Be careful when buying Tet flight tickets online

Although there are still more than 4 months to go until the Lunar New Year, many people are already busy hunting for tickets to return home or go on vacation. Along with the increased demand, risks have also begun to appear from rapidly increasing ticket prices, fake tickets, to "virtual seat reservation" tricks.

Passengers check in at Da Nang International Airport. Photo: THANH LAN

Ticket prices are still high

Since the end of September, at ticket offices and airline ticket websites, the phrase "Tet 2026 tickets" has become a hot keyword.

Ms. Tran Thi Hoa, a passenger working in Da Nang who wanted to go to Ho Chi Minh City to celebrate Tet, shared her difficulties: "After hearing that airlines were selling Tet tickets, I immediately went online to book tickets, but it took me many times to buy the tickets as planned."

Similarly, Mr. Ho Si Luan, who plans to return to Hanoi for Tet, said that this year, airlines opened ticket sales early, but prices did not decrease. Even on some "hot" routes, ticket prices remained high, even increasing compared to last year.

Actual surveys on online ticket sales sites and at airline ticket sales locations in the area show that ticket prices for Tet have been high since the first sale. Compared to Tet 2025, ticket prices this year are higher than the same period last year. Notably, after a week of ticket sales, prices for many routes have doubled.

Passengers arriving in Da Nang by air. Photo: THANH LAN

Ms. Le Thi Hao, a person who specializes in hunting for cheap tickets to resell for profit, said that initially, Vietjet opened ticket sales for the Hanoi - Ho Chi Minh City route at 890,000 - 1.2 million VND (excluding taxes and fees). After taxes and fees, customers had to pay 1.5 - 1.8 million VND/ticket. But just one week later, the ticket price doubled to 1.7 - 1.8 million VND (excluding taxes and fees), and by December 25, the price jumped to 2.3 - 2.8 million VND, after taxes and fees it became 3.3 - 3.7 million VND/ticket...

It is known that in the first sale, nearly 6 million Tet flight tickets were released to the market by Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet.

Specifically, Vietnam Airlines Group (including Vietnam Airlines, Pacific Airlines and VASCO) officially opened early ticket sales for Lunar New Year 2026. The peak period lasts from February 2 to March 3, 2026 (ie from December 15 to January 15 of the lunar calendar), with a total of more than 3.5 million seats sold across the entire domestic and international flight network, an increase of nearly 20% over the same period last year.

Meanwhile, Vietjet Air also opened early sales of 2.5 million tickets, flying from February 3, 2026 - March 2, 2026, i.e. December 16, year of the Dragon, to January 13, year of the Horse.

Be careful when buying tickets online

Along with the early sale of Tet tickets, airlines also advise buyers to be cautious when booking tickets online. Because fraud and impersonation of airline agents often occur during this time.

Tet is the time when demand for air travel increases dramatically. Photo: THANH LAN

According to Mr. Nguyen Hoang Phong, communications officer of VietJet Air, people should only book tickets on the airline's official website or licensed agents. Currently, many pages are counterfeiting the airline's logo and interface very sophisticatedly, making it difficult for customers to distinguish. Some people even set up groups of "collaborators hunting for cheap tickets", using the trick of "reserving seats for others" and then stealing money.

To avoid buying fake tickets or tickets with inflated prices during the peak season of the Lunar New Year, when buying tickets, customers need to ask the seller to provide an invoice according to regulations, and especially pay attention to accessing the correct official address of the airline or contacting the hotline directly if they need answers or direct support related to booking and buying tickets.

A typical case related to the scam: Ms. Do Thi Hoang Mai, a resident of Ngu Hanh Son ward, said that this year she wanted to go to Ho Chi Minh City for Tet but because it was difficult to book tickets directly from the airlines' programs, while seeing many advertisements for cheap airline tickets on Facebook, she decided to book through the website advertised online. As soon as she finished booking, she received a message from a personal zalo account, asking her to transfer money to keep the ticket. However, after transferring more than 2 million VND, this person cut off contact and blocked her phone number.

Meanwhile, Vietnam Airlines Group said that the modus operandi of the subjects was to impersonate the airline's level 1 agent. When customers completed the procedures to buy airline tickets, they would receive a booking code along with a request to pay immediately to avoid cancellation. After receiving the money, the subjects did not issue tickets and cut off contact.

Some other subjects will send emails or text messages informing customers that they have “won a prize” or “received a discount on airline tickets” with an attached link. When customers access the link and provide information, the scammers will steal credit card information, bank account information or request payment.

In addition to the above method, many scammers, after receiving money from customers, still issue tickets but then refund the tickets (paying a refund fee) and taking most of the money the buyer paid.

Therefore, passengers need to be careful when booking tickets online. Along with that, the time to book tickets for Tet is considered very important.

According to the experience of many travelers, customers should buy Tet flight tickets 1-3 months in advance. This is also considered a safe time and easy to get cheap tickets. Buyers should also avoid peak flight days during Tet to get cheaper tickets.

In addition, you can consider flying at night because the ticket price will be much cheaper than the daytime flight time. At the same time, book a round-trip ticket to make sure your ticket price is stable. In particular, you should choose flight classes that can be changed/returned/refunded so that you can be proactive and flexible if the schedule changes.

Ms. Pham Thi Quynh, an airline ticket agent, recommends that in addition to buying tickets from airlines, reputable agents and ticket offices are also a very beneficial sales channel for passengers. If buying tickets from an agent, customers will receive advice and support from staff from price updates, ticket issuance until going to the airport. This is very convenient if the buyer does not have much experience flying, especially during the peak period of Tet when unexpected problems can easily occur...

Source: https://baodanang.vn/can-trong-khi-mua-ve-may-bay-tet-qua-mang-3306169.html