Connecting flight vs direct flight to Vietnam (Phu Quoc) — which is better?

For VietJet flights from Krasnoyarsk, bring water and dry snacks, especially when travelling with children: reports indicate one meal and limited water are provided onboard. Opinions on the food differ—outbound catering from Krasnoyarsk is considered decent, while the return meal is rated much worse; additional water can be requested from the crew.

Even a 5-hour layover buffer isn't always enough: one traveler missed their connection in Istanbul specifically because of a baggage claim delay, not a flight delay itself.

Direct charter flights aren't immune to major delays either: last year a VietJet flight from Krasnoyarsk was delayed by almost two days, sparking a serious confrontation between passengers and the airline representative. Such extreme cases are rare though — typical delays run 1-2 hours.

Weather delays out of Moscow can snowball for connections: if the crew runs out of duty hours, Aeroflot may swap in a reserve crew while the connecting carrier's crew (e.g. via Hong Kong) goes off to rest for 8 hours, extending the delay of the Phu Quoc leg.

Given the risk of weather-related delays at Moscow airports, build in at least a 3-4 hour buffer between connecting flights on the way back; as a fallback if you miss a connection, cheap same-day Ho Chi Minh City — Phu Quoc flights are available.

One traveler describes a connection via China (7-hour layover) combined with a 10-hour drive to Moscow (due to a closed home airport) as exhausting — ended up sleeping wherever possible in Chengdu. Tip: if you land at night and check-in isn't available yet, you can sleep in the hotel lobby.

If you're on a layover without collecting baggage, only the destination country's entry/visa rules matter — the transit itself isn't an issue.

For a 10-day trip, a connecting flight isn't worth the savings: you go through check-in, baggage claim and queues twice — both ways.

A single long direct flight (~10 hours) is easier to handle than expected, especially if you've already done 15-hour flights before.

Connecting flights via Moscow airports carry delay risk — even scheduled flights can be delayed there.