Help with Avianca connection at Bogota
 

I will be flying IAD-BOG-CTG. The IAD-BOG arrives at 9:01pm and the BOG-CTG flight departs at 10pm.

Delta, who issued my ticket on Avianca, says this is a legal connection as does AV.

How does it work?

Do I have to clear customs in BOG since it is my first point of entry into Colombia?

I will have just carry-on luggage and am in business class.

Do you have to take a shuttle bus to the connecting terminal, or can you walk?

Any suggestions?

On the return, I land in BOG at 7:20am and leave at 9:21am. I assume domestic to international with 1 hour 59 minutes is sufficient?

The answer is yes to both questions: you do have to clear immigration in BOG, and you do have to take a shuttle bus to Avianca's "Puente Aéreo" domestic terminal. The connection is tight, but doable if your incoming flight is on time. Pay attention to Avianca personnel in the arrivals tunnel of the international terminal before immigration, who usually stand around and shout out connecting flight information (or just stand around...). They then usually lead you to the front of the line to clear immigration without a wait, and show you where to take the shuttle bus to the other terminal.

On the return, the process is similar, but easier since you have more time. When you arrive at the "Puente Aéreo" terminal, there is a connections counter right before baggage claim, where they will direct you to the shuttle bus to the international terminal.

Thanks for the information.

Is Avianca pretty helpful in the event of a misconnect?

Will they pay for a hotel near the airport?

I would think that if there is a misconnect on the outbound, then the fault would lie with Delta arriving late or customs and immigration delaying you. I don't think there is any way Avianca could be held responsible - unless you arrive in BOG on time,get through customs without delay and the Avianca transfer bus took a wrong turn and took you to the bus terminal instead of the domestic air terminal!

3544quebec - the IAD-BOG flight is also AV-operated. DL just issued the ticket.

chuck1 - I have no first-hand experience, but know from others that AV will pay for a hotel if the misconnect was within their control. If it's a weather-related delay, for example, they don't pay for a hotel. This information relates to economy passengers, however, so I don't know if C gets a different and better treatment.

Thanks again.

It is a DL issued ticket in C class using Skymiles.

An inauspicious 1001st post then ;)

Do not relay on Avianca at all.
They will not be helpfull and they will not take over any cost, even if they cancle the connection. And, they will make your luggage a lot lighter.

If there is one airline to avoid, it is Avianca.

Well here is what happened IAD-BOG-CTG...

We arrived about 10 minutes early at 8:50pm at what I think was gate 9 at the far end of the concourse.

The line to get through immigration was practically backed up to gate 6-7.

It was one of the biggest immigration lines I've seen anywhere.

I asked a lady with a yellow vest on who said no problem get in the line. You will have no delay in getting through to the domesitc terminal for a 10pm flight. I think she worked for the airport authority. She did say check with an Avianca agent though.

I then asked an Avianca agent who took me (and some other domestic connecting passengers) to the far side of the line through the diplomatic/crew channel. This too was busy but must have cut the wait down at least an hour.

There was another Avianca agent who expedited through the x-ray area and directed us to the bus.

I made it over to the Avianca Puente Aereo building around 9:35pm. All that took 45 minutes and I was greatly expedited.

I think Avianca needs to come up with a better solution than 1 hour connections from international to domestic flights at Bogota. In fact, the Cali, Medellin and Barranquilla flights have 50 minutes.

They seem to know this and go out of there way to expedite Washington DC arriving passengers.

The business class service was very nice. DVDs were offered plus a snack first (chicken sandwich) served immediately after take off and then a full dinner 2 hours before landing at BOG.

I was impressed on a flight with a 4 hour 40 minute flying time.

Glad you made it! ^

For anybody else doing the same trip, ALWAYS look for an Avianca agent. They always do the same.

LR

At that time of night, the immigration line in BOG is always like that. The airport is simply too small for the amount of passengers. They did recently expand the number of passport control booths, so even though the line is long, it moves very fast. It usually takes no more than 30 minutes to get through the regular queue.

Still, I'm glad that you finally found the Avianca agent to take you to the front of the line. That indeed is standard practice, without which no-one would make their domestic connecting flights.

Perhaps a better way to avoid customs/connections craziness at BOG, for those going to other destinations in Colombia, is to connect in MIA instead. Avianca appears to have non-stops from MIA to most major Colombian cities, including CTG.

Wanted to see if there were any updates here. Considering flying Avianca from Santa marta to Bogota (sched arrival 11pm) and then connecting onward to American at 1:35AM to DFW. Understand the bus that runs between the two terminals will have already stopped at 11pm & the terminals are far apart. But assuming I elect to take a taxi (anyone know how much it would be?)? How long does it take to get to the gate? Assume the flight is an hour delayed and I get in closer to midnight, is 90 minutes still enough? I will not be checking luggage.

Yes everything above has changed. Bogotá now has a new airport and the Avianca domestic arrivals arrive in the same building as the international departures. (Although technically they are different terminals)

If you get a gate quickly and have no hand luggage then the walk to the domestic baggage hall and onto either emigration or the AA desks is tops 10 minutes.

Come out of domestic baggage turn left, go up the escalator, on your left is emigration, straight ahead is international check in.

For those arriving from international flights and connecting to domestic flights, you don't have to collect your bags and re-check, they go straight through. Customs is now magic probably, you will see your bags at the final destination.

SMR still goes into Puente Aereo
 

While everything JC said above is true for most travelers on national AV flights, there are still some that go to Puente Aereo and SMR is one of them. I flew MDE-BOG-SMR-BOG-MDE about a month ago and we had to take the bus. IF the bus is running at that hour, the connection would still be fine. I could not find anything on the AV site or the airport site that indicated the hours of operation. If you take a taxi, you would have plenty of time too.

However, as it happens I am flying that route again tomorrow. I will try to confirm the hours the bus operates and let you know.