Noel Philips Takes the Cheapest Flights from Delhi — Bhutan Airlines, Biman & More Reviewed

What happens when you book the cheapest available flight, then repeat the exercise from wherever you land? For Noel Philips, the answer was a four-leg odyssey departing Delhi International Airport and threading through Bhutan Airlines, Biman Bangladesh, US-Bangla Airlines, and Viet Travel Airlines before arriving in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The video, published on 12 April 2026, is titled "I Took the Cheapest Flights in a Row from INDIA (Big Mistake)" — a self-aware headline that signals the journey did not unfold without friction.

The Format and the Starting Point

The cheapest-flights-in-a-row format is well-trodden territory for Philips. His 2020 low-fare challenge — which began in Europe and ended improbably in Nepal — established the template, and this India edition follows the same logic: price determines destination, not the other way around. The departure point, Delhi International Airport, has featured in Philips's archive before, most recently in a 2019 round-the-world sprint, though Josh Cahill reviewed the same hub just a year prior to this video and found it a considerably less pleasant experience, describing his ground encounter there as "an absolute disaster." Philips's own tip to viewers — take it steady at Indian airport security, as rushing leads to mistakes — suggests the terminal's reputation for chaos remains intact.

This video marks the first time Philips has covered Bhutan Airlines, Biman Bangladesh, US-Bangla Airlines, and Viet Travel Airlines on his channel, making it a rare quadruple debut across a single journey.

In the Air: Surprises and Shortcomings

The first leg, operated by Bhutan Airlines, produced the video's most unexpected highlight. On what Philips describes as a one-hour flight, the carrier attempted a full hot meal service — a level of catering ambition that sits well above the norm for ultra-short sectors. The seat, meanwhile, delivered adequately on legroom, defying the low expectations that typically accompany budget regional flying in South Asia. Both findings represent genuine positives for an airline that has attracted little international coverage.

This is just the inside wall, but it's not in the best nick.

The remark above — delivered with characteristic understatement — captures the broader aesthetic reality of budget aviation in this part of the world. The overall verdict across the four carriers is consistent: catering and legroom held up reasonably well, but the airport experiences surrounding the flights were chaotic. Philips's observation that Kathmandu Airport operates a queuing system that is "more of a suggestion than anything" is a precise encapsulation of the ground-side disorder that recurs throughout the journey.

The Biman Bangladesh leg offered one notable procedural positive: the visa process into Dhaka, Bangladesh was described as straightforward — a meaningful data point for travellers who may have assumed otherwise. Biman's wider reputation, documented in Philips's own 2020 review of the airline, was broadly positive on catering and service; this latest encounter appears to maintain that baseline, at least on the ground-entry side.

US-Bangla Airlines, the third carrier in the chain, has attracted sharply negative coverage from Josh Cahill approximately two years before this video, with Cahill concluding he "would never take this flight again" after criticising both catering and legroom. Philips's mixed verdict — problems on the airport side, serviceable product in the air — suggests the airline may perform differently depending on the route and day, though the overall picture remains one of inconsistency.

The final leg on Viet Travel Airlines delivered Philips to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, a destination he has visited before — most recently in 2022, when he reviewed both Vietnam Airlines and Pacific Airlines on separate trips. Viet Travel Airlines itself, however, is a first for the channel, and no comparable recent coverage from other creators exists to benchmark it against.

Verdict: A Useful Document of Budget Aviation's Realities

The title's self-deprecating "Big Mistake" framing is only partially earned. The in-flight product across the four carriers — Bhutan Airlines, Biman Bangladesh, US-Bangla Airlines, and Viet Travel Airlines — was mixed rather than disastrous: catering and legroom held up, and the Bangladesh visa process was smoother than feared. The genuine difficulty lay in the airports themselves, where queuing systems, check-in procedures, and general organisation tested Philips's patience at multiple points.

I was confused about how the taxi took 20 minutes to get to the hotel when it was right outside my window.

That moment of logistical bafflement — a taxi journey that should have taken seconds consuming twenty minutes — is the kind of granular, ground-level detail that distinguishes Philips's format from a simple airline review. The journey is as much about the friction between flights as it is about the flights themselves. For travellers considering any of these four carriers, the practical takeaway is clear: manage airport expectations carefully, but do not write off the in-flight experience before boarding.

As a document of what budget aviation looks like across South and Southeast Asia in 2026 — from Delhi International Airport to Ho Chi Minh City via Bhutan Airlines, Biman Bangladesh, US-Bangla Airlines, and Viet Travel Airlines — the video is a worthwhile addition to Philips's growing archive of low-fare challenges. The format works precisely because the chaos is real, the surprises are genuine, and the verdict is never predetermined.