Avianca

✅ Trip Verified | When it comes to flying, you'd expect basic comforts, right? Well, Avianca will redefine your expectations. Let's embark on a turbulent journey through the skies of disappointment and frustration. First off, the seats. If you're anything taller than an average garden gnome, you might as well prepare to fold yourself into a pretzel. Legroom? What's that? Unless you're part of the elite business class, your legs will have a more meaningful conversation with the seat in front of you than any in-flight entertainment could provide. But the economy plus style seats come to the rescue, promising the luxury of an adjustable headrest and proximity to the entrance. You'll be so close to boarding you'll feel like a part of the cabin crew, yet you'll still yearn for an inch of legroom. Now, let's talk about business class. Oh, the promise of luxury! Imagine my surprise when, on my flight from Bogota to Cancun, I discovered that Avianca's version of business class is "business unclass". No food, no drinks, and to add a cherry on top, the power point for charging devices decided to take a vacation of its own. The flight attendants' indifference was breathtaking, I thought they might have mistaken the cabin for a meditation retreat. While their tickets come with a price tag that could rival a Michelin-star restaurant bill, the service is more budget buffet than fine dining. And Avianca possesses a unique talent for canceling tickets that were purchased early to save you money. I generously bought tickets for my family. Avianca sent me an email, claiming "inconsistencies" and promising a refund. When I checked online, everything was hunky-dory, tickets marked as "Confirmed." A call to customer service, was like navigating a maze with no exit. Rounds of pressing buttons and fruitless conversations later, I finally managed to get an answer from a Spanish-speaking agent, who assured me everything was fine, just as the website indicated. But oh, the website! Desperate for clarity, I submitted a support request through Avianca's website, complete with a list of questions and details. What did I receive in return? Silence, punctuated only by the closing of my support request. Undeterred, I called customer service yet again. This time, an agent kindly recreated my support request. I thought, surely, this time I'd receive a response. Wrong again! Days later, déjà vu – the support request was closed, and my questions remained unanswered. Frustrated and with no funds allocated for the ticket purchase, I turned to my bank, who confirmed Avianca hadn't taken a cent. I had to wrestle Avianca for written confirmation that the tickets were indeed canceled and beg for another support request, all while longing for a straightforward answer. In the end, I had to physically visit an Avianca office and buy a more expensive ticket, all thanks to their baffling customer service and ticket-cancellation antics. If you're looking for an airline experience that combines cramped seats, non-existent customer service, and ticket-cancellation acrobatics, Avianca is your one-stop shop for disappointment.

✅ Trip Verified | Stewardess was beyond rude. A large man was sitting in middle seat and asked to sit next to a man who had 2 empty seats to himself, and she responded “no because I want to sit there” she didn’t sit there and allowed a man who was not large to sit there. Staff should be retrained, because she is lacking basic skills needed for her job.

✅ Trip Verified | The flight was cancelled last night, they give us a new flight at 5:15 am, the flight was late for almost one hour, and also the luggage for all people traveling never came. Service on board for international flights doesn't exist, they don't offer even coffee, you need to pay. Terrible airline, before was very nice, not anymore. Don't recommend to travel with them.

Not Verified | I had the reservation to travel from Lima to Washington DC with a stopover in Bogota on September 13, 2023. I had the right to carry one hand luggage, one carry-on and a first suitcase without any additional payment. They offered me to put the Carry on in the cellar but I didn't accept because it gets too mistreated. My Carry on (with which I made many trips on different airlines without problems) at the moment before boarding they told me that it was too big to carry in the cabin. I went back to the counter to have it sent to the warehouse but they told me I had to pay $150.00. I complained in a thousand ways without positive results and I had to pay an additional $150.00 to have my Carry on put in the warehouse. TERRIBLE AND ABUSIVE SERVICE! Then on the trip from Lima to Bogota and Bogota Washington DC they did not give us snacks or water. Terrible service on an old plane. I will not travel on Avianca again. Other passengers were also treated badly, generating very aggressive reactions.

✅ Trip Verified | Sadly Avianca gets worse and worse. New airlines with no space, seats which don't recline, only paid food (not even a glass of water for free), in flight entertainment only using your personal device, etc. The toilets are tiny and not for oversized people and the area for cabin crew at the back now that they don't need all the trolleys and storage space is also minuscule. I notice the cabin crew having to stand most of the flight. I made 4 journeys recently with Avianca - 2 of which were between 5 and 6 hours. (on one plane there were people who had come from Costa Rica on the same plane and had to suffer over 8 hours in these cell-like conditions. The austerity is OK for a low cost flight of 2 hours or less. It is not all right for flights of 5 and 6 hours plus paying full-fare. Conditions are very unhealthy when you can't even stretch your legs a bit when seated. The food served on board is largely packaged stuff or white bread sandwiches, no health considerations there either. Not surprisingly the crew looked rather grim.

✅ Trip Verified | Last flight out of three I had in three days with Avianca. Mixed feelings as cabin service is basically non existent. On the other hand planes our relatively new, comfortable (depending where one is seated) and safety standards. Pilots keep passengers well informed and crew is friendly. A pity (and shame) Avianca chose to reduce any service in the cabin to zero; you even can’t get a water for free.

✅ Trip Verified | I left Chicago on American and because of the weather my flight was delayed 45 minutes causing to loose my connection in Miami. American put me in Avianca thru Medellin to reach Cali Upon arrival at the Cali airport on Sept 6, 2023 I learned my luggage was left behind but I was kept informed from Avianca the status of my luggage. My luggage was sent to the hotel in Centenario. Great follow up and customer service. I appreciated very much.

Not Verified | Worst experience ever. Lost my original flight due to small accident and tried to fly back as soon as I was able to. I tried to buy a ticket on the website and my payment was declined, however I got a reservation number. With that reservation number call the customer service line and asked how could I pay for it. The guy on the line said "the recovery department will call me" to recover the ticket and allow me to pay. I talked to 12 different people (literally as I have a record of all the calls after the first day) during three days trying just to pay for my ticket and the answer was always the same. "Please wait for our recovery department and they will call you back to sort this out". I received a couple of emails indicating to buy again the ticket but they were not related to the complain reference I got and explained so to the person in the line who repeatedly said "just wait for the call from the recovery department". Three days in the same dynamic, six hour before the flight and circa 4-5 hours with different people on the phone to have someone telling me finally that I would have to buy the ticket at the new price in the website (three times the agreed price in the reservation). People on the other side of the line was nice and respectful even when I lost my temper and raised my voice our of desperation, however, there was never a solution or way forward. The people may be nice but the processes in Avianca are just a joke. The fact that the person you talk to can not do anything but escalate to the other department that after three days never called back make it pointless to try to get any help on the phone. If you have issues that need some help, Avianca is not an option as the airline of choice.

✅ Trip Verified | I had no idea an airline this bad could even exist. I booked via Aeroplan a flight from Guatemala to Toronto with a stop over in Columbia. Not very direct, but worked for us. The planes are so cramped and seats do not recline, as other have said. Not only do they charge for water and soft drinks, they told us they don't take Canadian visa cards so could not even get that. So no food or drinks on the flight for us. No screens, but they had WiFi streaming. On both flights the USB chargers on the seats did not work. We had portal chargers. Worst was when we got to Bogota to get our connection, we were denied boarding. They overbooked the flight on the connection! We kept asking for information, offering to pay for an upgrade etc and they were so rude and obnoxious it was shocking. Just "we overbooked, you fly tomorrow". So got delayed 24 hours, would not rebook on another airline or anything. I know the people at the gates are not responsible for overbooking, but that made a bad thing a million times worse.

✅ Trip Verified | I agree this airline medium and short haul flights are abysmal. The economy seats have no headrest and don’t recline. I’m 5’ tall and I felt claustrophobic my knees were almost hitting the seat in front. The service…well what service? It’s a 5+ hour flight and you get no snacks or drinks unless you pay for a drink and this includes water. Premium economy isn’t much better but the seats do recline a bit. I Avianca is by far the worst, only fly this airline if you have no choice. Their customer service is also horrible, even if you buy a refundable flight you have to wait 6 weeks for a refund. Furthermore you have to chase them several times to get it. Their technology is lacking many things cannot be taken care of online and require a call with the inefficient customer service. Lastly if flying into Colombia with a different airline then avianca but your connecting flight is avianca they make you reclaim your luggage at first entry point instead of final destination, which may cause you to miss your connecting flight.