VietNamNet Bridge – National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines (VNA) said on June 23 its flight on June 21 took off later than schedule due to technical problems and that the delay had nothing to do with a privileged passenger as rumored.

A Vietnam Airlines plane is seen at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi. VNA has denied a rumor that it had to delay a flight to wait for a passenger holding a diamond membership card.

VNA made the statement on June 23 after some news reports said its June 21 flight from Hanoi to HCMC was delayed for 40 minutes as it waited for a passenger holding a diamond membership card.

The airline said flight VN277 was scheduled to depart from Noi Bai International Airport at 9:30 p.m. but then took off 20 minutes later at 9:50 p.m.

It was because another flight, VN261, set to depart at 7:30 p.m. the same day, did not take off due to technical problems and passengers had to move to flight VN277 and another flight at 9:55 p.m.

At 9 p.m., the airline informed passengers at the waiting lounge of the delay of flight VN277 and apologized for the inconvenience.

The list of passengers who moved from VN261 to VN277 by Russian captain Alexander Soroka and Vietnamese copilot Pham Cong Dung did not have the name of the man holding the diamond membership card as rumored.

Recently, unconfirmed information posted in some local media said flight VN277 did not take off at 9:30 p.m. as scheduled and the air carrier did not apologize for that until 10:15 p.m. when the plane taxied to the runway.

The rumor said the airline explained the lateness as it had to wait for a passenger holding the diamond membership card, who bought a ticket for flight VN271, scheduled to depart at 10 p.m. that day but could not make it as flight VN271 was delayed until 11:30 p.m. because of technical problems.

VNA had to prioritize its privileged passenger and decided to delay flight VN277 to wait for him so that the man could take an earlier flight, according to the rumor.    

SGT/VNN