Avianca

Quito to London via Bogota. The outward Avianca flight was grand but the return was not. When we arrived at Quito airport the girl wanted to change our flights, we were not interested in another up and down (via Madrid). We asked for window seat but were told that it was not available on the first leg but it was for the long haul part - that was 9 hours before we were expected to take off at Bogota. Unfortunately we hadn't looked at our boarding passes but then when we discovered that not only had we not a window seat, but we were also sitting in different rows. As it happened there was another drama going on (the flight was overbooked) but the air hostess was excellent. I feel the check in girl at Quito didn't know what she was doing - she should be trained better for the job and improve her English or else just deal S American flights. The food on the long haul was good but going to the Galapagos and to Bogota the food was awful, just something greasy with inedible plastic pink stuff inside! No vegetarian option!

Due to fly tonight from Bogota to London. Avianca overbooked the flight, yet gave passengers no notice (they have email and mobile numbers) - even at self check in, Avianca staff said nothing so queued for 2 hours to be given a boarding card with no seat number. When questioned staff lied and said seats allocated at gate because of 'weather conditions' - staff spoke poor English and gave no information. The flight left without 20 people stranded with no explanation - after a further two hours given a litre carton of juice between 8 passengers. Finally, Avianca staff just walked off and left us. We got them to take us to an airport hotel - it is now 2am- we have no luggage as they dont know where it is - we are appalled at the poor level of customer service and lack of concern compassion - lets see what chaos tomorrow brings.

Because of bad weather in Bogota was the Avianca flight delayed and we were not informed before boarding - after boarding we was sitting in the plane for almost an hour and almost no information about what was going to happen. Then asked to leave the aircraft also without any information. After 1:30 we was asked to board again, but just before we where going to enter the aircraft we were asked to go back to the terminal again because now there was no crew. Again we wait and no further information. After a while told that a crew was on there wayand we just should wait. An hour later the flight was canceled and we were not compensated in any way - even that it was Avianca that was the reason that was not flying. This was so bad handled and it will mean that I will never again use Avianca in South America, I will find another carrier. Another thing, Avianca is member of Star Alliance, an international group and the staff speaks no English or so bad that they are not able to communicate with people that do not speak Spanish. After more than an hour more it was possible to be rescheduled to another flight the day after and my connection to Sao Paulo the only one, so now I am 24 hours delayed.

First leg with Avianca from Roatán - El Salvador on a new ATR 72-600 was very comfortable, a small sandwich and refreshments were served on this short 1-hour flight. Boarding process in SAL was absolutely chaotic. The second flight El Salvador - New York JFK was on an older A320 which was completely packed with a lot of babies that were crying non-stop. The A/C was set to very high temperature to the point where I started feeling like I was about to pass out from the heat. I complained to several crew members about this, and they did not seem to care much. My IFE screen was broken. On the positive side: this second flight landed in JFK 45 minutes ahead of schedule, and the refreshments were served continuously which helped somewhat with the heat situation as I kept getting cupfuls of ice to cool myself down.

Very impolite staff at Cali Airport. Old plane without basic entertainment. Food poor and cabin staff not present. 40 mins before landing, they told passengers to fold the blanket and put it behind their back - never seen that before, arguing that it is a security mandatory rule - I had to laugh.

Having declined to make a bid for an upgrade to travel business class on my return journey BOG-MEX because of the non satisfactory service in business on the way to Bogota, I rather enjoyed travelling in economy with Avianca back to Mexico. Strange as this may sound, I found the service better in economy that in business and the flight attendants were friendlier and paid more attention to passengers. Avianca's economy also has more generous legroom in economy than many airlines I have flow. Entertainment system is excelent. Only problem was very, very small food portion.

I have used Avianca in several trips, both for national trips or for transatlantic flights. In my opinion, the service in international flights is way better than the national ones. The staff onboard are usually friendly and polite. Moreover, although I don't like airline meals, I think that the meals served by Avianca are good. I would recommend to improve the space between seats for international flights and the puntuality for the national flights.

After a long flight we were informed that due to fog the plane was unable to land in Bogota, so we were diverted to Cali where we remained on the plane for an hour without being informed of what was going to happen. Staff were unable to speak English competently and they failed to communicate with the non Spanish speaking passengers,which I found strange for an international airline? After an hour there was an announcement in Spanish that we had to disembark the plane and wait for further information. In the waiting area the staff told us nothing! We ended up waiting for 3.5 hours. My husband managed to speak to one staff member who assured him that they would inform him when the flight to Bogota was boarding and guaranteed that we would be able to get a connection flight to Costa Rica. Needless to say the staff member did not meet their obligation, we found out that there was a flight through another passenger. When we arrived in Bogota, staff told us that we were unable to get the connecting flight that was promised to us; instead we were informed that we would have to fly to San Salvador and then get a further flight to San Jose. Security in Bogota was a nightmare, they confiscated my mosquito repellent (without explanation) that was 90ml. This was particularly worrying as Columbia has had a number of Zika cases reported. When we boarded our next flight from San Salvador to San Jose, we were assured that our luggage would be waiting in San Jose. Needless to say that the airline lost my luggage and were not apologetic at all. All in all there was 7 hour delay, and the staff were terrible. This was the worst travel experience I ever had. If you are considering flying with Avianca, please think again

Flew Avianca from LIM to Cusco. Check-in area very busy at LIM airport however not too much trouble. Check-in process with ground team was efficient and assisted with changes to early flight. Boarding via coaches in priority groups. Onboard service satisfactory to short route. Seats in overwing exits row, comfortable with good legroom. Baggage claim in CUZ with no issues.

After four Avianca flights in two weeks flying from Cartagena to Bogota we hope we never have to fly with them again. Each flight was at least two hours late. Explanation or information was non existent. Service on board was indifferent with not even a cracker offered. I have never encountered an airline like this.