I live between three countries. My base is Da Nang in Vietnam, my family is in India, and I run to Thailand often enough that the airports feel routine. Add a visa run every 3 months, usually a cheap hop to Kuala Lumpur or Bangkok, and I am on these planes more than most people are on their own sofa. After enough flights to lose count, I have very settled opinions about who to trust with a travel day and who to skip. Here are the 3 airlines I actually fly, and the 2 I have learned to avoid.
One thing up front, because it shapes all of this. I live lean, so price matters to me a lot. What enough missed connections taught me is that reliability is part of the price. A cheap ticket that gets delayed on the day your visa runs out is the most expensive ticket you can buy.
IndiGo: my default for anything touching India
IndiGo is the one I book without thinking the moment a trip involves India. It now carries about 66% of India's domestic market, it flies a fleet of more than 440 aircraft, and it runs almost entirely on one Airbus family, which is a quiet reason it stays so consistent. On punctuality it leads the country, with close to 89% of its flights leaving on time. On safety it is registered with IOSA, the industry audit that actually matters, and it has a clean record for fatal accidents over the last 10 years, though it did slip off AirlineRatings' safest budget carriers list in 2026 after making it in 2025.
It is not a luxurious experience, and it does not pretend to be. There is no free meal, the legroom is tight, and they charge you for the good seats and the extra bag. None of that bothers me, because what I want from an India flight is simple. I want it to leave when it says it will and get me there without drama, and IndiGo does that more reliably than anyone else on the same routes. My usual run is Bangkok to Mumbai, where I pay about $150, and across the year it swings between $130 and $180.
Vietnam Airlines: the one I happily pay more for
Vietnam Airlines is the airline I choose when I want the flight to be easy, and its numbers back that up. It is the country's full service flag carrier and a SkyTeam member, it holds a 4 star Skytrax rating, and on safety it carries a perfect 7 out of 7 from AirlineRatings. For 2026 it was ranked the 19th safest airline in the world and named one of the 25 safest full service airlines anywhere. That is the company it keeps, and it is why I trust it with the flights I cannot afford to have go wrong.
The base fare already includes a 23kg checked bag, a meal, and a seat you actually get to pick, and it is the most punctual airline in Vietnam. On the longer routes you get newer wide body planes that feel like a proper airline. Ho Chi Minh City to Mumbai is my flight of choice, and the meal is genuinely nice, which is not a sentence I get to write about many airlines. It costs more than the budget option, and I pay it on purpose. When a delay would cost me a connection or a day I cannot get back, I do not gamble on the cheapest seat.
AirAsia: my cheap way around Southeast Asia
AirAsia is what I reach for whenever I am hopping around the region. It is the biggest budget airline in Southeast Asia, with huge hubs in Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok and a route map that reaches almost everywhere I need. Skytrax has named it the best budget airline in the world for 17 years in a row, including 2026, and it is IOSA registered and rated among the safest budget carriers going, so you are getting a genuinely good operation for the price. For my visa runs, which cost me around $300 every 3 months, and for any quick hop between countries, it is almost always the cheapest way through.
It is a proper budget airline, so you pay for everything separately. The bag, the seat, the food, all of it is extra, and the cabin bag limit is a strict 7kg. The trick is to book it for exactly what it is good at, which is a short hop where you travel light. Load it up with extras and the price stops being special. Keep it lean and it is unbeatable value. I wrote about the whole visa run routine in my Vietnam visa guide.
One cheeky trick for the baggage scales
Since we are talking about budget airlines and their weigh everything baggage rules, here is a trick that has quietly saved me twice. If you think you are about to get charged for a slightly heavy cabin bag, arrive at the gate as late as you sensibly can. When the staff are rushing to close the flight, one borderline bag stops being worth the argument, and both times they simply waved me through. It is a small gamble, so I would never try it on a flight I could not afford to miss. On a cheap hop where I am relaxed about timing, it has worked more than once.
VietJet: cheap and safe, with a long list of catches
Now the 2 I am careful with, starting with the one everyone asks about. Let me be fair to VietJet first, because it earns it on the thing that matters most. On safety it holds a perfect 7 out of 7 from AirlineRatings, a rating it has kept since 2018, sitting alongside names like easyJet and Southwest. The planes are fine. If you are genuinely flexible with your timing and you are traveling light, VietJet is a perfectly reasonable way to save money, and plenty of my friends fly it happily.
The catch is everything around the flight. Delays and cancellations are common, and the base fare includes almost nothing. No checked bag, no cabin bag over 7kg, no seat selection, no meal, and no changes. They charge for nearly everything, down to about 50,000 dong, roughly $2, just to print your boarding pass at the counter, and the baggage rules are enforced by weighing everything and charging inconsistently. Add back the things a normal person actually needs and the real price climbs right up to Vietnam Airlines, sometimes past it. I skip it mostly because my schedule runs on visa deadlines and connections, and I cannot absorb a delay the way a relaxed traveler can. If your days are flexible and your bag is small, your maths may land differently, and that is fair.
Air India: improving, and still inconsistent
The other one I avoid is Air India, and this is more of a disappointment than a warning. It has slipped to about 24% of the domestic market as it cut back flights, and it runs less punctually than IndiGo, closer to 86% on time across the group. Since the Tata takeover it is genuinely trying, refurbishing old cabins and tightening up operations, and some of my flights on it have been perfectly fine.
The problem is that I never know which version I am getting. One flight is smooth and modern, the next has a broken seat or a dead screen and a long delay that nobody explains. For most travelers that inconsistency is annoying. For a life where a delay can cost a visa stamp or a missed connection, it is a risk I do not need, so I take IndiGo over Air India every single time the route gives me the choice.
How I actually decide
The rule I run in my head is short. If the trip touches India, I book IndiGo. If it is inside Vietnam or anywhere I cannot afford a delay, I book Vietnam Airlines. If it is a cheap hop or a visa run and I am traveling light, I book AirAsia. VietJet is fine when my schedule is loose and my bag is small, and Air India only gets my money when nothing else flies the route.
The deeper lesson took me a while to accept, because my instinct is to pick the cheapest of everything. On a life spread across three countries, the fare is only one part of what a flight costs. The other part is whether it actually shows up on time, and the day a delayed budget flight makes you miss a visa deadline, you learn that reliability was worth paying for all along. If you want the wider picture of how I built this life across borders, I laid it out in retiring in Southeast Asia as an Indian.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is VietJet safe to fly?
Yes. VietJet holds a perfect 7 out of 7 safety rating from AirlineRatings and has kept it since 2018, which puts it among the safest budget airlines in the world alongside names like easyJet and Southwest. The real complaints about VietJet are delays, cancellations, and fees for almost everything, not the safety of the aircraft. If you are flexible on timing and traveling light, it is a reasonable way to save money.
Which is better, IndiGo or Air India?
For reliability, IndiGo. It carries about 66% of India's domestic market, runs close to 89% of its flights on time, and flies one modern Airbus family, which keeps it consistent. Air India has slipped to about 24% of the market and runs closer to 86% on time. It is genuinely improving since the Tata takeover, but it is still inconsistent, so I book IndiGo whenever the route gives me the choice.
What is the cheapest way to fly around Southeast Asia?
AirAsia. It is the biggest budget airline in the region, with hubs in Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok and a route map that reaches almost everywhere, and Skytrax has named it the best budget airline in the world for 17 years running. The trick is to travel light, because the cheap base fare assumes no checked bag, no chosen seat, and no meal. Add those back and the price stops being special.
Is Vietnam Airlines worth paying more for?
If reliability matters on that particular trip, yes. The base fare already includes a 23kg checked bag, a meal, and a seat you pick, it is the most punctual airline in Vietnam, and it carries a perfect 7 out of 7 safety rating while ranking as the 19th safest airline in the world for 2026. I pay the premium on any flight where a delay would cost me a connection or a day I cannot get back.
This is a personal account of my own experience flying these airlines across India, Vietnam, and Thailand, and it is not travel or safety advice. Routes, fares, fees, and ratings change, so check the current details before you book.