Day 19: Bangkok - Flight Delays and baggage chaos...

“I get pretty much all the exercise I need walking down airport concourses carrying bags.” – Guy Clark 

(Heavy rain and thunderstorm at Ho Chi Minh Airport)

Date: 01 October 2026, Thursday
Flight: Da Lat – Ho Chi Minh City – Bangkok
Hotel: Nasa Hotel, Bangkok

We had our final breakfast at Hotel Du Lys in Da Lat this morning. Today, we were flying back to Bangkok via Ho Chi Minh City, hoping that everything would go smoothly and there would be no delays.

Since there is no halal food available inside Lien Khuong International Airport, we decided to get our lunch before heading to the airport. We walked to Sarah Halal Food Restaurant and bought takeaway seafood nasi goreng for later. It was a pleasant morning walk. Da Lat's refreshing, crisp highland climate, with its cool temperatures throughout the year, has certainly been a welcome escape from Vietnam's usual tropical heat.

We took a Grab Car to the airport. Grab is generally reliable and convenient for getting around Da Lat, although it can become more difficult to get a car during bad weather. We decided to leave early and arrive at Lien Khuong International Airport well ahead of our flight, just in case.

Lien Khuong International Airport is the main gateway serving Da Lat and Vietnam's Central Highlands. The airport had recently reopened after a five-month closure for major infrastructure upgrades. Our online check-in had unfortunately been unsuccessful, so we had to check in at the counter.

Since we were early and the check-in counters were not yet open, we settled down with our takeaway seafood nasi goreng for an early lunch. We completed our meal with iced salted coffee - one of Da Lat's popular coffee specialties. It is made with strong phin-filtered Robusta coffee, sweetened condensed milk, ice and a rich topping of lightly whipped salted cream. The combination was surprisingly satisfying.

When the check-in counter finally opened, getting our boarding passes took much longer than usual. The Vietnam Airlines staff wanted to see proof of our onward journey out of Thailand to Malaysia. When we explained that we were driving our own car back to Malaysia from Thailand, they seemed somewhat confused.

We showed them our Thailand Customs Form, our Nasa Bangkok Hotel confirmation and the QR code for our Thailand Digital Arrival Card. Eventually, our boarding passes were issued, but we were also required to sign a Waiver Declaration confirming that Vietnam Airlines had carried out their due diligence.

At last, we boarded our VN7383 flight from Da Lat to Ho Chi Minh City. The short fifty-minute flight was uneventful.

Upon arrival, we went through security and then walked for about ten minutes to the international terminal. The transfer between the domestic and international terminals can be a little confusing, especially for passengers unfamiliar with the airport.

Immigration and security checks were thankfully swift. We still had a few million Vietnamese dong with us, so before leaving Vietnam, I decided to spend it at the duty-free shop and bought an Estée Lauder perfume. It may be considered an old-school or heritage beauty brand today, but it remains one of my favourites.

Then came the unexpected part of our journey. That evening, heavy thunderstorms, lightning and torrential rain affected central Ho Chi Minh City and Tan Son Nhat International Airport. The severe weather caused multiple incoming flights to circle, while some were diverted to Can Tho Airport and Cam Ranh Airport in Khanh Hoa Province. Looking at the situation, we had a feeling that we were going to be late getting back to Bangkok.

Vietnamese airports are rather quiet compared with many other airports. Routine public announcements for boarding, gate changes, delays and final calls are limited, so passengers need to keep an eye on the flight information screens. While waiting in the departure lounge, we began receiving email notifications about our flight delay.

Our Vietnam Airlines flight VN609 from Ho Chi Minh City to Bangkok was eventually delayed by about two hours, departing at 8:30 pm instead of the scheduled 6:25 pm. It was expected to arrive at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport at around 10:05 pm.

With reports of a baggage backlog at Suvarnabhumi, we were particularly concerned about our checked luggage. Since we needed to catch the Airport Rail Link before midnight to reach our hotel, we even made a mental plan to collect our luggage the following day if it failed to arrive that night.

At Tan Son Nhat, we noticed that Vietnam Airlines was using remote parking stands and shuttle buses rather than aerobridges. Fortunately, by the time we boarded the shuttle bus, the rain had stopped. We were finally on our way to Bangkok.

Flying high over Cambodia, we enjoyed our halal samosas for dinner. We had requested Muslim meals when we booked our flights. Although Vietnam Airlines' Malaysia-route meals are halal-certified, on the Bangkok route Muslim meals are provided through the pre-order MOML system. Muslim meals are usually served first, which is always helpful when travelling.

When we finally landed at Suvarnabhumi International Airport, we were prepared for another wait. We had heard about the huge baggage backlog at the airport following the flooding and operational problems earlier in the week. With thousands of bags reportedly affected, we were worried that ours might be among them.

Thankfully, Vietnam Airlines uses a different baggage-handling arrangement, and to our surprise, our luggage was already waiting for us at the carousel. What a great relief!

We made the approximately twenty-minute journey from Suvarnabhumi Airport to Ramkhamhaeng Airport Rail Link Station and returned to Nasa Bangkok Hotel.

After checking in, the first thing we did was inspect our Hi-Lux in the hotel parking lot. We were so relieved to see that it had remained safe and untouched by the recent flooding in Bangkok.

By then, we were completely exhausted. There was still more to inspect and organise, but that could wait until tomorrow. Tonight, after a long day of airports, delays, rain, luggage worries and a late-night journey back to Bangkok, all we wanted was a good night's rest.

Sometimes, the end of a journey is not marked by arriving somewhere new, but simply by finally being able to rest.