Avianca

I will never fly Avianca to Central America again! I was flying with my one year old daughter from JFK to Guatemala and had a stop with a layover of 4 hours. As soon as I got off the plane I had to wait for them to give me my stroller for about 20 minutes. When I finally got my stroller the flight attendant informed me my flight was delayed by 3 more hours (bringing the total layover time to 7 hours! with a baby and with absolutely no explanation or reason for the delay). Once the time came for preparing to board there was not one employee from Avianca at the gate. No one to ask for info no one to ask what was going on. The time came for when we were actually supposed to be taking off and still no one and still no explanation as to why. Eventually an hour later we boarded. On the way back home I got to the check in and had to wait until the counter staff showed up 2 hours before the flight (again no explanation or apology). When I got to my stop in El Salvador they almost lost my stroller because they thought it was supposed to stay in El Salvador even though it clearly said on the tag to give it to me there and that I had to go to Newark. At El Salvador Avianca airport it was extremely chaotic (also no scanners for carry on so I almost lost my flight because it took so long with each person).

3 domestic flights within Colombia in the last month. Flight AV 9754 BOG-CTG was initially delayed 30 minutes but after boarding we had to wait another 2 hours before take off. It so happens that there was no purser! That only transpired later though as passengers were not informed at all of what was going on. Total contempt for passengers. Avianca does not have enough crew back up according to locals. Past 3 am arrival at destination. Other flights on time but crew disinterested. Good hard product but it seems wasted on this airline.

Will never fly again. Flight delayed 2 hours from Flores - no explanation. We left Guatamala on route to JFK with a short stop over in El Salvador - it was an old plane. The plane we got on in El Salvador was even older. Arrived at JFK and waited for our luggage along with about 30 other people. Luggage never got loaded on in El Salvador. Luggage arrived 27 hours later! I understand that things happen but the Avianca people were rude and not the least bit apologetic!

Very complete and satisfying trip by Avianca using a modern fleet of ATR-72. The cabins and seats are very comfortable and spacious. Since the trip was short they didn't provided any food or drinks. The flight was between Bogota and Villavicencio.

I use AV quite a lot for both International flights within Latin America as well as domestic flights. This comment refers to my last flight from Bogota to Barranquilla in Business Class. AV now uses El Dorado Terminal for many domestic flights (for the routes with highest traffic) which is convenient especially if you have to connect to international flights. The lounge has also improved but it is mostly very crowded. Long queues at the entrance. Outbound A318 inbound A320. Business Class seats spacious very nice compared to the European "middle seat free" concept. AVOD available also on domestic flights (even so in Y). These are the positive aspects. Now to the negative points: As mentioned before Lounge in BOG is always crowded lounge in BAY even worse in the evening it makes no sense to enter you don't find any space. F&B offering ok but always picked within 2 minutes. AV says they provide you with Food in the Lounge so they dont provide any food onboard not even in C Class. Not even a pack of peanuts! So when you don't find space in the Lounge you have to go and buy something because onboard you wont get anything! This is very poor for an airline that wants to present itself as the industry leader in Latin America! The crew is mostly nice and gentle and because of the nice seat I rate them 5/10 for the experience in domestic C Class. If it was European concept with middle seat free I would not even rate them 1/10 because apart from the mentioned negative points the ticket prices are very high for C Class.

Flight AV9541 Cartagena to Bogota. Delayed as usual 2 hours. Lounge is a pressure cooker: overcrowded and hot. I have never had the chance to take an Avianca flight that leaves on time.

LIM-BOG on 13 October. A320 with upgraded interior. Flight attendants smiling and very friendly through the entire flight. On-time departure and arrival (always a remote parking for this flight for some reason at BOG - airport is crazy busy at night). Excellent food served and AVOD had alot of shows and movies. Baggage out quickly. Always enjoy flying Avianca in South America.

BOG-MAD-BOG J class. Both flights left on time. Dated and worn A330s (bad luck I guess as they have new ones) not lie-flat but seats comfortable enough to assure an average rest. While the outbound leg (AV10 Nov 3) featured a disinterested and rude crew and provided a below standard business class food and beverage offer the return early morning flight proved a great difference beginning with the greatly appointed Velazquez IB lounge in MAD with an expansive F&B and amenities offer which is a huge contrast with the substandard and rude AV lounge in BOG. Return AV 27 (Nov 8) offered a good early morning breakfast (almost a brunch) and then a fairly good lunch with a reasonable wine and spirits offer all of them served by a rather friendly crew. Arrival in BOG at 1pm avoids the rush and chaos of the tiny and third-world shaped EDR international terminal. I would fly them again when upgraded. Otherwise IB is a better option especially when flying coach.

BOG-SMR brand new and beautifully appointed A320 with mood lightning. Nice crew and standard AV beverage service which is really substandard as only coffee water and box juices were available. On time departure and arrival pleasant flight and quick baggage retrieval. SMR airport is a shame as it remains exactly the same as 30 years ago. A real shame on the Colombian Civil Aviation authority but not AVIANCA's fault. Despite a good flight experience they charged about USD 250 one way and this was an early booking.

I flew several various Avianca flights with friends through Peru and Ecuador in the past two and a half weeks and I am greatly dissatisfied with the airline in general particularly through Peru (Lima/Cuzco). The flights never left on-time and on-average left an hour and a half after the scheduled departure time. Due to connecting flights there was about a 15 minute grace period getting off one flight and going through customs immigration and then through security again to get to the next gate (flight crew did not provide instruction whether there was a way to skip all of these steps ahead of time). In addition on an early morning 3-hour flight a friend observed the entire flight crew napping in the back of the plane. I find this appalling. I would not recommend Avianca to future fliers and I am going to avoid Avianca in the future despite pricing.