Avianca.com booking: Just don't do it!!
Apr 14, 2018, 11:38 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Bali, Indonesia
Programs: AA, DL, AK, UN, CN
Posts: 967
Avianca.com booking: Just don't do it!!
Had a bad experience booking on Avianca.com yesterday. Worked out fine in the end without much trouble but was more stress than I needed.
Checking MDE-SJU, and for weeks prior, you could get a next-day flight for $220 O/W. Finally got my departure date fixed to go back to work this coming Monday, and guess what tickets were $550! ...! So booked the day after on Orbitz and checked back periodically for the $220. Later I see the $220 is back, and when it finally showed up, in that moment it was only avail on Avianca.com, so I booked it there. Canceled the Orbitz Tuesday flight no problem. Instead of confirmation from Avianca, you get a screen saying something like unconfirmed, you need to wait 8 hrs, we will email you later. Ok, so went out for dinner got home, still no confirmation. Orbitz by then had the $220 and was saying "this fare expires in one hour according to fare rules" (I also got an email while I was at dinner from Google flight alerts about the drop!) so since I didn't get any confirmation from Avianca, I went ahead and booked it since Orbitz has the 24-hour free cancelation policy.
Woke up this morning, still no word from Avianca so I call. They tell me the booking was canceled because they saw there were duplicate tickets. Well that worked fine for me, as it was true I had two tickets. Made it easy to just move forward with the Orbitz ticket (and luckily Orbitz was running a Avianca Orbucks special got $12 orbucks too!)
Moral of the story:
- Don't ever buy from Avianca.com if you can avoid it. They don't have instant confirmation. The operator told me the finance department must approve every ticket.
- Buy Avianca tickets from Orbitz or other OTA.
One final question (Orbitz related). I know they have the 24-hour cancelation, and I checked when I booked from Orbitz that it was available, but the issued ticket doesn't have the 24-hour cancelation. Wonder why? The ticket I bought and canceled actually allowed me to cancel free up to 24hrs before (guessing it was somehow fully refundable?). Wondering if when Avianca managed the double-booking I lost the 24-hour cancelation.
Checking MDE-SJU, and for weeks prior, you could get a next-day flight for $220 O/W. Finally got my departure date fixed to go back to work this coming Monday, and guess what tickets were $550! ...! So booked the day after on Orbitz and checked back periodically for the $220. Later I see the $220 is back, and when it finally showed up, in that moment it was only avail on Avianca.com, so I booked it there. Canceled the Orbitz Tuesday flight no problem. Instead of confirmation from Avianca, you get a screen saying something like unconfirmed, you need to wait 8 hrs, we will email you later. Ok, so went out for dinner got home, still no confirmation. Orbitz by then had the $220 and was saying "this fare expires in one hour according to fare rules" (I also got an email while I was at dinner from Google flight alerts about the drop!) so since I didn't get any confirmation from Avianca, I went ahead and booked it since Orbitz has the 24-hour free cancelation policy.
Woke up this morning, still no word from Avianca so I call. They tell me the booking was canceled because they saw there were duplicate tickets. Well that worked fine for me, as it was true I had two tickets. Made it easy to just move forward with the Orbitz ticket (and luckily Orbitz was running a Avianca Orbucks special got $12 orbucks too!)
Moral of the story:
- Don't ever buy from Avianca.com if you can avoid it. They don't have instant confirmation. The operator told me the finance department must approve every ticket.
- Buy Avianca tickets from Orbitz or other OTA.
One final question (Orbitz related). I know they have the 24-hour cancelation, and I checked when I booked from Orbitz that it was available, but the issued ticket doesn't have the 24-hour cancelation. Wonder why? The ticket I bought and canceled actually allowed me to cancel free up to 24hrs before (guessing it was somehow fully refundable?). Wondering if when Avianca managed the double-booking I lost the 24-hour cancelation.
Last edited by ryandelmundo; Apr 14, 2018 at 11:38 am Reason: wrong websie
Apr 15, 2018, 12:19 am
#2
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: YYZ/MGA
Programs: AA 1MM Lifetime Gold, AA Platinum, WS Gold, Marriott Bonvoy Gold
Posts: 7,607
I doubt the "finance department" literally approves each ticket but I bet they make sure they have a valid payment for each one however that's done (think: computers are doing this).
There's no accountant sitting there with a OK stamp going over thousands of reservations every day.
Rather than an OTA which may have terrible customer service have you considered using a real human local travel agency who get the same prices and you support a local maybe small, business at the same time? And you get to interact with real humans.
I don't book on Avianca.com either because I have a good real human travel agent at an agency I have been using since 1993.
There's no accountant sitting there with a OK stamp going over thousands of reservations every day.
Rather than an OTA which may have terrible customer service have you considered using a real human local travel agency who get the same prices and you support a local maybe small, business at the same time? And you get to interact with real humans.
I don't book on Avianca.com either because I have a good real human travel agent at an agency I have been using since 1993.
Apr 15, 2018, 2:01 am
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Barcelona, London, on a plane
Programs: BA Silver, TK E+, AA PP, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott LT Plat, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 13,041
Definitely learned to avoid Avianca as well.
I recently booked a flight for my GF. It seemed to go through OK, then she received an email asking her to call Avianca re. payment. After an hour on the phone with them she gets her e-ticket confirmed and payment taken. Shortly thereafter she receives an e-mail with her e-ticket.
Overnight, she gets an email saying that they've cancelled her ticket. ...? And, as airlines do, they will refund her money in their own sweet time...
Rate jumped, although you could hardly call the original fare a "mistake", so we had to book her on a different airline/route.
Mind-boggling really. Avianca had her money, issued an e-ticket, then decided it didn't want her business any more... (so maybe there is an accountant back there approving these things!) Unless they sold every single seat on those flights, they just cost themselves $1k...
I recently booked a flight for my GF. It seemed to go through OK, then she received an email asking her to call Avianca re. payment. After an hour on the phone with them she gets her e-ticket confirmed and payment taken. Shortly thereafter she receives an e-mail with her e-ticket.
Overnight, she gets an email saying that they've cancelled her ticket. ...? And, as airlines do, they will refund her money in their own sweet time...
Rate jumped, although you could hardly call the original fare a "mistake", so we had to book her on a different airline/route.
Mind-boggling really. Avianca had her money, issued an e-ticket, then decided it didn't want her business any more... (so maybe there is an accountant back there approving these things!) Unless they sold every single seat on those flights, they just cost themselves $1k...
