Australian tourist reunited with $1,500 thanks to cleaner at Vietnam's Phu Quoc Airport

By Ngoc Tai, Duong Dong October 14, 2025 | 08:37 pm PT

Representatives of the Phu Quoc International Airport returns a lost bag to an Australian tourist (2nd, L). Photo by VnExpress/Duong Dong

A cleaner at Phu Quoc International Airport in southern Vietnam has found and returned a handbag containing more than AU$2,300 (US$1,500) left behind by an Australian passenger.

Nguyen Minh Dong, director of Phu Quoc International Airport, said on Oct. 14 that the female Australian traveler had forgotten her black handbag on a Vietnam Airlines flight the previous afternoon.

Hue, the cleaner who discovered the bag while tidying up the aircraft, immediately handed it over to the lost and found department. Inside were cash and four passports. The belongings were returned to the tourist later that same evening.

Phu Quoc International Airport currently handles more than 150 flights every week. In the first nine months of this year, the island welcomed 6.5 million visitors, including 1.2 million from overseas, with total tourism revenue reaching about VND31 trillion ($1.17 billion).