Diversions...
What?! Why can’t anything be simple and easy... I wasn’t even planning on writing about Avianca but here we go - too much happened to let it go.
Sidebar - I booked this flight through LifeMiles, the first time I’ve actually redeemed them on Avianca. Getting back from Cuba to Canada was not easy, though Air Canada flies directly to Montreal and Toronto - Aeroplan does not permit Cuba redemptions, though North Korea is not excluded in its list. LifeMiles offered a routing through SAL, which was very convenient and had availability for three in business. Though San Salvador is not high on the list of places I’d like to visit, since I’d like to see all the countries, I accept every indirect chance I can get of accomplishing this. The connection was about 13 hours, overnight, but honestly I don’t think much more of San Salvador has to be seen. I had arranged the InterContinental overnight and a recommended driver from FlyerTalk to pick us up for 35 USD.
We went to HAV earlier than I usually would to account for any craziness that could happen at the airport, and also as we thought it would be air-conditioned.
Outside the terminal:
We were wrong on both fronts - the airport was actually calm and it was not air-conditioned. There were absolutely no line-ups at the check-in desk, and there was a separate desk for priority (Star Gold and business). The airport was muggy - it wasn’t as hot as outside, but there was no airflow, no draft.
The airlines operating were perhaps on the interesting side, though the only out-of-the-ordinary airlines would be Cubana, Aeroflot, and TAAG Angola.
I ventured outside again to get a glimpse of the distant Il-62 and Il-96s parked on the apron:
Here was our aircraft:
Back inside, there was a very expensive luggage wrapping station:
And here's the Cubana sales office:
No line-ups for customs or security, and security was once again "take off your watch and belt but laptop stays in bag"...
Immediately after security, there was a flight of stairs to go down - of course no escalator and only a handicap elevator.
On the right was a duty free store - rum was decently priced but all other alcohols were very expensive. Within this duty free store was a cigar room, which was quite nicely done.
On the left was a VIP lounge, which was gloriously air conditioned. Unfortunately, as one would expect, it does not belong to Priority Pass and Avianca/TACA does not have an agreement (it appeared that Iberia did).
Expensive pay-phone costs:
Awesome mix of signs:
The rest of the terminal was very small. We located one spot where the air conditioning was blowing slightly-cooled air (of course no seats underneath) and made ourselves comfortable using our carry-ons as benches.
This position proved to be a great place to enjoy the thunderstorm that was rolling in - fantastic lightning strikes and very dramatic colours. Boarding was to be from (jet bridge) gate 13, directly across from us. I had spotted our plane sitting on the tarmac, which would have indicated remote boarding. Luckily, it was in our sights and we noticed that a bus was pulling up to the plane, full of passengers. What? Where? No announcements were made, the FIDs were not accurate, and in fact above gate 13 there was still a sign with "El Salvador".