Trip Report: Avianca Airlines, Medellin to Bogota (August 2019)

Trip Report: Avianca Airlines, Medellin to Bogota
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I was traveling from Medellin to Bogota and there are a couple of options for intra-Colombia flights: LATAM Colombia, Avianca Colombia, and Viva Air.  LATAM and Avianca are more legacy carriers while Viva is a low-cost carrier.  I was looking to fly in the evening and was flying without any luggage so when comparing everything, LATAM and Viva were close in price while Aviana was almost twice as expensive.  Despite this, I selected to fly with Aviance because I wanted to try the airline and also Avianca is a member of Star Alliance so I would receive points for this flight. 

It was very easy to book the flight through Avianca's website and easy to manage the reservation through the app (tip: there was a price difference on the same flight between Avianca's US website and its Colombian website - so if you understand Spanish and have a credit card that can be charged in international currency, book through other websites).  Unlike its competitors, Avianca does not have a basic economy option.  It is a full-service airline so its lowest fare option includes a meal and complimentary checked baggage, but you have to pay to select a seat.  Since the flight time is only 1hour, I decided to take my chances and not to pay for the seat.  Once the flight was booked, it was very easy to manage the reservation either through the app or through the website and 24-hours prior to the flight I was able to check-in and receive my boarding pass through the app.  While checking in I could also select my seat for free based on seat availability.    

My flight - AV9333 - was scheduled to depart Medellin at 8:52p and arrive into Bogota at 9:49pm.  Due to traffic in Colombia, I arrived at the airport earlier than usual and with my mobile boarding pass (and no luggage to check-in) went through security and directly to my gate (with virtually no interaction with anyone from the airline).  We were scheduled to board at 8:15pm but we were delayed and did not end up boarding until 8:30p.  We were boarded by groups and boarding was somewhat efficient so that we were seated and ready to go by 9:15pm.   The operating aircraft was an Airbus A321 with a 3-3 seat configuration.  The seats were very comfortable with nice padding, nice seat width, and excellent seat pitch (I had a lot of legroom and I'm 6'1).  The seatback had a nice and new PTV which was touchscreen and contained a USB port underneath (to charge your phone and small electronics).  Below that was a full tray table and below that was a seat pocket for your personal belonging as well as the airline magazine and safety card.  Above the seat was an air vent, a flight attendant call button, and new screens which showed no cellphones and buckle seatbelt signs.  The PTV was on and operational from the time you sat down so you can start browsing the selection and start watching immediately.  Even though this was a domestic flight, there were TV shows, music, and games available; while there were no movies, there was enough selection of the other entertainment to cover the 45min flight. 

After the safety video was shown, we started our slow taxi to the runway.  It took more than 25 minutes from the time we left the gate to the time we took off, and during that entire time no communication happened from the flight deck - in fact there was little communication throughout the entire flight.  Once we reached cruising altitude, the inflight service commenced.  As it was night time, complimentary tea, coffee, and water were provided.  Even though the flight was only 45min, it was nice to receive these complimentary items - and the water was a full mini-bottle of water so it was nice to receive it as another amenity of Avianca as a full-service airline.  Once the inflight service was finished, the FA's came around to collect trash as it was already time to descend into Bogota.  We landed behind schedule, taxied to the gate, waited, and finally deplaned.  

Overall, it was a pleasant flight with Avianca.  As I said before, the prices for this flight were double

those of both Viva Air and LATAM so in that aspects Avianca is not competing; however, Avianca wins in every other category from inflight entertainment to service options to overall satisfaction.  Yes you do pay a higher price (as I said, double that of both LATAM and VivaAir) but with the higher price you get a higher quality of service and a higher quality onboard product.  The positives were free checked luggage included in the ticket price, great onboard product, good service, and Star Alliance partnership; negatives included late departure, no communication regarding delays, and higher price.  Would I fly them again - if I had luggage that I needed to check and it was a longer flight, then definitely yes for long-haul, but for short-haul I am not sure the higher fare, again more than double the fare, justifies the good onboard service.