Avianca newbie - first report
Apr 11, 2018, 9:28 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 1,319
Avianca newbie - first report
So, after all of the things I've read here and elsewhere about Avianca, I set my expectations pretty low. Fortunately, so far at least, everything turned out to be pretty decent.
- A330 business class seats are very good. Granted, these are not as good as most modern fully lie-flat seats, but they are eminently "sleapable" (and, in fact, for someone like me who prefers to keep top part elevated at all times - perfect).
- Plane was clean, looked decent and everything worked (almost, my companion's seat had 2 non-op buttons which prevented more fine adjustment of the leg rest, but it still fully reclined so no harm done)
- While food was not top notch, it was quite edible, nothing was truly bad and the parfait was, in fact, excellent.
- Flight attendants were amiable and helpful. Anecdotally, I discovered after using a bathroom while we were still at the gate that there is no running water - something about it not being available when plane is not flying. Asked an FA, and she apologized and came to pour water from a bottle so I could wash hands. I am usually a UA flyer, so I tried to imagine what would happen if this was a UA crew - do I really need to say more?
- There was food service even on a shorter (1hr 30min) flight, and it was darn good.
- Planes were on time, boarding and disembarkation timely and connections easy. I know Avianca is often late (just saw the same flights being late by a whole lot for the last few days), but that's my experience.
- Very nice lounge in Bogota, not the best I've been to but sure as heck orders of magnitude above anything available in the US by US carriers.
- I also had to deal with Avianca CS on the phone several times prior to this flight, and they were all helpful and competent (again, in stark contrast to my usual dealings with UA or AA, where I actually get "premium CS" as an "elite status holder")
I don't know how much of this experience is accidental and how much representative of how Avianca usually is. However, based on this, if my choice on any route was Avianca or UA, it would be Avianca by a mile (and that's not even taking into account ticket prices).
I am posting this here to provide some counter-balance to the multiple negative posts about terrible Avianca experience. YMMV, of course, and my trip is not done yet, so we'll see how it goes further.
- A330 business class seats are very good. Granted, these are not as good as most modern fully lie-flat seats, but they are eminently "sleapable" (and, in fact, for someone like me who prefers to keep top part elevated at all times - perfect).
- Plane was clean, looked decent and everything worked (almost, my companion's seat had 2 non-op buttons which prevented more fine adjustment of the leg rest, but it still fully reclined so no harm done)
- While food was not top notch, it was quite edible, nothing was truly bad and the parfait was, in fact, excellent.
- Flight attendants were amiable and helpful. Anecdotally, I discovered after using a bathroom while we were still at the gate that there is no running water - something about it not being available when plane is not flying. Asked an FA, and she apologized and came to pour water from a bottle so I could wash hands. I am usually a UA flyer, so I tried to imagine what would happen if this was a UA crew - do I really need to say more?
- There was food service even on a shorter (1hr 30min) flight, and it was darn good.
- Planes were on time, boarding and disembarkation timely and connections easy. I know Avianca is often late (just saw the same flights being late by a whole lot for the last few days), but that's my experience.
- Very nice lounge in Bogota, not the best I've been to but sure as heck orders of magnitude above anything available in the US by US carriers.
- I also had to deal with Avianca CS on the phone several times prior to this flight, and they were all helpful and competent (again, in stark contrast to my usual dealings with UA or AA, where I actually get "premium CS" as an "elite status holder")
I don't know how much of this experience is accidental and how much representative of how Avianca usually is. However, based on this, if my choice on any route was Avianca or UA, it would be Avianca by a mile (and that's not even taking into account ticket prices).
I am posting this here to provide some counter-balance to the multiple negative posts about terrible Avianca experience. YMMV, of course, and my trip is not done yet, so we'll see how it goes further.
Apr 12, 2018, 6:35 am
#2
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: NY, NY & Long Island
Posts: 76
Thank you for this. I have a slew of Avianca trips booked next Fall and, after the strike and reading a few horror stories, I was starting to wonder if I had made a mistake in booking them. Please let us know how the rest of your trip turns out
Apr 22, 2018, 8:47 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 1,319
A few more flights on Avianca, mostly in C, but also in Y. So far - so good. The picture isn't all rosy, and there appears to be a pattern of some issues.
What's still good:
- FAs are still polite and helpful. I've so far met one that was somewhat too "businesslike" (older lady, it looked like other FAs are also a bit afraid of her), and a younger male FA who, while nice, basically hid himself up behind a curtain and didn't perform any service during the short CUZ-LIM flight. That was the minority, however, and issues were not substantial. Still orders of magnitude better than UA.
- Food is still pretty good. Not exceptional, but everything was edible and some of the stuff pretty good.
- Hard product is pretty good on all planes, at least at, and mostly above US carrier level (UA/AA)
- All flights were on time, or had minimal delays (again, I saw in previous days much more serious delays, but perhaps we were lucky).
- Check in/gate agents were nice and helpful. Was able to get a free upgrade on a CUZ-LIM flight - not really worth much as there is virtually no service, but no complaints about spending some time in a nicer seat.
- Website works very well - always able to check in online, update seats, get boarding passes etc.
Things that were not that good:
- Upkeep of cabin and seats. Every seat had some issues - nothing major, but always something noticeable, broken button here or there, torn seat back pouch, issues with tray tables and armrests etc.
- Cleanliness is definitely not Avianca's to priority. On the fairly new 787 air intake grates in the ceiling are covered by a thick layer of dust (will post photo later), palm marks above overhead lockers. Dirt in crevices of handrests, tray tables, pockets is par for the course. Never excessive, but always visible. Again, on par with US domestics, but nothing to be proud of.
- First world problems:
I did not like the first row business seats on A320 (no leg space). I also really did like a lie flat on 787 - found it to be poorly designed, uncomfortable, and IFE system is also extremely user-unfriendly. In fact it is now my least favorite business class seat (of all I tried), including the old style Avianca A330 seat. Still beats being in Y, of course
- Boarding process is hit and miss. In some airports it's pretty annoying, while in others - well organized. I find that being in group A is more of a disadvantage as most of the time I ended up stuck somewhere, waiting longer than those in the last group.
- No lounge in Lima, instead Avianca gives an essentially useless $15 voucher to an overpriced airport cafe. Not entirely their fault, however, as the sole airport VIP lounge is absolutely full and looks more like a cattle corral (so not big loss).
There you have it. So, Avianca is not my favorite airline in the world, but still makes mostly a "nice list". Would fly again if/when opportunity arises.
Still have one flight to go - let's see how that goes.
What's still good:
- FAs are still polite and helpful. I've so far met one that was somewhat too "businesslike" (older lady, it looked like other FAs are also a bit afraid of her), and a younger male FA who, while nice, basically hid himself up behind a curtain and didn't perform any service during the short CUZ-LIM flight. That was the minority, however, and issues were not substantial. Still orders of magnitude better than UA.
- Food is still pretty good. Not exceptional, but everything was edible and some of the stuff pretty good.
- Hard product is pretty good on all planes, at least at, and mostly above US carrier level (UA/AA)
- All flights were on time, or had minimal delays (again, I saw in previous days much more serious delays, but perhaps we were lucky).
- Check in/gate agents were nice and helpful. Was able to get a free upgrade on a CUZ-LIM flight - not really worth much as there is virtually no service, but no complaints about spending some time in a nicer seat.
- Website works very well - always able to check in online, update seats, get boarding passes etc.
Things that were not that good:
- Upkeep of cabin and seats. Every seat had some issues - nothing major, but always something noticeable, broken button here or there, torn seat back pouch, issues with tray tables and armrests etc.
- Cleanliness is definitely not Avianca's to priority. On the fairly new 787 air intake grates in the ceiling are covered by a thick layer of dust (will post photo later), palm marks above overhead lockers. Dirt in crevices of handrests, tray tables, pockets is par for the course. Never excessive, but always visible. Again, on par with US domestics, but nothing to be proud of.
- First world problems:
I did not like the first row business seats on A320 (no leg space). I also really did like a lie flat on 787 - found it to be poorly designed, uncomfortable, and IFE system is also extremely user-unfriendly. In fact it is now my least favorite business class seat (of all I tried), including the old style Avianca A330 seat. Still beats being in Y, of course
- Boarding process is hit and miss. In some airports it's pretty annoying, while in others - well organized. I find that being in group A is more of a disadvantage as most of the time I ended up stuck somewhere, waiting longer than those in the last group.
- No lounge in Lima, instead Avianca gives an essentially useless $15 voucher to an overpriced airport cafe. Not entirely their fault, however, as the sole airport VIP lounge is absolutely full and looks more like a cattle corral (so not big loss).
There you have it. So, Avianca is not my favorite airline in the world, but still makes mostly a "nice list". Would fly again if/when opportunity arises.
Still have one flight to go - let's see how that goes.
Apr 22, 2018, 10:51 pm
#4
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: CA
Programs: UA.AV
Posts: 75
Well I do not see how you could compare Avianca's lounge in Bogota with the Star Alliance Premium lounge at LAX which is as good a lounge as any I have been in anywhere. I have been an Avianca fan but after this week's round-trip on their 787 to BOG, I am quite underwhelmed.......