Struggling to return to Ho Chi Minh City because of sky-high airfare, more than a month's salary

Without having booked return tickets in advance, or due to the high cost of airfare, many families and workers returning home for Tet in the central and northern provinces are still considering when to return to Ho Chi Minh City for work.

Overcrowding, high airfare, and other travel costs are making many workers hesitant to return to Ho Chi Minh City for work as scheduled - Illustration photo: TRIEU VAN

The ticket prices are exorbitant, and you have to travel nearly 250km to reach the airport.

Dang Khoa (31 years old, from Quang Tri province) shared that because he hadn't yet decided on a return date to Ho Chi Minh City, he only started looking to book tickets on the evening of January 30th (the second day of Tet). After deciding to fly on the ninth day of the first lunar month, he searched extensively but couldn't find any tickets for the route from Phu Bai Airport in Hue to Ho Chi Minh City.

To make the return trip, the whole family had to travel by bus from their hometown to Da Nang , a distance of nearly 250km. Each ticket for the cheapest flight Khoa chose cost over 4 million VND. The entire family of three spent over 12 million VND on airfare for the return journey.

"Even buying tickets a week in advance, the prices are still like this; buying them closer to the date will probably be even higher. The worst part is having to travel so far, and taking a bus during Tet is like torture," Khoa confided.

It wasn't until the evening of the 29th of Tet that he finally decided on his return date to Ho Chi Minh City (the 7th day of the first lunar month). Knowing that tickets were very scarce, Mr. Bac (from Hanoi ) hurriedly searched for and booked a ticket.

Mr. Bac shared: "My family of five was shocked when we saw the ticket prices. The cheapest ticket, for a single flight, cost over 5 million VND per person, and the flight times were very inconvenient. The other 2-3 flights cost around 8 million VND or more."

Many people are afraid to return to Ho Chi Minh City to work as scheduled, which is from the 6th day of the first lunar month - Photo: TRIEU VAN

Take your time doing it online to avoid traffic jams and sky-high ticket prices.

Thúy Nhi (from Quảng Bình province), currently working in marketing content development in Ho Chi Minh City, said she wouldn't decide to return to the city for work until after January 15th because the airfare was too high (over 8 million VND per ticket).

Last year, Thuy Nhi and two others drove back to Ho Chi Minh City by car. However, due to constant traffic congestion, their plans were delayed by almost a day. By arriving at work a week later than the company's schedule, Thuy Nhi saved nearly 5 million VND, approximately two-thirds of her monthly salary.

Despite arriving late for work, Thúy Nhi still had to ensure her work schedule was met. "Aside from not using fingerprint time clocking, which my boss approved, I just did the rest of my work remotely, attending online meetings and discussing things through group chats," Thúy Nhi said.

As a content creator, Thanh Nam (from Quang Ngai province) decided to take a Tet holiday break until after the 10th day of the first lunar month before returning to Ho Chi Minh City for work. While saying he'd be on holiday until the 10th sounds fancy and luxurious, in reality, Nam had to start working on his computer from the 4th day of Tet. He just changed his workspace to working at home instead of at the office.

To convince his boss, Nam set a higher KPI for himself than everyone else. "In my company, we calculate performance based on products, and KPIs are measured by views, so I'll just register for a KPI about 20% higher than everyone else, in exchange for working remotely. Whether I work far away or near, or even if I come to the office, it's not that important," Nam said.

By February 5th (the 8th day of the first lunar month), Trung Duc (28 years old) also said that he was only planning to return to Ho Chi Minh City for work, and the exact date and time depended largely on when he could buy a cheap ticket.

"What about work in the city?", we asked.

"My monthly salary as a sales employee isn't even enough to buy a one-way ticket, with prices currently over 6 million VND per ticket. Many colleagues at the company are like me; if they didn't make a profit at the beginning of the year, they'll make up for it later," Duc said.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/chat-vat-quay-lai-tp-hcm-vi-gia-ve-may-bay-tren-troi-hon-ca-thang-luong-20250205084939958.htm