Avianca

✅ Trip Verified | Flew Avianca from Madrid to Bogotá. At the check in I checked an additional bag without any problem to my existing bag, as I have only been on transit. I received a new boarding pass but Avianca failed to add the priority status which I had. At the gate however I checked and was able to do the priority boarding. The flight itself was ok, no major things that made me love or hate the airline during the flight. After arriving at the destination however Avianca failed to deliver my bags and after I received them approx 24 hours later Avianca refused to give me any kind of compensation for the items I had to get to cover for one day. So overall I would not suggest to take Avianca again.

✅ Trip Verified | Bogota to Medellin. I was really anxious about all the flights with Avianca after reading horrific reviews. I was sure I would lose one of my suitcases, my connecting flights or something else. Luckily none of my fears came true. All flights apart from one were on time (20 min delay on one). No luggage was lost or broken. On some flights we were changed to an earlier one because we arrived early at the airport. This would save our connecting flights in case of a delay. Long haul flights London to Bogota on a Boeing 787 with OK service/food. Legroom for a 1,93m/6ft4in like me is an issue so that's why I booked seat with extra legroom. What needs to be improved urgently is the customer service, over chat or phone. The agents have an issue with English and as a result it takes long to communicate. Furthermore seat booking MUST be made available online, not only over the phone. It takes literally AGES to confirm everything on the phone and in my case ONE of the seats was mistakenly not booked and I found out 2 days before departure and it was too late to book again according to an agent. Therefore 7/10 and would fly again.

✅ Trip Verified | This was by far the worse experience my family had have traveling with Avianca. We are consistent frequent business class flyers on Avianca. (4-5x per year). We were traveling with our son, a minor, for this flight also. Our usual route of travel is from New York (JFK) to Santa Marta Colombia (SMR). With a stop in Bogota. Avianca used a third party company for our flight from NYC to Bogota and it was awful (“Wamos”, was the name of the partner airline). The airplane was very old, dirty, and no entertainment system. Also the flight attendant gave us a menu with 3 choices of food, when it was time to order our food, we were told the only choice was breakfast burritos. We were amoung the first people served. Having a menu was useless. The seats were not comfortable at all. We were not able to rest. Those combinations made for a very uncomfortable, long and boring flight. Coming back home was even worse. Again Avianca used the same company to bring us back. Needless to say, it was an old airplane, poor seats, no entertainment system, and low quality food once again. The food was worse this time. We could not eat it. So we traveled uncomfortable, bored, and hungry. I understand Avianca is having some issues with their pilots and are using different ways to transport their clients. There has to be a better solution. We the customer should not have to suffer thru low quality service for the same price. Avianca should respect their clients and partner with a better company to provide the same quality service. You should not charge for a premium service when you are not delivering (what we pay for) premium service. We traveled business class for a reason. We wanted to be comfortable and rested. We will state once again, we had a horrible experience! I will not recommend travel using Avianca until they fix the problems with their pilots. Also if this service continues, we will not travel on Avianca. Avianca will lose, very, loyal business class travelers.

✅ Trip Verified | Bogotá to Barranquilla. This was actually my first time flying in business class. We usually never consider business but for some reason the one way ticket was cheaper in business than economy ($80 ish). I didn’t have any high expectations since it was a domestic flight, but it was all in all a really smooth experience. The Avianca Diamond Lounge at Eldorado Airport was decent, some small snacks and drinks as well as fast WiFi. On the flight I was served a beer and a glass of whiskey, no meal service though. Really comfortable and big seats as well as a pretty decent entertainment system. All in all nothing to complain about, pretty simple but definitely over my expectations.

✅ Trip Verified | Bogota to Santa Marta. Worst airline, 3 hours waiting to connect a flight without any reason. VIP lounge out of standards, crew service: awful, food as compensation: subway sandwich for business class. You wont like to live this experience! I prefer Latam Airlines rather than travel trough Colombia.

✅ Trip Verified | Medellin to Cartagena. Avianca has to respect for the time of their passengers. Both of my flights today were delayed. This is the 5th time I’ve flown Avianca and they have been late 4/5 times. When I asked the staff why the flight was delayed she said I don’t understand what the problem is because it’s only 45 minutes late. Those are my 45 minutes, and I guess I’m fed up of the lack of respect of Avianca.

✅ Trip Verified | New York to Cartagena. We booked two business class tickets for a direct fight to Cartagena that was supposed to land at noon, so we can make our boat connection to Rosario Islands. A week before our trip, we got a notice from Avianca that due to the strike, they had to reroute us through Medellin. The new flight with the layover would bring us to Cartagena at 4:30 PM which meant we would miss our boat connection. I went to the NYC office to cancel those flights and had to book a new flight with Jet Blue last minute. The agent who filled out all the cancellation forms told us it will take 6-8 weeks of the refund. At 6 weeks I called the headquarters to see what is the status of the refund. They told me to have patience and it will be more around 8 weeks. They also said they would escalate the case. At 8 weeks I called again and this time they said it will be more like 3 months to get the refund, but they reassured me they would escalate the case again. The following week I went back to the agent in NYC to see what she can do. She discovered that the claim was still pending and had been “Neglected” (her words). She told me it would serve me better to start a new claim to get new attention to the case, and she reassured me that this would not mean that I would lose my turn and have to wait another 3 months from then. At 2 months and 3 weeks I called the headquarters again, and with such chutzpah they told me my new claim was filed only a week ago and I need to wait for 90 days from the new claim to get my refund, which would mean basically 6 months from the date of the cancelled flight. As I really refused to take no for an answer, they put me through to the manager. She told me the reason the NYC agent issued me a new claim number was because there was a mistake in the way the original claim was filed and it had been rejected, not neglected. Meanwhile, nobody had bothered to call me when such rejection was done to tell me there was problem with the claim and see how we can fix it. She was also adamant that she cannot do anything else at this moment and that I will have to wait 90 more days from the filing of the new claim to see my refund. She again said she will escalate the matter, which by now we all know means nothing. She refused to give any assistance at all. Many phone calls to the headquarters and a few trips to the NYC local office, I’m still not even sure when or how I will ever get back the money from my two round trip business class seats on Avianca. They were happy to take thousands of dollars from me, changed our tickets on us without consulting us first, and now are creating all kinds of roadblocks and delay tactics in refunding the money. Even though they made a mistake in filing of the refund claim, they never bothered admitting to their mistake, nor are they taking any responsibility for a mistake that was done by their agent. Basically, they’re hoping I would just shut up and disappear so they can keep thousands of dollars for a flight they cancelled on me.

✅ Trip Verified | Purchased a direct flight from Bogota to Guatemala City for a business trip. Three days before the flight, received an email stating that the route had been cancelled. They offered to put me on a flight with long stopovers in San Jose and San Salvador. However, this flight sells at around $290-310. The direct flight I purchased was $510+. There were no other flights available given the lack of notice, so I had no choice but to take the overpriced flight. Felt like a bait and switch. Went two the Avianca office three times and was told I would receive a voucher for the inconvenience. This was confirmed calling the call center. I submitted requests online November 8 and did not receive any response. After 5 calls in December, still no response. After two very angry calls in late-December, finally an email. After two more angry calls in January, another email from an agent. After exchange emails for two weeks, I was told that because I completed the flight, there would be no voucher or compensation. Terrible customer service and airline.

✅ Trip Verified | I flew with Avianca from Santiago de Chile to London via Bogota as last minute replacement to my previous flight reservation which was with Latam. I booked this flight as I got a very good deal for the business class seat. I have flown with Avianca before and I wasn’t really impressed with the plane which was old and the seat was outdated version. This time, I flew with B787 on both legs which is big improvement from the old A330. The seat configuration is similar to Cathay, AA and Qatar Airways which give all passengers direct access to aisle. This is much nicer than Latam B787 so I’m happy with the replacement flight. The check-in process was easy. I used their apps for check-in on both legs and I received the electronic boarding pass right away. The drop off point staff were also efficient. The IFE is improved version to the previous one, although the choice of movies is not on par with best airlines in the world. It didn’t bother me as I preferred to take a nap or sleep during the flight. The food was ok, nothing special. The service from the FAs was pretty good on both legs. They were all courteous and their communication skills are very good. Overall, I’m happy with the flights and I would fly with them again if the price is right.

✅ Trip Verified | Santa Marta to Medellin via Bogota. Booked a direct flight Santa Marta to Medellin. The airline canceled our flight and change our itinerary without notice and at last minute. We were made to get a flight that stopped in Bogota instead. We were not told that our new flight would leave an hour earlier to the one we had booked, so we almost missed the plane. Then the plane wouldn’t work and after sitting for 45 minutes waiting to take off we were told to all get off again and there would be an hour wait till we could depart. We are currently sitting at the gate waiting and it has been two hours. Our flight has now been pushed to 4pm, another two hours, which is when our connecting flight from Bogota to Medellin was meant to be. We are now going to miss our connecting flight. Never fly this airline, completely disorganised and horrible customer service.