Mini review AV 787 MAD-MDE - Requesting upgrades on Avianca (as a Diamond); frustration and success
I fly AV metal about 5-10 times a year, mainly USA-Colombia and made Diamond last year. These are always on the a320's. Very bleh product, even their business class. No wi-fi.
At some point over the last 6-12 months, they made a change from auto-upgrading me at time of boarding (and debiting the cert from my account balance) to a submit an upgrade request model.I did not know/notice so I traveled a few itineraries without any upgrade to Business.
Yesterday, for the first time, I flew on a wide-body AV 787-8 from MAD-MDE, 10.5 hours. 20 business class seats across the 5 rows.
I submitted the uppgrade request three weeks prior to the flight online here and received a confirmation email saying "Check the waiting list. If your upgrade is confirmed, you will receive another email up to 48 hours before the flight.":
https://www.lifemiles.com/upgrade-application-form
I received no other emails after that, the webpage to check the status did not work and I did not find out I was upgraded until I checked at the airport. Happy I was upgraded but it was frustrating to have wait until check-in to know if I was upgraded on not. They should confirm these upgrades 48 hours prior to flight.
Hard product is 1-2-1, probably about 10 years old. Soft product was actually quite good and service was pleasant. Surprised/impressed they handed out pajamas. They only have 13 active wide-bodies in their fleet, serving long haul routes including adding JFK-BOG very soon, which will service one of their 3X daily flights.