Quite frankly, I fail to see what benefit Star Alliance people get from Avianca. "A vi nunca" any benefit. I have well over a million Star Alliance actual miles under my belt and most of that is on UA (which is not known for good customer service). I've never seen an airline behave like Avianca.

If you're needing to go to Latin American and you must stay on Star Alliance, I think Copa would be a much better choice as a connection partner. Although be warned, they play games too and they have a 'switch and bait' business class product that is much worse than other products (and PTY is a bad connecting experience). Quite frankly, I'd just forego the non-existant Star Alliance 'benefits' and fly LATAM or someone else.