grandgourmand

I'm looking at a YYZ-SJO flight. My options are:

$1500 nonstop on AC Rouge in Y (5h flight)
$1200 via YUL also on AC Rouge in Y (12h35m travel time)
$1500 via SAL on Avianca in J (7h15m)

Outbound and inbound flights have about the same trip durations.

I know what to expect on Rouge...and I can make it work.

I expect Avianca J to be decent, but not great (A320). But it's at least in J, so would get lounge at YYZ, Zona Uno boarding, more legroom. I can also credit the Avianca flights to Iberia and get some Avios that can eventually be combined with my BA account.

With only 50 minute layovers in SAL, the Avianca seems like a better choice. I'm also booking for 4 people.

Thoughts? Advice?

expert7700

Remove all the Rouge Y choices from your list.

Then look again to see if the answer is more apparent.

grandgourmand

Ha! I was actually looking at a YYZ-CUN flight too and Interjet launched service not too long ago. I saw a 3.5 star rating on Tripadvisor.ca (looks like it's 4 now) and thought "uh oh, that's not good". Then saw Rouge at 2.5 stars.

Anyways, thanks.

jasdou

If you want to risk a 50 min connection in SAL, then sure, why not.

Personnally I'd book the direct flight even though it's on ACr. As you can see, you will get very different answers from different people here. It all depends on what you value. For me, less hassle, especially when travelling with 3 other people, wins over the limited comfort offered by an Avianca A320 J seat. But hey, life is an adventure, so why not?

grandgourmand

thanks....the 50 minute connection at SAL was also a concern. I asked about that on the AV forum and responses were unequivocal that it would not be a problem.

jc94

I'd echo the option to remove Rouge Y options. I can't actually think of any airline where I'd flying their Y to avoid flying another's J. I mean, maybe SQ over MU.

I don't think a $300 / 20-25% saving for the extra 5h or so is worth it personally, but again it depends. I know people who'd do that and won't even look at J.

My question would really be, regardless of how good SAL is or how likely a 50min connection is, or how on-time they are ... what is Avianca like when you misconnect? And what are the alt. options for getting you on another flight. I've not dealt with them so won't comment - beyond saying I know most airlines are much better for dealing with these things when one is in J.

pitz

To SJO, when I book, it usually ends up being cheaper to get 2 separate tickets, ie: AC to DFW, MIA (or even LAX), and then AA to SJO. And reverse. AA constantly runs ~$300 roundtrips from those gateways, and the AC-AA experience is pretty seamless even on separate tickets.


Would you mind sharing some rough dates? (ie: Saturdays in mid-January?)

grandgourmand

Thanks for the tip. Looking at 2nd week of March. Spring break with kids.

I_Can_Fly_US_Airways

As someone who used to live in South America, I would fly AV between LAX (J class) & SA all the time. While I normally like about a 3 hour connection when flying internationally to change airlines/terminals, San Salvador is about the easiest connection you can have. Similar to Panama, no customs/no immigration/no security to reclear (South bound sectors anyway).

Had many a 22 minute connection & NEVER once missed it (-:

songsc

I would suggest Avanica J. Even if you do miss the connection, the handling for J passengers should be better than ACr in Y.

The only way I would choose Avanica over ACr is for AQD/AQM (still, I would be very hesitate to do it in Y). But since you mentioned that you will be crediting to Iberia, this doesn't seem to be your concern.

ACYYZ/SD

First trumps Business - Business Trumps Economy - Nonstop Trumps connection.
So I guess we're back to Square One.

grandgourmand

I was told on the Avianca forum (different question so not a cross-post) that the AV flight is not a connection but a continuation. Same flight number throughout. So no worries about misconnect I guess.

jc94

Personally, no way I'd risk multiple tickets (unless one is fully flexible) without a huge gap. Like 2 days, in March.

Same flight number should be pretty safe.

Adam Smith

AV J is nothing special, but it's a huge upgrade on rouge Y.

I wouldn't even consider the rouge YUL connection for a heartbeat. If the $300 is that important to you to endure that agony, you can't afford this trip

So it would come down to the extra time of the connection and potential IRROPs hassles vs convenience of direct flight against the comfort of AV J vs rouge Y.

Looking through the past couple of weeks on FlightRadar, the same aircraft doesn't always operate the two legs of AV627 (YYZ-SAL and SAL-SJO), but it doesn't seem like a very high-risk connection, and AV does run another flight to SJO first thing in the morning, so worst case, they probably put you up in SJO for the night and you don't miss a lot of time in SJO. AV's customer service is sometimes quite good, but not always (AC doesn't have a monopoly on inconsistency).

I'd definitely take the connection myself because I'm 6'4" and unwilling to sit in rouge Y for that kind of time.

grandgourmand

I should have excluded the YUL connection. No way I'd take that. Just wanted to illustrate a ridiculous rouge fare on a bad connection.