The departure lounge is where chaos meets capitalism. You’ll find everything from luxury handbag shops to a booth selling dried snake and bird’s nest soup. The Wi-Fi is free, but it has the speed of a dial-up modem from 1998. You’ll spend 20 minutes trying to load a cat video, then give up and watch the drama unfold around you.
Watch for the “priority boarding” scrum. Airlines call for “passengers with young children or special needs,” and suddenly every able-bodied businessman with a backpack sprints past them. It’s a beautiful display of natural selection—or just very aggressive tourism. The staff yell into a crackling microphone, but nobody understands them. It’s a universal airport language.
Ho Chi Minh City Airport - Priority Pick-up and See-off Service at Tan
