Reviewing Gotogate, Qatar Airways, and Turkish Airlines
Hello everyone! Last month, family matters kept me under the radar for what felt like an eternity. But that unexpected trip back to Vietnam gave me some insights I want to share with those preparing to travel or book flights.
1. Gotogate for Booking Flights
When searching for flights on Skyscanner, selecting a flight will lead you to numerous third-party ticket sellers. You have two options: purchase tickets directly from the airline's website or through these intermediaries.
Recently, I booked my Oslo to Saigon flight with Qatar Airways and Saigon to Oslo with Turkish Airlines (reviewed below) through Gotogate. Besides Gotogate, there are other options like Vayama and Mytrip.
While I haven't used the others, I can share my experience with Gotogate. Both times, everything went smoothly. The service was clear, and their email follow-ups were sufficient without being spammy. Overall, a positive experience.
I noticed that Vayama offered competitive prices and had many reviews. However, some of the 1 and 2-star reviews were alarming. The 5-star reviews were short and generic, while the negative reviews were detailed and descriptive. This raised a red flag, so I decided to pass. This is just my personal impression since I haven't actually booked with them. Vayama does seem to offer the cheapest prices among third-party options.
When booking tickets, double-check crucial information like your name (especially middle names), date of birth, passport number, issue date, and expiration date. I've seen reviews where people entered incorrect information, which was difficult and time-consuming to correct. It's best to verify everything yourself before proceeding to avoid potential complications.
2. Qatar Airways Flight Experience
Many people have probably flown with Qatar Airways. However, for those traveling to Northern Europe, I find this airline convenient because the flight times are evenly split into segments of around 7-8 hours. This makes the journey less tiring compared to airlines like Thai Airways (2-hour flight to Bangkok followed by a 10+ hour flight) or Turkish Airlines (10+ hours to Istanbul followed by a shorter flight to Europe).
Doha Airport is undoubtedly grand, but be prepared for a potentially tiring experience. On my flight from Doha to Saigon, the gate was changed at the last minute. The electronic board displayed one gate, but I confirmed with the information desk, and it turned out to be a different one. So, don't completely rely on the electronic boards!
3. Turkish Airlines Features and Istanbul Airport
Turkish Airlines offers menus in Vietnamese on flights from Vietnam to Turkey, which is ideal for travelers who aren't fluent in English. I'll definitely consider this airline for my parents in the future to avoid any language barriers. Furthermore, Turkish Airlines has a wide network of routes, offering plenty of choices. At the airport, I noticed many tour groups from Vietnam transiting to Paris (instead of flying Air France directly).
Turkey's new Istanbul Airport can handle up to 90 million passengers, making it the third-largest airport in the world. In short, the airport is impressive.
After a long and tiring journey, passing through security feels like entering a different world. The shops and restaurants are brightly lit, with areas selling Turkish specialties decorated in a bazaar style, complete with shimmering displays—perfect for taking photos. However, the food and beverage prices are only listed in Turkish Lira, which can be inconvenient if you're unsure of the current exchange rate. I was traveling in a hurry and didn't have time to research, but if you have time, you can easily check the exchange rate.
The airport Wi-Fi is disappointing. You only get 7MB per session and need to provide your phone number to receive a code. During my 2-hour transit and 1.5-hour delay, I received almost 100 code messages! I couldn't connect to any other Wi-Fi networks.
Personally, I found Turkish Airlines' food better than Qatar Airways'. Their sour cherry drink is especially delicious and highly recommended. On my Qatar Airways flight, I wasn't in the best mood and ordered a glass of red wine to cheer myself up. It happened to be Ramadan, and the flight attendant gave me a disapproving look, and the wine wasn't great anyway.
That's all for now. I wish everyone a joyful and memorable upcoming European vacation!
(I'm not including flight prices because I booked very last minute, flying one-way, which isn't comparable to prices for regular tourists.)
```