Review: Avianca 787 Business Class Los Angeles To Bogota

Wait....did I read too fast and miss it? Who was waiting for you?

Interesting how their customer service was lacking.

@ Peter -- Stay tuned for the next installment, about the ground experience. 😉

Upon deplaning the chief purser said to me Mr. Schlappig, there’s someone waiting for you…”

Ok, you got me. I'm hooked and will return to check on for the next post

I laughed at the "fine cheese selection". And I can't wait to read your next post!

Lucky, if you had a more scandalous life you could write a memoir and sell it for movie rights.

Start spicing up your trip reports. The man you lived out of his hand luggage.

Very detailed review really enjoyed reading it. Looking forward to the next one.

interesting review, minus the mocking of someone's accent.

Yep, that's definitely not a thrilling Business class. I love trying new airlines and paying for tickets, but I don't see the point on this one if the food sucks and the crew miserable.

I always wonder if you actually call people out for being rude. I can tell you, if someone rolled their eyes at me for requesting a drink refill, I'd sure as hell call them out. Maybe a snarky "is that inconveniencing you?" would be enough. But I think part of why people like that get away with that kind of behaviour is because people don't call them out on it.

Not all reverse herringbone seats have fold out screens.
These seats are from Zodiac Aerospace.

The other similar seat on the market from their main rival be Aerospace has integrated screens in front of the seat as seen on Qatar's 787/ A350/ A380 fleet

Spot on, imo. Just flew this past weekend on Avianca; LIM - BOG and connected to BOG - JFK, both 787s. Both my crews were friendly, though. Given BOG - JFK flight departed 10:30 pm, and the food on the flight from LIM was not good at all, I skipped the mediocre meal and slept most of the way to NY.
Completely off topic, but on your upcoming trip to Peru, please visit the Priority Pass lounge in LIM on the domestic side; I'm sure it will be in the running for 'worst lounge ever.'

I feel like your tray table's face sums up your first leg experience with Avianca.

Agree with Kyle re: the agent's accent; for all the traveling you do and the experiences you've had, sometimes you come off as just plain ignorant, Ben. Seems ludicrous for me to suggest one "checks their privilege" in the comments on a blog devoted to luxury travel, but there you have it. You're better than some of your casually offensive comments (I hope)!

I truly do appreciate much of the info you've offered here over the months and years, but lately the posts have felt a little watered down and aimless (posts that only serve to alert us to upcoming posts/trip reports, etc.). Could you be overextended? Would love to see more from Tiffany, etc. and others on your team. No offense, but writing's not really your strongest suit... Humble suggestion: Try writing one post without using "given that". 😉

Wait a minute...half way through the article...the pictures & the captions below them don't match. Great review - can't wait to read more...

What a depressing business class experience. Doesn't make me want to fly with Avianca any time soon.

Wow @Zach, carrot up your A-hole much?Do you get any downtime?Considering you seem to be a Commander in the Political Correctness Brigade , yet also a gorgeous member of the literati, I'm surprised you have time to enlighten us with your drivel.Want to use A-hole again but nervous you may frown on repetition.
Please comment again ASAP.

Keep up the good work Ben, great reviews.

Have to agree on the accent front. It's a turn off. Is that something you do with your Asia or Middle East reviews?

It is really great that you're widening your horizons with new destinations but there's something that's just off-putting and somewhat patronizing about the tone of your Latin American write-ups. Don't confuse that as me expecting you to apply a curve--I've eaten more than my share of Clase Premier ham sandwiches on Aeromexico* and have found Avianca's service a little rough at times, but there's something that just doesn't come out right about your series of posts from Colombia over the past few months.

*Although, AM does serve champagne between the US and MEX (or at least SFO and MEX) in their little sippy glasses.

Well fukcn said "zach".
The days of referencing third world, people's accents,douche fests , bitchy and pissed are well and truly tiresome. Lift your game unlucky!

Great review as always, Ben!

But please, for the love of God, stop comma splicing everywhere. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/owlprint/607/

Cheers 🙂

Avianca seems to have a great hard product on their long haul aircraft, but agree that their soft product is a mess... Flew from IAD to LIM (via BOG) two months ago with them and service was just as you describe it. The male FA who did most of the service didn't even say a word and was even rude. Ah, and the lack of a proper three course meal as the rest of the world does, also pissed me off. Hope they can improve in that!

I am quite a regular on Avianca, flying between London and Bogota approximately 6 times a year. At present they only fly the A330 on this route and only one of these has the reverse herringbone seat, The others have angled lie flat which is ok, but showing its age. I completely agree with you about the quality of the food and the service. The last Gin and Tonic I asked for was a large full glass of Gin! After taking a sip I went and showed the stuardess how to make a Gin and Tonic. It's a shame as many year ago with the 767-200 between Madrid and Bogota the service was excellent. I have started to fly BA/IBERIA via Madrid as the service and food are so much better, albeit quite a bit more inconvenient to have to connect.

I have a product you may want to try Ben,
Dragonair's new first class product just got introduced a while ago, they are Cathay's sister company based in HK which fly the regional routes. Although their first class is just Cathay's business with leather seats I think that it is a pretty good product for two-five hour flights, maybe even the best. Maybe you can try and make a trip to HK for christmas or so and try out Dragonair first class.

Brother ,I live in Colombia 6 months out of the year......they are not pissed off, grumpy, or bad at their job....they just don't speak English well, and are reluctant to engage....Iberia, yea, they spot the 6'3 ginger as "possibly" not a Spanish-fluent speaker and work around it......we have worked out a "grunt" if you want more Gin Tonics" code

Same experience with Avianca business class: very comfortable flight to Buenos Aires via Bogota, though the service and food and drink selection was so-so. The lounge in Bogota also isn't much to boast about. What's weird about Avianca is that the flights through Bogota are much more comfortable than those through Lima or San Salvador on what used to be known as Taca. One good thing I'll say is that the LifeMiles frequent flier program is pretty good and Avianca is good about upgrades.

I´ve flown in avianca several times, from Miami to Bogotá in their A330 and from Bogotá to Pereira in their A318, both in economy class, it was very good since the crew was respondent, but in the Miami flight the flight attendant that served my line was quite bored. In the Pereira flight the flight attendant was the best flight attendant ever, she offered me to go to the pilot cabin she was amazing, and even though the flight was a short hop it was one of my best flights. I want to try Avianca 787 economy class product, it may be good!

Great report on Avianca's Business, just want to add Avianca isn't the only Latin American airline offering reverse herringbone seats on their Business Class, Aeroméxico also has those on the brand new 787-9s they got. Try their Clase Premier Experience on these aircrafts, it is frankly the best of the region.

Maybe steer clear of mimicking the agent's speech next time as it comes off kinda racist.

Here's my review if you can't afford business class but good old economy http://stuartoswald.com/2016/09/flight-review-flying-direct-from-london-to-bogota.html.

This is a nice, detailed review. It's a shame you had to resort to racist/nativist tropes to describe your experience at the service counter. I bet you are the kind of white individual who goes to Latin America (or any other "Third World" region) and expects to have everyone bowing down to you and kissing your ring. That may be a reason why you felt that the flight crew was snooty or not friendly enough. Your white privilege doesn't guarantee kiddie glove treatment.

I agree the food and soft service on this airline is well frankly terrible. The lounge also needs serious improvments.