Other North & South America Frequent Flyer Programs - Avianca- Thoughts?

I am debating between a AA and Avianca flight from Miami to Bogota. Any feedback on Avianca service vs. AA?

I am debating between a AA and Avianca flight from Miami to Bogota. Any feedback on Avianca service vs. AA?
I can not give any feedback to AA.
On Avianca, however, they cancled my connection flight Caracas - Quito via Bogota five days before departure, they also made very clear that they will not pay any hotel and, if I will arrive in Caracas, it will be on my own risk.
They where also not helpfull to find another route on that day, so I had a 23 hours layover in Caracas, by arriving one day earlier.
The luggage did not make it, but this was due to Lufthansa safekeeping it in Caracas and they were not there to release it when my flight was due.
Finally, on this connection, someone took a lot of for me valuable Swiss chocolate from my luggage by actually damaging the luggage. The damaged luggage I spotted as an acident before leaving the airport in Quito, so else, I would have had no change to get at least my luggage payed for. The chocolate - no change.
Avianca is not an option in my oppinion.

I prefer AV, good service free drinks

Avianca has come a long way in the last few years. I would say it is 2nd to Lan as for as best Latin American carriers.

Miami to Bogota will be on a 757 or 767 and even in Y the service is superior to AA. Seat pitch in Y is about 32"-33". I haven't flown J with them for a while, but I do remember that in Y they give hot towels, beverage service, a pretty good hot meal that includes a Colombian dessert/treat, beverage service again, and famous Juan Valdez coffee. Liquor is free. Headsets are free to use too but they are collected at the end of the flight. Also if you collect Aviancaplus miles, usually the miles are posted to your account before you get home/to your hotel. Upgrades are sometimes available in MIA for about $230.

Something to note:
*Avianca will charge you a $5 tourism tax in MIA. It's a legitimate tax. They charge it in MIA. AA, for example, charges it in BOG on the way back. The $5 tourism tax is only charged once.

There are a few downsides to Avianca:
*Check in is slow. In MIA it's not too bad though.
*Inconsistent answers from staff regarding upgrade policies, both through their elite program and paid upgrades on day of departure. But if you are flying solely to BOG, any purchased upgrades should be fine (my problem was trying to upgrade 2 segments)
*They have a reputation of delays for maintenance (but you are AA EXP, so you're used to that)

I would have not recommended Avianca in 2005 when I started flying them, but I would give them a B+ today and an A+ for improvement. I'll be flying them more this year since I have already requalified for AA PLT.

Avianca has come a long way in the last few years. I would say it is 2nd to Lan as for as best Latin American carriers.
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I would have not recommended Avianca in 2005 when I started flying them, but I would give them a B+ today and an A+ for improvement. I'll be flying them more this year since I have already requalified for AA PLT.
My experiences date from last christmas.

My experiences date from last christmas.

I am sorry you had a bad experience, however that is normal for pretty much any airline.

I've flown Avianca nearly a dozen times since 2005. The service has improved, and the planes/in-cabin service are pretty nice.

The biggest problem with Avianca is getting something changed or dealing with an unusual situation. They are just now transitioning to a more customer-oriented model of service.

From MIA, you would be silly to fly AA unless they were quite a bit cheaper. Avianca's cabin and comfort are better -- as is the service.

Avianca's Business product destroys AA on this route as well. Avianca's business product is what you would expect on a short-medium international route like MIA-BOG, and AA's service is what you'd expect on a 10 minute flight in the U.S. -- not very much.

I highly recommend Avianca over AA.

I am sorry you had a bad experience, however that is normal for pretty much any airline.
Before I made this trip, at the Zürich Stammtisch, I was told by my fellow FT collegues, that leaves you stranded. I did not believe, because my trip 18 Month earlier went though ok.

I've flown Avianca nearly a dozen times since 2005. The service has improved, and the planes/in-cabin service are pretty nice.

The biggest problem with Avianca is getting something changed or dealing with an unusual situation. They are just now transitioning to a more customer-oriented model of service.
But this is exactly the time, when a good airline is required. The service on board is one thing, but how they treat you when you need it, that is much more important.
From MIA, you would be silly to fly AA unless they were quite a bit cheaper. Avianca's cabin and comfort are better -- as is the service.

Avianca's Business product destroys AA on this route as well. Avianca's business product is what you would expect on a short-medium international route like MIA-BOG, and AA's service is what you'd expect on a 10 minute flight in the U.S. -- not very much.

I highly recommend Avianca over AA.
The 757 I flew with, they used stickers to keep the sealing up.

To enhance the story: A group of 9 arrived in Caracas with Air France and were stranded there because Avianca did not take them with them to Quito as booked and confirmed. More than 24 hours taken from a 8 day holliday trip. Avianca told them, that Air France did not clear them. But the Air France member of staff could not convince the Avianca member of staff.
The 8 different passangers waiting in the international arrival section in Caracas, however, where very happy to get on this flight. Somehow, I had the feeling, they knew each other. :confused:

Theres nothing wrong with AV. I'd use them as my prefered carrier if only they were in some sort of a decent alliance. I still use them plenty in domestic Colombia and some Latin American internationals however. On Board Service is good, customer service on ground is good, etc.

Avianca can be quite good when it comes to onboard service. They have definitely grown up a little bit in the last few years.

The main difference between Avianca and AA is that AV is Colombian and function in a more relaxed Colombian manner, and AA is very corporate and operates in a rigid North American manner. There are definitely positives and negatives about both.

With AV for example, you will find that there is often access to upgrades for a few more $$ and that if you fly them frequently you will be treaded como una amistad. With AA, you can trust the rigid upgrade system, but you must play by the rules, period.
On the other hand, AA has pretty good standard information from both web site and agents. AV can be a bit random as information is made up as they go. Like I said, this can be good and bad. By far my biggest complaint about AV is their lack of a reliable, useful website.

As others have said, AV J class is real international J class, unlike the domestic style first class on AA. Y on either is about the same: more predictable on AA as you know the aircraft configs pretty well, varied on AV as they have a couple different seating versions on (for example) their 757s.

Between South Fla or JFK and Colombia, I would choose AV. They have more choices if you include domestic connections in Colombia (in case of irreg ops), have the wonderfully timed FLL-BOG flight, and simply have more seats between the routes. For connections through BOG to the rest of South Amercia I guess AV would not be my first choice unless the price was right.

My flights with Avianca were polar opposites: Miami-Bogota and domestic (I've only done Bogota-Medellin) were pretty good. Not outstanding but good - free drinks, competent (and some were HOT:p) FAs. The flights are short anyway so it shouldn't matter much. Avianca has some good fares to South America where you can stop in Colombia and that's why I flew them.

My Bogota-Rio de Janeiro flights were bad. FAs didn't really care, no drink runs over 6 hours and it was so boring as Avianca didn't have personal IFE in economy.

I guess OP needs to look at price, schedule and which mileage program he/she wants the miles to go. Avianca is good for Delta and Air France/KLM, both are in Skyteam.