Avianca

Not Verified | San Andres to Cartagena. Avianca cancelled our flights so we applied for a refund against our ticket numbers. After a week or two I get an email telling me that my application had accidentally been closed, and was provided with 2 random ticket numbers to start a new refund application with. Stupid of me not to ask whether these ticket numbers were already assigned to someone else As it turns out the money was eventually paid, except not to me. They were paid to someone who's card details I never provided and have never seen before. But somehow with my name against it. Since then, Avianca have ignored every single one of my emails completely and when I call, I get one bad excuse after another and it's made clear that they have no intention of helping me get my money back. I'm seeking legal advice.

✅ Trip Verified | Cartagena to Bogota. Most people only review when they have a bad experience with an airline. I have had several pleasurable flights with this airline within last month, including long haul from Bogota to Barcelona. This particular flight was on time, the staff was friendly and spoke good English. Boarding and disembarking went smoothly and without issues. Passengers were offered free tea and coffee during the flight.

✅ Trip Verified | Santiago to San Francisco via Bogota. I booked my flights home through Avianca specifically because I needed to reach home to spend the last part of the July 4 holiday celebration with my family in California. I could have taken shorter routes, but this got me there at 8 pm today, July 4. During the night prior Avianca sent a note that my flights had been changed and now I come home the morning of July 5. I went to the airport and asked for help. The woman behind the counter left me standing. I am in the business class line and have business class tickets. She did not listen and she did not help me. I finally went to the gate and tried there, but the same woman moved there. She said at the counter that there were no other flights. At the gate she instead said that she cannot make changes from Santiago. All changes had to happen when I reached Bogota. Then in Bogota the agent said there is nothing he can do. I asked to even go to a different airport or whatever would work. I was in Bogota all day. I then asked for lounge access because the Internet wasn’t working. Instead he handed me a coupon for a Burger King hamburger meal and sent me on. I missed my holiday and family, and I had a horrible experience. I was exhausted and on the floor at the airport trying to charge my phone so I could contact my family. Even if I could not be helped, I could have been treated kindly. I was crying when I left the agent. I will advise others at work and home to avoid Avianca in the future based on how I was treated. The final straw is that I could not even file a complaint because their complaint system would never accept the complaint and kept cycling or advising that there were invalid characters. I tested sending only 1 character and it still would not submit so they are mechanically keeping people from providing negative feedback.

✅ Trip Verified | Los Angeles to Bogota. The night before, I got an email requesting to check in with their “web check-in”, so I did. After the web check-in, Avianca sent an email with my boarding pass stating “If you only have carry-on luggage, please go directly to the boarding gate.” I only had carry on luggage, so I went directly to Terminal 3 as my boarding pass stated. After passing extensive security at Terminal 3, I looked for Avianca booths or staff but I couldn’t find any. After asking around, airport staff directed me on a shuttle bus to Terminal 2. Once I got to Terminal 2, airport staff redirected me to Terminal B. Once I got to Terminal B, airport staff said my boarding gate had not been assigned yet because it wasn’t on the monitor yet, but it would be departing from one of the gates in the same room we were in and my flight should be on one of the monitors in that section in a couple hours as it got closer to the departure time. I was in the departure area where I was told it would depart from 38 minutes before it was scheduled to depart and 51 minutes before it did depart but there weren’t any planes departing to BOG and my flight wasn’t anywhere on the monitor it was supposed to be. Airport staff didn’t see it on the monitor either. I went to two other airport staff and one of them looked up my flight with an app on his phone. Terminal 3 was listed as the departure gate so he told me I needed to go there. I took the shuttle bus back to Terminal 3, but there weren’t any Avianca booths or staff so I went over to an Alaska Airlines booth. The lady tried to help me but wasn’t able to see any Avianca departing gate info from her computer. She told me to go to the Avianca front desk outside of Terminal 3 security checkpoint. By the time I got to the Avianca front desk it was too late to get through security fast enough to make my flight. The Avianca supervisor told me there was a flight to BOG 26 hours later but that she couldn’t wave the rescheduling fee but that customer service may be able to. There shouldn’t have been a charge since I did everything I was instructed to do by Avianca, but she told me I should have checked in at the Avianca front desk before going through the security checkpoint at Terminal 3. I showed her my email from Avianca with my boarding pass instructing me to “go directly to the boarding gate” but she had no response. The supervisor then connected me to customer service to discuss possibly waiving the rescheduling fee. After talking with customer service and being on hold several times, totaling about 2 hours, they provided no alternative besides paying around $1,300 for the next day flight change. I decided not to pay an extra $1,300 to an airline for their mistakes and bought a $400 ticket back home to Seattle with a different airline. I Should have never been provided the web check-in option and told to bypass the Avianca front desk if Avianca provides no reliable way to find the correct departure gate. The flight AV89 should have been displayed on the monitors in Terminal B with all of the other flights. Avianca’s incompetence cost me about $1,600 total and tons of wasted time. I tried to resolve this through Avianca’s dispute resolution process, but they made me jump through endless hoops, accidentally closing my case many times. This lasted about 6 months and never solved anything. I will never fly with Avianca again if I can help it.

✅ Trip Verified | Abysmal and totally incompetent. From the conduct and service of the staff, down to the organisation and contingency planning of the airlines management. It really does beggar belief that this airline is operational. My flight was cancelled, they kept us all waiting in complete oblivion and when they did make an announcement, it was in Spanish. The flight is going to LHR, don’t you think a translation to English would be fair? Avoid Avianca like the plague. I despise this airline so much I’ll even go so far as to avoid El Dorado airport all together.

Not Verified | Belize City to Panama City via San Salvador. Unfortunately, I don't have the email of Mr Alpuche and his staff. I had an issue with my passport and thanks to the Avianca Belize team professionalism, patience and willigness to help, I was able to travel to Panama and attend a very important yearly event held by my employer. It could have been easier to say "it's not possible" but fortunately, you went the extra mile, contacted all the key personnel and made it happen. Thank you so much to the Avianca team.

✅ Trip Verified | Bogota to Medellin. Trash airline. Avoid flying with this airline. If you pay for a seat located near row 11, they may bump you and change your seat to row 37, the 2nd row from the bathroom. And for proof I will include pics.

✅ Trip Verified | Lima to San Salvador. Avoid this airline! Our flight was delayed for four hours, then delayed again for two hours. We missed our tour in Quito. Avianca changed our flight for the next day, but then this flight was cancelled. They gave us a flight the following day. We lost two days of our vacation and spent 120USD on taxes. Avianca gave us a credit of 57USD. Avianca is a joke and should be avoided

✅ Trip Verified | Bogota to Bucaramanga. I have flown all over the world in more than 40 countries. I have never seen such a nasty service. Mean, nasty people, who want to annoy you. Absolutely no kindness ever not since 1966 when I took them at 6 yo. I fly with them only because I do not pay for my ticket, my customers do. Never ever had a good experience with them. Just fact.

✅ Trip Verified | Los Angeles to Guayaquil. Only use this airline when you absolutely have no other choices! Booking ticket on their website was easy. However, the system changed my flights a couple times before my actual departure, which was confusing. Check-in counter opened late. Ground staff were extremely unfriendly and yelled at me for simply requesting aisle seat. For many other airlines, a passenger can request for preferred seat at check-in, but for Avianca a passenger needs to contact call center 24 hours before departure or check in online to self select the seat. That's what the ground staff told me in stern voice. Since most staff were spending time yelling at passengers, that's why the service was very slow. Such a low service standard in my opinion. Cabin crew provided similar level of service - poor. I was sitting at emergency exit row, but the cabin crew failed to inform me of safety procedure. Their mindset around safety were questionable. Also, a cabin crew didn't offer me food until I asked to be served. What kind of service is this?!?! Boarding was slow and delayed resulting in tiny delay in all flights. Poor to zero in-flight entertainment. Dirty seat and toilet. Old aircraft. Awful food. Again, avoid this airline!