Fast Track Services in SGN?

[JackMiles]

BTW make sure you have your middle name on your flight tickets and Visa for Vietnam , they are really picky for that.

Can attest to this. My middle name did not make it onto my e-visa last year, and I did not notice this omission (not understanding that it was a necessity) until I got to check-in and was denied. Had to scramble and pay a lot of money to an online express visa service in order to make my flight.

 

[Phoenix-1]

Is fast track worth it on arrival? I don't recall have any issues last time. Departure was a slog though, so I'll get fast track for it this time.

 

[AIRwin]

Is fast track worth it on arrival?

I was in the queue for almost 2 hours last year

 

[iamsuperandrew]

I was in the queue for almost 2 hours last year

I saw the queues when we arrive and we got fast track on arrival but didnt on departure and boy did I hear it from the wife

Flying in J does not provide you any benefits

IMHO, I believe that those who did not get Fast Track and had ' good/ quick' experiences where simply lucky or had little arriving flights

 

[jase05]

Just sitting in the domestic VN lounge now.
I took a risk and didn’t organise Fast track at SGN on seperate tickets with just over 3hrs between arrival and a domestic departure. This was my experience today.
At check in at CGK I advised staff that I had seperate tickets on VN CGK-SGN and SGN-PQC and no issue with getting both boarding passes and tagging bags to PQC but obviously advised I’d need to collect them at SGN.
Arrived at SGN at 1715 (10 minutes late) and parked at a remote park near T3.
Offloaded quickly and J bus to T2 dropped us off at 1730
Immigration was the usual zoo and took just under an hour, finally through at 1820. (E-gates being rolled out currently and have heard that perhaps by end of 2026 they may be available to other nations)
Quickly down to baggage and no surprise our bags were already offloaded into the Sky Priority pen. Grab bags and hand them over to domestic transfer staff and outside by 1830.
Green transfer bus had just pulled up so boarded that and just as we were about to leave a tour group of Chinese came from nowhere and piled on so didn’t leave to 1845.. The transfer bus from T2 to T3 goes out on the main roads and traffic was a mess so took 15 minutes (driver said it can take up to 45 minutes sometimes)
Arrived at T3 at 1900, security was a breeze and domestic terminal is massive yet seemed deserted. In VN lounge by 1910 and boarding starts at 1930 so as our gate is the furthest away from the lounge I’m just having a quick look and heading off.
Got lucky tonight but far too many variables to be comfortable

 

[Quickstatus]

If that's the case for many, why don't everyone do fast track?

We arrive into SGN at 1540hrs, and depart from SGN 1100hrs
Maybe the immigration crowds are time dependant. As with most airports would early morning and later afternoon be the peak periods?

.....

Of course with these services, there is then the opportunity to enhance. The service can start anywhere between the aircraft door and the car and in between depending on the service paid for.

 

[jase05]

If that's the case for many, why don't everyone do fast track?

We arrive into SGN at 1540hrs, and depart from SGN 1100hrs
Maybe the immigration crowds are time dependant. As with most airports would early morning and later afternoon be the peak periods?

Probably a number of reasons such as people not prepared to pay the cost or not even knowing that the product is on offer.
Or maybe like in our case, we have been through SGN many times and the last few times has always been about 20-30 minutes. The last time we did fast track it still took 25 minutes so we just thought we would wing it again.

As to busy periods I’ve always found SGN to be bizarre with no real reasoning as to why things are the way they are.
You could go through the exact same time 20 days in a row and times could vary from 20 minutes to 2hrs.
On this last trip they have what I call the “pen” where the queue snakes around and then it filters into the numerous immigration queues. These queues were about 30 deep and when they are full the guard closes the pen. We were about 5 or 6 from the front and 2 officials decided without warning to shut their booth so all the ones left in those 2 queues get pushed to the back of the other queues. If that wasn’t annoying enough, about 10 minutes later they decided to open another 3 booths a bit further along but instead of letting those like us already in the queue push across the guard opened the pen and let them stream forward to fill the void.
So it’s pure luck of the draw and the officials seem to take forever to process each person. I counted on my watch and our official was taking around 90 seconds to 2 minutes to process each person

 

[Quickstatus]

I counted on my watch and our official was taking around 90 seconds to 2 minutes to process each person

Are they checking everyone's instagram or facebook?
KLIA can be just as bad. Took me 2 hrs on exit once. No fast track at the time but I see F-T now available at KLIA

 

[jase05]

Are they checking everyone's instagram or facebook?
KLIA can be just as bad. Took me 2 hrs on exit once. No fast track at the time but I see F-T now available at KLIA

They are just so slow, no idea what takes them so long.
KLIA is 5 minutes tops on our last few visits