I flew with them in business class. They are ranked as a 3 star airline, but I have to say I was impressed with their business class. Compared to 4 star airlines in Europe, looking at you, British Airways. I’d take Bamboo Airways any day. Their prices were also really good compared to other 4 star airlines.
The seat was more comfortable and larger, and the service was much better.
European Standards for airlines just keep getting worse and worse and more and more expensive. I think I will use Bamboo to fly from London to Hanoi next instead of BA, which I usually fly with.
I would say the business class is a 4 star ranking experience. Besides the service which I also just flew business with China air, everything was good. Although China air cabins seems a bit dated. But the service was good and personal. But China air is a 5 star rank airline.
I would say bamboo air is really good value for business class for the price they’re offering along with cabin and service. Food was decent. Nothing special but they did give a lot of it.
“Bamboo Airlines” unfortunately conjures a mental image of cargo-cult planes, but I just had a look at their website and they have some really nice prices. Thanks for the heads-up.
I’ve booked another flight from Frankfurt to Hanoi for Christmas. I wanted to get out of western countries for Christmas as there’s nothing really to do and things are closed or super expensive.
Went with Bamboo airways again. The tickets for business class were at least half the price of anything else I’ve found. Unfortunately the flights from London City where they operate flights from were sold out so we will fly with BA to Frankfurt from Heathrow.
I do have to say; their website sucks. It glitched multiple times and it took like an hour to book because we had tor re enter the details again.
Business class from Frankfurt to Hanoi for 2 people costs around $6500. I think it can be cheaper but it seems flights are just expensive around that time. I’ve looked before and from London City to Hanoi were around $2500 round trip for a person in business before.
I’m interested to see how the business class product is on a long haul flight.
Unfortunately I can no longer recommend Bamboo Airways.
They cancelled my flights from Frankfurt to Hanoi. I’m not sure what has happened but it seems they no longer operate from Europe anymore. I no longer see any flights from London or Frankfurt.
The issue is their customer service sucks. No international number to call only a Vietnam one. I emailed asking for a refund and an explanation of what had happened to their European operations. I’m waiting for a reply.
It’s a shame as the airline had really cheap business class flights to Vietnam from London and Frankfurt. I’m not sure I feel comfortable booking with them again as I’ve had to change a lot of my flights and bookings due to this. And customer service is not quick and easy to reach. It’s a big risk for international travel like this.
I went with Qatar airways and the price of the ticket is double and I’m still waiting for my refund which is not nice.
Unfortunately it seems they have failed. They are restructuring but I don’t think it will work. They lost almost a billion dollars in 2022 which is pretty extraordinary for a small airline.
It also seems many people had their flights canceled and are struggling to get a refund or even a response like me. I’m very worried they don’t even have the money to refund me as they experience cash flow issues.
I might just see if I can dispute it with my bank as it’s a lot of money I would like back.
It gets worse. Online I’ve found employees also not getting paid now.
From the article from One Mile at Time linked above:
What a bizarre mess of an airline
The airline industry is endlessly fascinating. Even for well established, conservative airlines, it can be difficult to consistently operate profitably. But then sometimes you see airline startups that just make you scratch your head, and Bamboo Airways was one of them.
The airline had outrageously big growth plans. I mean, Bamboo Airways is only currently flying three of the 20 Boeing 787s that it had ordered, and at one point the airline was even seriously considering ordering the Boeing 777X, or leasing Airbus A380s.
The carrier’s growth plan has made no sense:
Vietnam is a highly competitive aviation market; while there’s a lot of domestic and regional demand, it’s primarily for ultra low cost carriers
In long haul markets, Bamboo Airways was competing against Vietnam Airlines, which hasn’t exactly been profitable to begin with, all while having much better connectivity and name recognition
Bamboo Airways’ schedule just made very little sense; the airline operated long haul flights in many markets once or twice a week, and that’s not a schedule that’s going to work for many consumers
Without any established partnerships, it’s just really hard to be a new network carrier
For what it’s worth, the airline lost $722 million in 2022, which is an unheard of number for an airline of this size. I think the big question at this point is whether Bamboo Airways can survive in some form, or if the airline ends up liquidating.
The airline business is pretty terrible in general. Even in booming periods like now, I was reading profitable airlines still net less than a dollar a passenger per flight.
Airlines | British Airways
and I’m still waiting for my refund which is not nice.
