Avianca

We took a flight from Washington DC to Lima Peru. The flight had a delay at Bogota (only stop) due to airport traffic. They told us that Avianca had everything under control and that the flight already knew about us and they would wait. We had about 40 minutes to get from one gate to the other so we were very calm. Avianca park the plane on the last spot of the airport so the commute (by bus) was very long and once we got there they told us the plane had gone. We had to go through a very long and slow line to get to the counter. We were put on a 5.30am flight so only slept 3 hours and one bag was lost and. Very bad experience.

Flew from GIG-SFO with 2 stops. Only the transit time annoys me. The flight however quite pleasant with edible food and acceptable inflight entertainment. Service on board was excellent. This is my first time flying with this airline I'll travel with them again.

SMR-BOG Late evening flight from Santa Marta. This airport is apparently being upgraded in the near future - and not before time. There are no information screens anywhere in the airport and all announcements are garbled so that even Spanish speakers find it hard to understand. On the plus side there is free wifi so we were able to track Avianca's inbound flight - which was almost an hour late landing. The airport is just too small to cope with boarding two planes simultaneously - it was a nightmare! The crew did a good job of turning the aircraft quickly and we were boarded fairly quickly. Ignored by staff at the boarding door who were more interested in their own conversation - other crew much more proactive. Very new A320 new leather seats with excellent legroom and large TV with a range of AVOD TV programmes you can start watching straight away. Once airbourne quick coffee/juice run and then it was almost time for landing. Once on the ground parked at horrible old terminal. Bags took almost an hour to come off. Having meant to have landed at 2330 I left the airport at 0100. Not great.

Avianca is fast becoming one of my favourite airlines (I fly on average once per week for business often internationally). Recently flew Santiago-Bogota-San Jose return and found Avianca excellent in all respects. All flights and connections on- time excellent professional service only spoilt by an obnoxious fellow passenger which meant I may have been avoided by the flight attendants from time to time on one flight. Food and wine excellent and a very good lounge in Bogota. Avianca uses the COPA lounge in San Jose which is fine with good personal service provided.

Madrid-Bogota-Cartagena. The transatlantic sector was not full but I wonder why all people were seated together if more than 30% of the seats were free. The last 6 rows were almost empty. I changed my seat and had the middle row of 4 for me alone. A330 not in good condition some IFE monitors broken and others not running well. The plane was not so clean. Food service was okay. Stewardesses some friendly others not interested. English skills mediocre. Announcements hard to understand. After first meal service staff disappeared. Before landing in Bogota snack service - small portions but okay. I wonder why they have one staff member on board only selling duty free products and don't assisting the other members of the crew. Bogota- Cartagena. 1 hour flight time only artificial juices some coke and poor coffee served no snack. Staff smiling and with lots of make up. Friendlier than the other crews on long haul flights! So I would give them 2.5 stars on transatlantic and 3 on Colombian route.

My first flight with Avianca was mediocre: from Toronto to San Salvador to Guayaquil. On the first flight there was no routine safety review and the service was slow but fine. However on the return flight the customer service was appalling. We boarded the plane and then after waiting over an hour with no communication we were told the flight was cancelled due to mechanical issues and we needed to get off. The Avianca staff then proceeded to have us wait at the baggage carousel for close to 5 hours with next to no communication no systems in place to deal with the various flight arrangements and accommodations and no food or water. People had been at the airport since 2am and we didn't get a shuttle to a hotel until 9.5 hours later with next to no proactive communication on their part. The staff tended to walk around together and claimed they couldn't do anything without their supervisor's permission who was absent from the scene. At the core of the issue was their lack of professional and organized communication strategy.

Flew Business Class round trip from LAX to SJO with layover in SAL. Flight to SAL and SJO were great. Service was good food was good seats were very comfortable. Coming back from SJO to SAL. Was delayed on the tarmac for a great while because there weren't enough buses to pick up the passengers. We had to wait until one was available. They packed the bus so full that there wasn't enough seating for people who really needed it. We almost missed our flight from SAL to LAX. The flight from SAL to LAX was terrible. After lunch service no one offered any subsequent drink service or snacks. The attendant was absent for most of the flight. Not the type of service you would expect. Coach received better service than we did in business class.

Madrid-Bogota-Neiva. Being a handicapped person I mentioned this with the booking for assistance. The attendants were always on time with a wheelchair. Had a seat against the wall where the toilets are on an Airbus A330 lots of legspace and no need to walk too much. Very nice crew and flight attendants. Overall very pleasant flight and as a regular to Colombia visiting my parents in law I always when possible book Avianca.

Recently flew from LAX to San Salvador and then on to Lima Peru. I thought the flight down was much better than the flight coming back. Got a special rate which was nice. Staff were excellent on my first flight and very helpful. Food was good as I am a vegetarian so requested special meal which was pasta salad and a roll. Seats were very comfortable. Plane was on time and I had a short layover in San Salvador. The flight coming back was different. Food was a ravioli dish but it was too hot to eat and covered with too much cheese. I didn't eat it. Movie was a film which I had already seen. Had a 5 hour stopover in San Salvador and tried to get on an earlier flight. Was told that a change to the earlier flight would cost me a change fee and I did not want to do that so waited the 5 hours in San Salvador for the later flight. I would consider a flight again with this airline as overall I was very satisfied.

Very satisfied with Avianca/Taca services Cali-San Salvador-Washington (IAD). Upgraded to Business Class as Avianca Elite Program member. New planes amazing on time landing at IAD despite of an ongoing snowstorm in Washington Metro Area. Attentive flight attendants. Convenient routing from Northern South America to North American destinations via Avianca's Central American hubs.