A Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper journalist has ‘stalked’ a number of flight attendants carrying out broad-daylight transactions with dealers to sell the items they purchased abroad and brought into Vietnam as personal belongings.

>> An audio version of the story is available here

One afternoon in late April, while hiding in front of the flight attendant residence on Hong Ha Street, Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City, the Tuoi Tre journalist witnessed some unusual activity.

An air stewardess pulled two bulky suitcases to the entrance, where two women scurried toward her to pick them up.

One of the women gave the stewardess a bulging wad of banknotes before the two sides parted as quickly as they began their transaction.

During several ensuing days, the journalist saw more of the activity, which involved some flight attendants selling a wide array of items they put in their suitcases during international flights to dealers.

Flight attendants are generally allowed to bring a large suitcase in addition to hand luggage on international flights.

A number of these attendants spend their breaks between flights making purchases or buying items as ordered by traders, and stash them in their suitcases, according to the journalist.

Displayed for sale at local malls or trade centers, these items will fetch prices as high as articles made by famous brand names.

Many flight attendants also serve as hired carriers for local traders.

Bustling activity

At 3:25 pm on April 29, five dealers were waiting anxiously in front of the flight attendant residence on Hong Ha Street.

An air stewardess, who was still in her ao dai (traditional long gown) uniform, struggled to pull a hulking suitcase and a bulging black bag from the entrance ten minutes later.

One of the waiting men promptly took the loads onto his bike and headed for Phan Van Tri Street in Go Vap District, where he dropped his goods at a house.

At dawn, the ‘airborne goods market’ right in front of the flight attendant residence still teemed with activity.

What struck the Tuoi Tre journalist most was that the majority of the stewardesses were donning their ao dai uniform during the transactions.

As night fell, the market turned even more bustling under the cloak of darkness.

Most of the deals conducted then took place inside cafés and eateries near the residence.

A dealer is seen carrying a bag at the 'airborne goods market.' Photo: Tuoi Tre

A dealer is pictured carrying his new 'airborne goods' purchase to a café. Photo: Tuoi Tre

At 8:20 pm, two air hostesses in their uniform dragged with difficulty two bulky suitcases into an eatery across the street, where a woman and two young men were waiting.

The hostesses buckled open the suitcases, revealing foreign liquor bottles in one of them and boxed iPhones and cosmetics in the other.

The loads were then carried to a car parked in front of the eatery after a wad of notes was given to the hostesses.

The duo barely stepped out of the eatery when three other flight attendants, including one male, entered to briskly hand three bags to the woman.

Another swollen stack of notes was given as one more transaction ended satisfactorily.

A number of flight attendants adopt a less conspicuous option by having drivers of xe om (motorbike taxis) or their relatives transport their goods to dealers.

'Airborne goods' on their way to customers. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Where such ‘airborne goods’ go

Around 20 traders do business at the ‘airborne goods market’ in front of the flight attendant residence on Hong Ha Street each day.

Each of them hires two or three hands to tail the flight attendants, and distribute their items at local markets and shopping malls.

They tend to trade in different items, ranging from foreign liquor, cosmetics, clothes, digital devices, and jewelry, and thus rarely compete with one another.

Some dealers even have flight attendants buy gold and diamonds for them, the journalist found out.

L. and P., two traders who are husband and wife, are often able to obtain the majority of what flight attendants purchase as they are not reluctant to pay them in advance.

Bound for Vietnam, flights departing from European countries are generally ‘weighed down’ with brand fashion items, cosmetics, jewelry, and medicine.

Flights from Asian countries, such as Singapore, Japan, and South Korea, are usually havens for digital devices including iPhones, iPads, cameras, and watches.         

H., the owner of a cellphone shop on Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street in Ho Chi Minh City, told the Tuoi Tre journalist that until some months ago, he bought iPhones that were sourced overseas and brought into the country as carry-on baggage at dirt-cheap prices from an air steward.

The supply has been disrupted recently as the steward already quit his job.

Ben Thanh Market, one of the city’s icons, which is usually frequented by foreign tourists, is among the largest places for ‘airborne goods,’ particularly cosmetics, to be traded.

Many traders choose to hoard piles of items in their own homes, before distributing them in the southern provinces of Binh Duong and Dong Nai and those in the Mekong Delta.

Goods brought into Vietnam as personal belongings, which fetch prices as high as official imports on sale at malls, markets and bars, are in good demand because many consumers believe that they are truly foreign brand articles.

The articles are rampantly advertised online with prices being only around two-thirds of those of the legal imports.         

Not a few aviation staff members have their relatives run such online shops.

Le Tuan Binh, deputy head of the Tan Son Nhat Airport Customs Office, confirmed to Tuoi Tre that crew members on international flights are always the priority targets of customs officers.

However, these ‘airborne goods’ and ‘hand luggage’ still make their way to Vietnam via many routes, he admitted.

One of the routes is that flight attendants have ground service staff carry their goods to domestic warehouses before selling them to dealers, which renders customs officers in no position to check them.

Another ‘tactic’ involves flight attendants making use of the casual inspection of the luggage of passengers and crew members on international flights that make transit at one domestic airport before coming to the final destination to get their ‘personal belongings’ through.

Binh noted his office will tighten inspections of crew members in an effort to stall the inflow of such items in the time to come.

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