February 2, 2017
Vietnam Airlines 631 Ho Chi Minh City (SGN) - Jakarta (CGK) Departure: 1025 Arrival: 1315 Duration: 2:49 Aircraft: Airbus A321-231(SKYTEAM Livery)
Registration: VN-A327 Seat: 2C (Business Class)
This is the third and my last flight segment with Vietnam Airlines to Jakarta in an Airbus A321. You can check my reviews on the previous two flights on my blog.
Vietnam Airlines uses A321 fleets on most of its short to medium haul routes, both domestic and internationally. There are 3 different A321s with different number of seats and configurations based on VN's website but according to seatguru.com, it only shows one version with 178 seats. I was not sure how many seats were in total on this aircraft but for sure there are 16 business class seat in 2-2 configuration. Seats are all recliner seats with 45 inches of pitch and 21 inches of width. Similar seats are mostly found on most narrow-body business classes.
Luckily, there were only 4 passengers total in the business cabin, all seated in the first two rows. I wanted to take lots of photos for the review and knowing there was no one in row 3 and 4, I changed my seat to 3D.
The Cabin:
With only 4 rows in A321, the business class cabin looked larger than Boeing's narrow body B737s. I think the color of the seat made the cabin looked aged. In fact, this aircraft is almost 6 years old and I could see dirts accumulated on seat fabrics and narrow spaces. Some tray tables were loose and looked unstable when meals and drinks are placed on top.
Vietnam Airlines A321 Business Class Cabin.
Vietnam Airlines A321 Business Class Cabin.
The Seat:
What I like about the seat, including the leg rest, reclined quite a lot, enough for a comfortable 3 hours journey. Seats are reclined manually using a mini handle. Since it is not electronically operated, you have to push your back to recline the seat and push the leg rest to extend it. Leg rest automatically pops out but when stowing it, you have to push it back physically.
Vietnam Airlines A321 Business Class Seat 2D & G.
Vietnam Airlines A321 Business Class Seat 2D & G.
Vietnam Airlines A321 Business Class Seat 4D & G.
Vietnam Airlines A321 Business Class Seat 3G.
Vietnam Airlines A321 Business Class Seat 3G Fully Reclined.
Vietnam Airlines A321 Business Class Seat 2D.
Vietnam Airlines A321 Business Class Seat 3D.
Vietnam Airlines A321 Business Class Entertainment System.
Vietnam Airlines A321 Business Class Seat Controller.
Vietnam Airlines A321 Business Class Seat Footrest.
Vietnam Airlines A321 Business Class Overhead Monitor.
Vietnam Airlines A321 Business Class Magazines.
Vietnam Airlines A321 Business Class Seats.
Vietnam Airlines A321 Business Class Seat 3D & G Fully Reclined.
In-Flight Meals:
In-flight meals are served once the aircraft reached desired altitude. Before take-off, the cabin crew will come to each passenger with a menu and take order. On this 3 hours flight, an appetizer followed by main dish were served. Meals were similar to my last two flights from London and from Hanoi and quite a number of beverage choices were available too.
Vietnam Airlines A321 Business Class Welcome Drink and Menu.
Menu and Beverage Lists:
Vietnam Airlines A321 Business Class Menu.
Vietnam Airlines A321 Business Class Dining.
Vietnam Airlines A321 Business Class Dining.
Vietnam Airlines A321 Business Class Dining.
In-Flight Entertainments:
Vietnam Airlines' Airbus A321s current have no seat-back IFEs installed in business class seats. Instead, a controller with only channel and volume option is integrated on the side of the armrest with a headphone socket. Less than 20 channels which contains different genre of music is available. Monitors are all attached overhead and showed A321's safety video, some advertisement and route map.
Business class passengers on international routes receive headsets which look more likely to the one in economy class with no noise cancelling features. Headsets also come with separate ear seal cover where you have to install it yourself.
Vietnam Airlines A321 Business Class Headset.
Vietnam Airlines A321 Business Class Headset.
Vietnam Airlines A321 Business Class Overhead Monitor.
Lavatory:
An old looking business class lavatory is located right behind the flight deck and is shared between passengers and crews. There are basic amenities such as hand lotion and soap in the lavatory. Tap water is activated by pressing down the top part and temperatures are controlled by rotating the head of the tap. Lavatory was kept clean all the time by the crew member and the passengers after using it.
Vietnam Airlines A321 Business Class Lavatory.
Summary:
Most of the time, I travel with wide-body aircrafts and economy class on narrow-bodies, and this was my third time trying out a "business class" on a narrow body. The seat may not be my favorite but I still love retro looking seat and its features. Though, having no personal IFE in the seat was one disadvantage compared to its SE Asian competitors and also headphones that were somewhat economy class type headphones.
Cabin services were excellent and went smooth throughout the flight since there were only few passengers. Business class cabin and economy cabin was separated with a dark teal colored curtain which provided great deal of privacy for seats on row 3 and 4. I have mentioned above in the seat section, but again, I do not know if seats are cleaned thoroughly or not but the fabrics on some seats had grey dirt stains and also on armrests and tray table. The cabin carpet was much more cleaner than the seat.😅
Hoping to try out more narrow-body business class cabin especially with Garuda Indonesia, Malaysian Airlines and much more soon!