THE ROUTE
Flight QH 87, Sydney to Ho Chi Minh (Saigon)
THE AIRCRAFT
Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner
CLASS
Enterprise, seat 16A
DURATION
8 hours, quarter-hour
THE LOYALTY SCHEME
Loyalty program Bamboo Membership has 4 tiers, starting from Emerald to First. You should purchase bonus factors and transfer up tiers with accrued flights nevertheless it’s not affiliated with different airways’ reward schemes and factors are non-transferable.
CARBON EMISSIONS
Roughly 2.1 tonnes for a enterprise class flight. Bamboo Airways at the moment has no carbon-offset program. You possibly can offset them your self with varied environmental organisations comparable to myclimate.org
FREQUENCY
Twice per week on this route, and from Melbourne to Ho Chi Minh. The airline additionally flies Melbourne-Hanoi as soon as per week.
HEALTH
On the time of my flight, travellers to Vietnam had been required to point out a unfavourable PCR or fast antigen check (administered by a medical skilled) taken inside 24 hours of departure, however this requirement has now been scrapped. Stewards wore clear hard-plastic masks (that appeared like facial terrariums) and, though not rigidly enforced, masks are necessary for passengers too, as per Vietnam authorities necessities.
CHECK IN
Simply shy of three hours earlier than take-off, and earlier than I had an opportunity to queue on the counter, a customer-service agent grabbed my passport, stated “I will be again in a second”, and returned with a boarding go three minutes later. I needed to wind round Kingsford Smith’s safety line for the next 50 minutes with the remainder of the flight-stressed mass.
THE SEAT
Ahead-facing angled pods, in a herringbone configuration, in a 1:2:1 formation are adorned in commonplace corporate-blue upholstery meets generic gray plastic. The seat is 20.5 inches (52 centimetres) extensive and converts to a 6 foot, 6 inch lie-flat mattress (198 centimetres). The area was exceptionally clear, as if straight out of the field. Seated, there may be acres of leg room, making the tray-table really feel prefer it’s in one other time zone in the event you’re stubby-of-arms. Halfway alongside the lie-flat mattress there’s a small, annoying hump the place there needs to be a booty-sized valley to cradle your derriere. The zip-up ‘cleansing equipment’ bag exudes a ’70s-aviation allure, however its contents appear two-dollar-store by comparability (starring ‘Recent and Vibrant’ toothpaste). All 9 gadgets inside, the bag itself and complimentary slippers (for the dainty of ft) are all wrapped in pointless layers of opaque plastic. The nifty fold-out brush-comb combo will likely be appreciated by the hirsute.
BAGGAGE
Enterprise class passengers can take two carry-on luggage as much as 7 kilograms every. Checked baggage will be as much as 65 kilograms, with every bag a most of 32 kilograms.
ENTERTAINMENT
The crystal-clear pop-out touch-screen telly and user-friendly handset are let down by a dearth of leisure. There are about 30 English and few Vietnamese, none of that are new releases and all of which have foul language dubbed over. In any other case, it is mainly 12 episodes of ‘Journey Golf’ and a tiny handful of random episodes from reveals like Younger Sheldon. Provided Gorsun headphones should not over-ear, noise-cancelling or notably comfortable.
SERVICE
Beginning with a signature hand-over-heart and deep bow, that is uber-polite south-east Asian service personified, with extra pleases and thank-yous than a church dinner. Meals had been a bit sluggish off the mark (cashews nuts arrived 40 minutes after take-off) however the stewards handed the 10-second call-button problem each time.
FOOD
Among the many selection of two starters and three mains are some tasty Asian-Western fusions. The braised fish with chilli and lemongrass sauce was nice, the meat pie not so. Bamboo’s menu is crying out for a easy Vietnamese traditional like pho. By business-class requirements, the drinks cupboard was nearly naked, with only a fundamental beer choice, just one pink and one white wine to select from and, nearly unbelievably, not a single spirit on the menu. Cue the riot…
ONE MORE THING
I assumed I had lastly gone insane, till I realised that the chook chirping I used to be listening to after lights-out is simply a part of Bamboo’s ambient soundtrack. Sort of candy truly.
VERDICT
It could be a newish airline with a reputation that does not instantly encourage belief in a Western market however Bamboo Airways is a sound selection for individuals in search of a business-class expertise at very affordable value ($2690 return). Particularly for the lie-flat mattress on the in a single day return flight to Australia.
OUR RATING OUT OF FIVE
★★★½
The author travelled as a visitor of Bamboo Airways.
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See additionally: Airline evaluate: Vietnam Airways Dreamliner enterprise class
See additionally: Airline evaluate: This seat surpasses different enterprise class choices
