Originally Posted by
abaheti
Yes, 4D/4E, which seem like pretty reasonable business class options (center, side by side). Of course, I can't verify that the seats assignments are real because I can't get the website to work. I don't know why UA and AC would have a difference. If forced to speculate, my AC booking seems that AC and AV use the same locator whereas UA and AV are different. Maybe that helps AV's system process seats? I really have no clue. It is just odd to have two contrasting examples, both booked same day within hours.
Agree, it's strange (and annoying) and does not really make sense. Oh well. At least you appear to have (some) assigned seats that appear rational.
Originally Posted by
abaheti
and this which reads like a paid review but seems to match the info
OMG, that "blog" - shill, shill, shill ("travel influencer" pushing anything and everything including herself). Everything so glossy and magical... Aside from the huge credibility questions, the post you linked to is very outdated - it appears to be from 2018 or 2019 (the post itself is undated but it's posted between other old posts from pre-2019). Personally, I found that site to be extremely deceptive, and downright dishonest in some place, I'd take anything posted there with a giant hunk of rock salt. Don't get me started...
Originally Posted by
abaheti
This article seems current (dated early June 2023) and although thin on details meaningful to me (and probably to you), it does mostly align with what I've seen elsewhere. It appears to simply regurgitate points from an Avianca press release, so what it describes may be more of an aspiration right now than reality. I guess we'll (both) see.
More grist: I poked around and found more references, links and "reviews" about Avianca's BOG-LAX business class service. Here's an official Avianca page worth noting:
Upgrade to Business Class. You'll see the claimed benefits of flying Avianca Business class, including the layflat seat (on a 787) and (unspecified) "different food options" in business class. (So, despite some posts below claiming "there is no business class" it seems Avianca is selling that and calling it that (although they may only "sell" it as an upgrade, not directly as such?). And, things are changing (maybe they have been downplaying "business class" while waiting for 787 deliveries, which in fairness, have indeed been very delayed).
One thing worth noting is that it seems Avianca has a longstanding practice of wetleasing aircraft (including crews) from Wamos, a Spanish charter/wetlease company. I've seen lots of references to people being surprised at the last minute by an aircraft swap, expecting an Avianca 787 and getting a Wamos A330 (here are a couple older FT threads on it:
The Wamos Experience and
Avianca operated by Wamos?)
According to the "Simple Flying" blog (which seems a lot more credible and less fluffy to me than the "blonde blog" you linked to above), Avianca has been waiting on 787 deliveries (lots of airlines are), and has had Wamos fill in for it's not-yet-delivered 787 on the LAX-BOG route. They say that Wamos would be running their flights between Bogota and San Salvador and between Bogota and LAX from June 20 to October 20 (see:
Avianca Will Operate Long-Haul Routes With Leased Wamos Air Airbus A330s, dated April 2023). It looks like Avianca sent out a press release around June 1, and Simple Flying pushed out an update here:
Avianca To Deploy Its Boeing 787s With Business Class Seats On Bogota - Los Angeles Route. In that post, they make the claim that (according to yet another source - FlightRadar24), the switch-over in the LAX-BOG route from Wamos' to Avianca's own 787 should begin July 1 -
today:
"According to Flightradar24.com, it is apparent that Wamos will fulfill the carrier's schedule for June, and from July 1st, the carrier's own 787 will return to the skies." I guess we will see in a few hours if that's the case.
Of course, even if the Avianca-branded 787 takes over that route today, there's a chance that Wamos may get swapped back in at some point (the plan to change to Avianca's 787 today may have been a hope rather than an accomplishment). They wisely suggest:
"The wet-lease agreement kicked off on April 20th and, as previously reported by Simple Flying, was expected to continue until October 28th. So those looking to score a ticket on AV should check the airline's website and schedule to check if they will be on AV metal."
My LAX-BOG flight isn't until February 2024, so I'm hoping any initial issues will have been resolved by then. If my flight was scheduled very soon, I'd be more concerned about an unexpected aircraft swap.
[MENTION=477365]abaheti[/MENTION] - When is your LAX-BOG flight scheduled?