Nang. When I asked about standing by for free, the agent pushed back and said the flight would sell out before ticket sales closed, so there would be no chance of a free change. It seemed that in practice, it was something they could do as a courtesy. 2

I asked what it would cost to change flights outright, and she quoted me 451,000 VND (~$17 USD). That was an easy call for me: the alternative was a 4-hour wait at Hanoi airport with no real buffer to leave the airport to explore.

After I paid, she reissued my ticket with a new e-ticket number, now in Economy Flex rather than Classic (presumably because all other fare buckets had sold out). The printed receipt showed the change fee as waived, with only the 451,000 VND fare difference charged, which matched what I had seen on the website for the Economy Flex bucket.

So what happened in practice was that Go Show waived the change fee, but not the fare difference as is usually the case with North American airlines.

  1. There was a policy change for tickets booked after March 25, 2026, but it mostly affects fees for changes. ↩︎

  2. Sure enough, three other travelers in the regular line purchaed or exchanged their tickets for VN187 while I was getting quoted a fare difference. It’s also possible they just didn’t understand my request clearly. ↩︎

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