BOOK EARLY!
For some tours it is imperative you book your airline as soon as possible. We have had travelers have to cancel their trip because they were unable to obtain seating. Confirmed seating becomes harder to find the closer to your inbound and even outbound departure, especially during early and late December, and the Lunar new year holiday period. You should confirm your seating at least three months before departure, and even sooner than that for preferred flights such as weekend travel. Pricing for the winter season is usually available by June or July. Please carefully consider your return date. If you are still undecided about going to Angkor Wat after Vietnam, changing your schedule close to your return date may not be feasible.

CATHAY PACIFIC AIRLINES OPTION
VeloAsia can obtain discounted ticketing through Cathay Pacific Airlines. Others carriers that travel to Vietnam which you may want to consider are EVA, Singapore, China, and Thai Airways but you must do the shopping yourself. We do not receive any special promotion or incentive for using Cathay Pacific - these other carriers offer competitive quality and pricing, but we prefer Cathay because they operate the most direct routing to Vietnam and offer the added bonus of an optional stopover (half day or overnight) in Hong Kong. You may consider EVA for business class as their upgrade charge is comparatively low - only $99. A side note: over three-quarters of our travelers end up flying Cathay Pacific.

FREQUENT FLYER OPTIONS
Cathay is a member of the One World travel alliance which partners with and may enable you to use your American Airlines miles. Please note that currently those miles may only get you into Hong Kong. You must purchase an expensive second ticket to fly from Hong Kong into Hanoi. From bangkok, the airfare is approximately half of that fare, but entails longer flight time. Singapore and Thai Airlines are partners in the Star Alliance of which United Airlines and Air Canada are members.

ROUTING TO AND FROM ASIA
There are three main hubs to Asia from North America: Los Angeles, Seattle/Vancouver and San Francisco. Cathay Pacific flys from SF or LA and has identical scheduling for either city similar to the one listed below. You will fly into Hanoi and leave from Saigon after the tour is over. On the flight over you will have one day in transit and lose another calendar day crossing the dateline. You will arrive in the USA from Saigon the same day you depart as you travel back across the dateline.

LAYOVER IN HONG KONG?
Lucky you -- Hong Kong is a wonderful, compact city and small enough that you can cover a lot of ground in only a few hours. Please see our Hong Kong information page for more details.

TYPICAL CATHAY PACIFIC ITINERARY:
LAX to Hanoi (with half-day in Hong Kong) with return from Saigon. note that there are also direct flights with no layover in Hong Kong four days a week (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday - see chart below).

TYPICAL JAPAN AIRLINES ITINERARY

	Flight:	Japan Airlines flight 61 on a Boeing 747 Jet - non-stop
	Depart:	Los Angeles, CA (LAX) - Thu, Jul 25 at 1:00pm
	Arrive:	Tokyo, Japan Narita (NRT) - Fri, Jul 26 at 4:20pm
	Meals:	Meal Served
	Flight:	Japan Airlines flight 751 on a Boeing 767 Jet - non-stop
	Depart:	Tokyo, Japan Narita (NRT) - Fri, Jul 26 at 6:00pm
	Arrive:	Hanoi, Vietnam (HAN) - Fri, Jul 26 at 9:20pm
	Meals:	Meal details not available