wife and I booked a business class flight on Avianca from SFO to Panama with an hour layover in SAL using Air Canada/Aeroplan points. I’ve heard from friends that they are okay while others on here said they are terrible. Question is: should we keep it as is or look for something on COPA (direct) instead?
this is part of our honeymoon trip so just looking to make things as smooth as possible. thanks!
I posted here about my poor experience with Avianca the other day and got so much abuse (“you have main character energy”, “feel better now princess?”) from Avianca employees / fans / people who want to defend them, that I took the post down. But I want to repost my experience as advice for anyone else who is not familiar with the airline and is considering them for an international flight. (I’m sure they’re just fine for domestic flights, for which I have lower standards.)
They are now considered a low cost carrier apparently. I did not know that because I had always only been aware of them as Colombia’s national carrier, and my ticket was not cheap. Be aware of that. It means no entertainment system even for long flights, a ham and cheese sandwich as your meal on multiple leg journeys and only water / coffee / orange juice unless you want to pay extra for other junk food, and uncomfortable and small seats that don’t recline.
They are knowingly overcharging people for checked bags by having a “glitch” on their website that makes it impossible to add the checked bag at the pre-check in price. The workers are fully aware of this “glitch.” Be aware that the price will be significantly higher once check in opens, and at the gate. Make sure to take screenshots and screen recordings of the “glitch” happening because that’s the only way they might give you the pre check in price, and if not you can use the screenshots as evidence when you contest the overcharge with your credit card.
They might confiscate any liquid or cream items you buy at the bogota airport, after you’ve gone past security. This happened to me, and according to what I’ve seen on the internet, to many other people.
For everyone out there who loves Avianca, enjoy your flights. For anyone else who is considering flying them versus another airline that might be slightly more expensive, or even cheaper .. I suggest you consider these points before booking.
Hola. Estoy en el proceso de comprar un vuelo con avianca. Tengo 3 nombres segundos, y Avianca tiene un limite de caracters entonces el nombre no cabe.
Como manejar esto?? Gracias!
desperate for help...
Lifemiles booked me a ticket with miles.. but now they say the middle name is missing.
they are unable to tell me how to fix it. Call center said to contact Whasapp that has a process. but they tell me they can't finish it since it was not purchases by avianca, but with miles, so I have to call the call center.. which again tells me to to go to whastapp.. and I am in endless loop...
the agents also tend to just hang up when you tell them you already tried it..
does anyone have any tips?
Do most of their A320's have wifi now a days?