Avianca

I moved to South America 1 month ago I have taken 4 Avianca flights to Chile and Argentina but the one last Sunday from Argentina to Lima was a disaster no air-conditioning so it was really hot the meal of chicken was so salty it was not possible to eat it they insulted us by putting 2 kids movies on back to back on an evening flight full of adults. It was miserable and never want to take a flight like that again! The crew were not pleasant. I felt they had no regard for customer service.

Flight BOG-MAD-BOG. Both legs on Business Class. Comfortable VIP Lounges both at Eldorado and Barajas. Priority Boarding worked perfectly. Welcome champagne and peanuts were delicious. Although the seat is not fully flat 170 it was very comfortable and I was able to sleep during almost all the journey. Food was delightful and the coffee was simply great. Staff smiled all the time and were very attentive at all times. They voluntarily brought you cookies and other small meals at different times of the flight. Flight arrived on time and the luggage was priority. Great Choice.

Took several legs. SJO-SAL-UIO-LIM-CUZ-LIM-SJO. ALL flights on time. Sufficient staff at the airports to keep the check-in lines short. Never had to wait longer than 5-10 min. Ground crew as well as flight crew friendly and efficient. They give you the feeling that you are a guest and not just a pax. Decent on-board service on mainly brand-new airbus aircraft. The brand new ones have 'mood lightning' in the cabin which is very nice on night flights. Decent on-board service. Even on a 1hr-flight they serve a small snack and beverages for free incl. alcoholic drinks. Full meal on the 2hr flight UIO-LIM. Food quality is nothing fancy but it's ok. In theory they offer also a free in-seat entertainment system. However not all aircraft are equipped with it even not some brand new ones. On the 2 legs where it was existent it was out of order. Here is room to improve and provide the same standard at least on flights over 2 or 3 hrs. So if you need entertainment bring your own or a good book since you don't know what you get. Overall a pleasant experience and I will fly Avianca again.

GRU-BOG-JFK all A330-200. First time flying AV. Pleasantly surprised with comfortable seating in business and VOD (heard other negative comments on the same flight using the smaller A319). Meals were satisfactory for the flight as both flights were red-eyes and full. Flights arrived on time and El Dorado Airport (BOG) is a convenient airport to connect (although I spent two-days in Bogota for business). Business class lounge is large comfortable and offers subdivided room for a more intimate feel. Appetisers were abundant as were beverage selections. Will fly them (although will fly LAN next to compare).

GRU-BOG-MEX - good performance GRU-BOG on A330 and BOG-MEX on A320 both with good seating and individual IFE. Food and beverages fine friendly competent crew. BOG-MEX with quite a delay as some luggage had to be unloaded officially missing passengers but from what was unloaded more likely wrong freight. Check-in in Bogota was one of the longest I had in many months despite only baggage drop! If my check-in time was typical you should calculate some 60 minutes!

BOG-MAD business class. Flight on time nice amenity kits and average welcome drinks. Very poor catering and wine on offer.

SCL-BOG-SCL with side travel to San Jose on TACA. Excellent flights on Avianca with superb service food and wines on modern A330s. Unfortunately Avianca do not have a business lounge at Santiago (which took me an hour to discover). However Avianca's lounge at their home base of Bogota is very good and an interesting location in Bogota's modern terminal. The cabin crews' uniforms are quite stunning!. I recommend this airline for travel through and to South America.

Flew from SCL to MAD via BOG - Airbus 330. The service was superb. Food is good. Not as many wines as on LAN but I paid one third of what LAN charges on the same route same dates. Seats are very good even though not fully horizontal. Good headphones. Some of these planes have good space for carry on baggage others are way too small. Their frequent flyer program is very good. Some nice details are the flower they put on the meal tray and the a small package of Colombian coffee they give you as a present to take home.

Early June flew Avianca #24 from LIM to BOG. Nice A330 widebody which always makes the flight better. Boarding was delayed and once they called the flight it didn't matter which cabin you were in - people flooded the gate. Once on-board it was smiles from the flight attendants. Pillows and blanket on each seat. Flight was full - drink run and dinner served. Food was good and watched movies and TV shows on their great entertainment system. FA's came around multiple times with water - and always friendly. Landed in BOG during a rainstorm - parked on the tarmac by the cargo area. Had to be bussed across the airport (took 25 minutes cramped in the bus) - immigration was quick and bags came out rapidly. Overall very impressed with Avianca and would fly them again.

I have flown several flights with Avianca - within Colombia (Bogota San Andres Cartagena) and international (Bogota-Madrid). Planes have always been clean food has been good and flights on time. On all flights domestic and international the turn out of the crew has been exceptional immaculate uniforms and grooming - A sense of pride which is something that I see less of in European and American Airlines that I have flown with these last years. Only issue I have had was being turned out of the emergency exit seat on a domestic flight when the crew member briefing me on the emergency procedure for that row discovered I didn't speak Spanish. Since most the passengers did not speak English there was not much I could say really. Of all options available from London to Bogota (and that's quite a few but none direct unfortunately) Avianca from Madrid is my preference. A good all round airline with exceptional crew turn out and service in my experience + prices are good.