Has anyone travelled YYZ-BOG?

I have an upcoming trip to South America and it seems like the least expensive (and only *alliance flight) is via BOG (it also among the fastest).

However, BOG (and Columbia in general) conjures images of places I'd rather not be. The fact that, according to the ITA site, "The flight from Toronto Lester B Pearson (YYZ) to Bogota Eldorado (BOG) is subject to government approval", isn't helping me feel more comfortable.

What about Avianca Airlines? Which would be the airline onward from BOG.

Thanks.

I'm not sure how up to date that "subject to gov't approval" is, we have been flying to BOG for a while now.

A co-worker travelled thru BOG with his family in early Dec and he had no trouble with the cnx flight to Quito.

My boss missed his direct flight to Quito and went on the next flight to BOG just a few weeks ago.

He also made the connection to Quito, and more importantly, wasn't gunned down anywhere, if that's what you're worried about.

Yay, that kinda is what I am worried about. And I am aware how silly that makes me sound, it's just that I've not had much experience with South America and some guidebooks (like Frommer's) do not help when they state things like - BOG is not somewhere you want to hang around.

Frommer's is a guidebook aimed at the aged and poorly traveled. Buy it if you want to read about the 30 best cruise ship ports.

BOG airport is fine, and the city is very pleasant and picturesque as well. Even if the very worst happened and you misconnected and had to overnight, you'd be ok.

What is your onward destination?

My onward destination is Quito. AA and CO go there, but I'd have to stop in either MIA or IAH. And, I wouldn't get points or be able to use the lounges etc.

I would rather connect at BOG than at almost any other airport. The airport is old, but AV run it very well as a bit of a mini-hub. Connections AC-AV are as simple as can be. AV displays connection info on a board just before Colombian immigration. You bypass customs and immigration and head directly to your connecting gate. The terminal is small, and it's normally a 5 minute walk at most.

I have a 7 hour layover in BOG on my LAX-BOG-LIM trip coming up and I was wondering if visiting Bogota during my layover is plausible. How far is BOG from Bogota?

Not far, although BOG is a big city, so it would depend on what part of BOG you wanted to visit. Some of the most interesting parts of BOG are less than half an hour from the airport by cab.

The centre of the city's old part is Plaza Bolivar. It's worth seeing. From there you could stroll around the Candelaria which is really pleasant. There are a number of great museums in the area and nearby (the Gold Museum, the Botero, la Casa Moneda), though if you're between long periods of being in a metal tube, you might prefer to stay outdoors.

The more modern parts of Bogota are the Zona Rosa and the Parque de la 93. The Zona Rosa is an area of shops and restaurants. Parque de la 93 is a small park with a bunch of restaurants built around it. It's quite attractive.

The city's tourist authority has a booth at the airport. You'll pass it as you're about to leave the customs hall. If you decide to pick up a travel guide for Colombia, I'd definitely go with Lonely Planet as it's very up-to-date. The Frommers guide must have been written during the height of the city's security problems. I found it next to useless.

I have a 35 minute layover (JFK-BOG-LIM) between different Avianca flights 21 and 25 on a Monday. Will I be able to make it from one plane to the other, or is this cutting it too close?

You should be fine. Of all my flights departing from BOG I have yet to have any of them depart on-time.

Looking at FlightStats for AV25 that flight is delayed on average by 20min.

http://www.flightstats.com/go/Flight...ate=2007-04-01

I am booked to connect YYZ-BOG-UIO with the YYZ-BOG on AC and BOG-UIO on AV.

It is on a single PNR.

I asked the AC phone person but they couldn't answer so I thought I would check here.

Do I need to check in again in BOG? Or can I check through in YYZ. If I can check through, will I need to pick up and re-check my baggage or can AC interline it from YYZ? I don't have a huge layover in BOG, so I am hoping to do as much as I can in YYZ.

Thanks,

As long as your bags are tagged to UIO you don't have to pick up your bags. As Spounce has already noted in his post, as you approach immigration you will see connecting flight details on moveable sign that is about 1.5 metres high which they can slide in and out destination cities and gate numbers. There is usually an AV representative in her red uniform to offer assistance. Even if you don't get your boarding pass just go to the gate.

BOG is a fun city. I use to go there when I was working with an IT company there for my Costa Rican client. I enjoyed it very much that when I was in FLL at another client site, I told someone how much fun BOG is at the dance clubs at night and checking out the Church and Monstery on Montserrate that we went for the weekend. (Clothing there is also very inexpensive).

Happy travels
Cheers