Avianca

Original itinerary CLO-LIM-EZE cancelled because of the weather conditions as Avianca Elite member I was given upgrade with a new itinerary CLO-BOG-EZE. Usual delays and dirty interiors at El Dorado Bogota but it is not the fault of the airline. Very nice business class section on board of A330. Seats are very comfortable and easily can be turned into almost flat bed. Big screens with a decent choice of recently aired movies. Welcome champagne is offered on boarding as well as amenities such as better-than-usual headphones. Colored menu is given with an interesting choice of meals. A number of cocktails offered with good wine as well. Food is tasteful and served beautifully. Shortly before arrival another meal is offered. Overall excellent.

Ticketed by Avianca to go Bogota-Mexico City connecting onto Aeromexico to Los Angeles. I had 2.5 hours to make connection in Mexico City. Physically not possible to arrive in Mexico City go through immigration get luggage clear customs change to the other terminal check-in for new flight in that amount of time. Flight left Bogota 45 mins late but then sat on the runway for 30 minutes. In Mexico City it took 90 minutes before any luggage arrived. Upon missing the connection they told me it was my fault they offered no compensation or accommodation in Mexico City and suggested I purchase a new ticket. Finally after 2 hours they agreed to issue me a new ticket. The flight itself was actually quite nice with a good meal and friendly service.

Four flight segments all in Y-class two pax senior age. MIA-BOG and BOG-SCL. We picked them because of convenient departure times out of MIA and due to a considerable price difference compared to LAN Chile. All 4 flights - domestic and international - were in almost new Airbus A320 and A330 planes thus impressively clean. Departure procedures at MIA and BOG international airports were chaotic the domestic terminal in BOG plus the terminals in Cartagena and Santa Marta are acceptable. Inflight service is ok for the domestic part - the service on international flights is probably the worst we have ever experienced. The only thing they care about is selling onboard duty free items. If you want to save money take Avianca into consideration their planes will still be pretty new in 2012 - if you want/need more quality and service you have to pay the higher fares of LAN!

There is actually one flight with decent business seats from BOG to JFK that's AV 20/21 which uses an A330. Very comfortable angled lie flats with comfy blankets and pillows. The flight north is a late overnight so food is not a big issue. The flight south leaves early in the morning - make sure to eat something in the lounge because both breakfast and snack are up there with the worst food I have ever tasted on a plane.

BUE-PTY. Arrived at Buenos Aires 5.30am for 7.30am flight and the line was unbelievable. Told by customer services that the flight was delayed so not to worry about a 1 hour wait. When I started to ask her about our connection being effected in Bogota she walked off saying she can't help. We went back 30 mins later and there was no one helping out and only 2/3 desks open operating very inefficiently. The flight did leave late and it took about an hour to dump our bags without any information but once onboard it was good new seats AVOD etc and the change over in Bogota was fine. FA's hopeless. I think it's worth paying extra for reliability.

BOG-JFK in business class. Continue to use A320 on long haul routes which are flights of 6 hrs or more. Business class seats on A320 are only adequate for a 3 hour flight because there is almost no recline or pitch space. Food is the worst thing 8 out of 10 dishes come with corn bell peppers and inedible sauces. Planes are new and staff do their job with a smile. Usually there are many delays in Bogota airport due to delays from domestic destinations so I would not recommend for connections. None of the airlines that fly from Bogota to US offer decent business class seats.

IAD-BOG-GRU. There was bad weather in WAS so we missed our flight from BOG-GRU. They are not required to give you anything except a flight to your destination in the case of an impossible connection. This being said is they paid for everything 3 meals and a four star hotel. Their planes are nice the service alright. They are a little slow in the way they get things done but other than their organization no bad comments tickets are cheap don't expect the best luxury in Economy but you get a good deal.

BOG-CLO in coach. New A318 with an exit row seat with the seat removed in front of me. Seat felt narrow but excellent legroom. No snack service offered just a drink on the short flight. Check in and security was a breeze in Bogota. All in a pretty good experience.

Madrid to Cali seats were comfortable staff pleasant and nice. A330 airbus is welcoming and the service onboard was good. I flew from UK with a connecting flight in Madrid then on to Cali. Aircraft was on time. Menu was nice especially on flights going to Colombia.

BOG-BCN-MAD-BOG with my two kids. A330-200 very modern great entertainment system. Seats in Economy are terrible for long-haul and the food was very poor. They were cheap tickets though.