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Old Jul 24, 2024 | 4:19 am
  #13  
Tokar
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I just flew round-trip IAD-BOG,BOG-IAD. Outbound was the 3pm flight, inbound was the 12AM flight. Both were A320's. Both had the first two rows as a 2x2 configuration with a wider armrest. It appeared that the seats may have been a touch wider, but it was hard to tell without actually sitting in them.

The economy seats started after the exit row and were like Spirit Airlines seats, small tray, no recline, no media screen. Premium seats were like American Airlines economy seats, limited recline, thicker cushion with a headrest that moved up and down, full tray, also no media screen, the worst being that leg room is the same as economy seats. The business class seats had a quilted design on the cushion and appeared to be thicker. Seats did recline but since they were not in a true separated section and instead appeared like additional standard rows, the recline was limited. It appeared passengers in these seats were offered complementary beverages and food, unlike the rest of the cabin that has to pay for it.

The forward bathroom was limited to only business class passengers. The plane had Wi-Fi but just for watching local media, no internet. Between the aisle and middle seat was a single USB C port that only managed to put out 600 mA according to my Pixel 8 phone with Ampere app. Between the aisle and window seats were two USB A ports (untested). For economy passengers, the only free drink offered was a cup of water at the back of the plane; they did fill my daughter's water bottle, though.

Regarding Bogota airport: Bogota appears to have stopped the practice of post-ticket scanning security checks where in the past they would confiscate bottled drinks, so you should be able to buy drinks and bring them on the plane now (although they may still be doing SS checks, just pray you don't get selected at check-in). Dulles did not do any checks for carry-on size (dimensions), Bogota did. El Dorado Lounge charges both for the hot meal buffet and the showers. Avianca VIP lounge does not charge for either.

One really strange thing happened on the flight down from IAD. We got to the airport at 1pm for the 3pm flight. I was all giddy ready to use my shiny new Silver Status (from the Cardless credit card) to skip the usual ridiculous check-in line. We get there and there's no line. None, zero. We talk to the girl who usually checks documents before getting to the desk and she was like "you're late", which left us befuddled. We think she was half joking but half serious. I guess either 1) check-in was super efficient and got everyone done fast or 2) people have gotten so fed up with Avianca lines that they all showed up 3+ hours early to check-in. It was so weird. Same thing happened at boarding. We went to the Lufthansa lounge right across from the gate, left at 2:30 and they told us we were the last to board. It was so weird. And yes the flight was mostly full.
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