Viva Air

✅ Trip Verified | If possible, avoid this airline at all costs. They are cheap but you truly get what you pay for, and then some with hidden costs. Not only do they try and upsell you 3x per each action you take making the purchasing process the worst ever, they also charge you to check in to your flight. They will automatically add on upsell options even when you don’t select them and need to go back several steps. If you can avoid doing it on mobile as it makes it even harder to avoid pop up upsells and eliminate them from your checkout. Avoid at all costs. It may be the cheapest option but after their hidden fees you may end up paying what you would for another flight. I rarely ever write reviews but this was the worst experience I’ve ever had flying on an airline and felt that I needed to warn others so they don’t go through the same as we had to.

Not Verified | Regrettably I should have read the reviews before making the booking. Whereas the aircraft and the crew is fine, the ground staff and check in process is geared to rip you off. If you want to e-check in do so at least a few hours before the flight else the portal will not let you do so. Three hours prior to the flight tried to do so but unable to. Got to the check in counter 1.50 minutes prior to the flight and informed a $50 equivalent charge to check in 4 of us as it was less than two hours to flight time. Of note there was no check in line. On our prior flight one of the ground stall tried to scare us in to take the express check in lest we miss flight. Thankfully we did not fall into that trap and the extra cost. They were unapologetic about the fact that as a low cost carrier they would try to extort you at every occasion.

Not Verified | Worst Airline Ever! I will never fly with this airline again. I checked in online where it said I was allowed a carry-on and personal item. When I get to the gate they charged us $170 CAD per person for carry-on luggage! I was told if I did not pay I would not get on the flight. Didn't want to get stuck in Medellin! Paid almost as much for carry-ons as I did for the flight.

✅ Trip Verified | Horrible experience, they gave my husband, my 13 yr old daughter and I separate seats, they had no option to confirm or buy seats online, only at the airport and after we checked bags and enter checkpoint noticed they had given us separate seats. I spoke to a flight attendant and they insisted we had to pay extra for seats like if that option was even available to start with, I asked to be seated just with my daughter and they say no, after we landed I saw the plane had 12 consecutive seats empty all the flight and they were not even courteous enough to offer from the beginning before even taking off from the airport. On my connecting flight I notice almost the entire plane was on the same situation, you guys don’t realize that you would have gotten more money even on the catering service and people would buy food and drinks if you were to seat them together, I did not have a very pleasant experience in the country and this was just like the cherry on the ice cream. Customer service is important and common sense and sensitivity really says a lot about a company.

✅ Trip Verified | Worst company. Never gonna take this company again, I should have look at the reviews before booking. Hate their service! The price can be good, but you’ll prefer any other companies, it’s a promise.

Not Verified | I can share a few cautionary anecdotes with you regarding Viva Air. It’s hard to understate the kindness, courtesy and helpfulness of every Colombian I’ve met in Medellin, Guatape and Santa Marta. That impression was tarnished when my husband and I presented our passports to the woman at the baggage drop desk. She told us that, contrary to the information I’d received from the platform on which I’d purchased our tickets, we were not checked in for our flight. However, the real problem was not that we’d arrived too late for our flight. The Viva representative informed us that she would not be able to allow us on the flight because we had arrived 13 minutes after the cut off time for check in. For check in?! Please note that this is a small airport where ordinarily, only 10 minutes are necessary to get from the entrance through security to the gate. But no matter how we pleaded our case, neither the woman behind the counter nor her bureaucratic martinet of a supervisor would budge. It was not merely that we were prevented from boarding our flight that we found upsetting; it was the way Viva’s staff treated us. At no moment did we receive a sympathetic word from anyone. When we tried to reschedule our flight, the supervisor coldly informed us that we’d have to fly out the following morning, then amended her statement a minute later. That flight was actually booked; maybe the next day. She was clearly anxious to dismiss us, impatient with our lack of fluency in Spanish. In addition to the chilly manners of its staff and its insistence on punctilious enforcement of its rules, Viva also qualifies as Colombia’s answer to the US’ Spirit Airlines. Prepare to be nickeled and dimed in every possible way. My husband has never had to pay extra for his very compact travel guitar on any of the many carriers he’s flown. Guess what. There’s a first time for everything. They were about to charge me for my yoga mat bag as well when out of shock, I dropped my water bottle and it broke spilling all over the floor. I didn’t plan it as a distraction— I really liked that water bottle, but it did save us another ridiculous fee.

✅ Trip Verified | I bought ticket through Orbits. Chose one that said carry on free and first checked bag free! At the airport they made me pay 120$ for one cart on and one checked in bag. Total lie!

✅ Trip Verified | This airline is worse than Spirit. When arrived to airport at Medellin to go to San Andres I am told my ticket was cancelled back in April but didn’t give me any reason. They said an email was sent to me but there was no refund on my account I didn’t get a call to make other arrangements. I got so upset because they are blaming me for this. I always purchase my tickets thru cheaptickets and never had a problem. The ticket still shows active at the cheaptickets website I can’t understand what happened. My flight was leaving at 11:13pm and instead they put me on another flight leaving at 1am in the morning. So I am waiting 6hrs to travel with a 5 year old and my husband. My two check in luggage were over the weight limit 8 pounds each and they still charged me $498 for the overages. They don’t deserve to be in business taking money from people.

✅ Trip Verified | The worst of services. Let's start by saying that the airline does not send email to check in. By not doing it before, at the airport they charge you extra for doing it. As a consequence, they do not assign you seats and make you wait for the whole plane to board to see if there are any available, and if there is not, they send you on another flight. The customer service was terrible, of all the employees who have only one of them gave us a good service. They do not know how to explain how their policy works and/or express themselves correctly. First and last time flying with this airline El peor de los servicios. Empecemos por decir que la aerolínea no envía email para hacer check in. Al no hacerse antes, en el aeropuerto te cobran adicional por hacerlo. Como consecuencia, no te asignan asientos y te hacen esperar que todo el avión aborde para ver si hay disponibles, y si no lo hay te mandan en otro vuelo. El servicio al cliente fue pésimo, de todos los empleados que tienen solo una de ellas nos prestó un buen servicio. No saben explicar cómo funciona su política y/o expresarse de forma correcta. Primera y última vez volando por esta aerolínea.

✅ Trip Verified | VIP Boarding is a scam, VIP Seats are a scam. Too many flight cancellations without warning. Every question I ask, the response is “I don’t know”. Uncomfortable seats. Always super late, and they lie about being on time. I will stick to US-based airlines from now on. This is the last time I fly VivaAir.