Avianca has been trying to transform its business since the start of the pandemic, including becoming a more efficient airline. The next step in that process has just been announced.
Continue reading: Avianca Eliminates Business Class On Most Routes
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
They have already done this on J to Europe. It’s business in name but economy / premium economy in service! Strapped for cash they have continued with cutbacks on passenger experience on ground and in the air in the name of covid. I am sure when they do a long haul route in americas they will just call it premium, use the J seats, and offer the same shitty service they already do. Not surprising, but quite sad.
I was trying to decide between Avianca and Copa Airlines. It was tough choice but I guess I’m gonna go with Copa Airlines. I have never flown them before.
Even more reason to fly Americas Sweetheart...American Airlines.
Once you go American, You never go Back. Its the same as OMAAT..Once you go OMAAT, you never go TPG.
The vast majority of the people on Avianca flights between Colombia and Europe are just going to/ from Colombia. Very very few are connecting to onward countries. Those that are are normally in coach on cheap fares only going on Avianca because it offers a low fare versus a nonstop from whatever country the passenger is traveling through. I dont think that traffic is a priority, and Avianca clearly, in my mind, knows where there are people willing to pay a premium for travel. I do agree that the LAX market will be a headscratcher, but most of the rest of the Colombia- USA market is increasingly being dominated by ULCC and LCC low cost providers, especially in bread and butter markets to Florida and NYC. Avianca has to adapt or die.
So they will stop selling business class seats in October or that’s when the retrofits are done? I’ve booked biz class seats in November.
I was holding out as a loyalist with Taca/Avianca business class but since their bankruptcy and the terrible food, no inflight booze and now no business class, I’m done with Avianca. I have flown Taca/Avianca for over 25 years and they have progressively gotten worse, starting when Taca Merged with Avianca. I am gold status with many miles accumulated, maybe give them away.
I too am booked on business class in November to Chile connecting in Bogota - paid cash. Flight was already downgraded from 787 to a319 and now this news. Are they going to issue a refund?!? I’m not flying 10+ hours in an economy seat when I paid for business.
This is just a bad move. Avianca will continue to get worse if they go down this path. Should they still be allowed to remain in *A?
@Lucky They're gonna do either one of two things:
A. No longer fly LAX nonstop, but with a stopover in SJO.
B. Use their old A332s with their "premium" seats on top lol.
Guess its gonna be worthwile to try dummy bookings for october/november on LAX, and see whats the plane offers.
They wont issue you a refund. You're gonna have to call the infamous AV call-center and find out what they're gonna offer you in exchange.
"with the option to add more than 15 products or services to your purchase"
I'm guessing that using the restroom will be one of those paid "options". I think that's the only thing I wasn't dinged for on my last flight with Avianca.
I'd actually love to have some of your miles, that way i can spend them (and what i have) in one go and not bother with AV again.
What they said is actually .. both. They will, no longer offer business in that time, and also the service you'll get starting october wont be business either. Suggest to call AV and ask them about it directly, so you know your options.
If you try to book flights already, some of the products/services to purchase are as follows: Extra bags, assign seats, include sporting goods, access to lounges, flight insurance. I can guess they're gonna add WIFI for a price as well, since the new seats dont include IFE, and food services may come as well.
Very sad... My first business class flight was NYC to Avianca. It was angled flat, but at the time I was completely wowed at the time. Now 20+ business/F flights later I realized it wasn't anything special, but for $620 roundtrip, it was quite the deal.
A loss for Star Alliance. That said, Avianca's business class experience was not great to begin with.
Ahhh, “improving the customer experience” by removing the things that customers actually want. Great work! Hope the short-term CFO bonus is worth it for the long-term shareholders…
Why do you keep promoting AA in your comments everytime? You know, out of all the major US carriers, they have the worst long haul (except the flagship first) and now even the worst short haul product. When competition is moving toward adding IFE on every seat, they choose to remove it and say this is what pax wants. I don’t know why any pax would want that. UA even had to do a 180 on their decision to remove IFE because pax do want it
UGH. Well, Avianca and Copa have the worst business class experiences in the Americas anyway... Come to think of it, Lucky should do an article of the 10 worst business class experiences.
They fly an A330 in one of their frequencies to Santiago. What I'm seeing in their booking process now is that they only sell economy like Lucky says, and if you try to purchase an L class fare, that includes Avianca Plus seats for free they let you select first row economy and emergency exit seats, but no Business class seats. I guess they are going to use it only for crew rest when flying to destinations within the Americas??
I specifically just used LifeMiles to book LAX -> SCL on Avianca J in December and back, with each leg on the 787 as it was the best hard product I could find miles for (58k LifeMiles). This makes me really, really, really nervous as I transferred over 200k LMs for two of us. Do you think they’d rebook us on another airline (esp if they’re going to try to route us through SAL)? Or any recommendations? Ugh
They dont have any other option to rebook you from another Star Alliance partner, because their CoC is to carry you from one point to another (via BOG). You're guaranteed to get a 320 in your BOG-SCL leg, and most likely a 332 with pReMiUm seats on LAX-BOG.
Lucky did like ... 5 years ago a Copa review on their business experience, and it wasnt bad. His first leg had a very nasty FA but the second flight had an amazing FA.
They cant remove Business from transcon into Europe, as thats one of the min. requeriments to remain in Star Alliance. If they do so, they lose Star alliance membership, and their LM will become worthless.
Expected nothing less from Avianca, not gonna lie. Those nonstops from the US west coast and Northeast Corridor to San Salvador, which can be up to 5-6 hours and/or red-eyes, will surely be a real pain going forward.
I flew business class between Bogota and San Juan puerto rico and it was a disgrace I feel robed by how much I pay for the food and service I received I will never fly with them again so I don't matter if they don't offer business class again
>>It seems that Avianca is now taking this to the extreme, as even longer routes to the United States will no longer feature first class
Is the article about first class or business class? so they will still have business class to the USA but not first class anymore ?
If Avianca can truly be competitive on price with the Spirits of the world, then that will be great.
But if they expect people to pay more for an even lousier product, it's going to be ugly.
I used United miles to book first/business on Avianca from DC to Lima in November (through El Salvador), and it was a really good deal (36,000 miles). Avianca changed me to Economy, which obviously I wasn't willing to accept, so I called United and they switched me to widebody flights in Polaris for no extra cost, so I am VERY happy with this switch, even if it screwed up my plans somewhat.
I would predict SAL rather than SJO. The former is an Avianca hub that already has flights to both LAX and BOG. The latter is just a smallish destination for them. Otherwise agreed.
Good choice. While you can't count on Copa to be consistently good, you can count on Avianca to be consistently mediocre or worse. I personally have had nothing but good experiences with Copa even when I'm at the back of the plane, but I recognize that others have not been so lucky.
"I suppose Avianca moving in the direction of not offering business class also makes sense when you consider that the airline is merging with GOL"
When I read of the merger I imagined the two airlines would be operated separately: GOL would continue to be a popular LCC, and Avianca would be free to refocus on its full service roots. It seems that was merely wishful thinking on my part. Too bad, because Avianca used to be good.
Oh shit Yes, i meant SAL but couldnt remember the exact ICAO and ended up with SJO.
Avianca is a disgrace and I hope it will actually go bankrupt at some point. Never have I encountered such terrible on ground service as with Avianca. Their refund process is right out stupid (maybe on purpose) and buggy as hell. avoid at all cost.
The REAL news here is that people actually FLY on AV! Guess they all missed the memo that AV's one true mission is to be THE discount *A award booking service?
Time to liquidate any orphaned Lifemiles. Just dont book on their metal. Polaris to Asia here I come!
I really wonder if becoming a ULCC is the way to go.
Personally I couldn't care less what they do as I have never contemplated flying any of their routes, and this development can be added to the reasons why.
As I understand it, the LM mileage program is separate to the airline business and operates at a profit. If the other *A members further restricted the premium inventory to LM, that could all change too.
@Sam needs to think strategically how to redeem his 'orphaned Lifemiles'. Use them for parner awards only; don't bother with Avianca flights!
Honestly, their business class sucked anyways so who cares? I flew the 787 to London and the food was horrible, service was average at best. better than economy yes, but not worth paying for. Then flew it to SJU and it was absolutely a waste of money/points. meal and service sucked. avoid this airline!
I guess they have perused the Ryanair list of optional extras.
Waiting to hear of the first timed coin-op lavatories....
Sounds ugly all the way around!! The Spirit Airline of South America! No thank you.............
I just got back from El Salvador to L.A.trip on Avianca. I was on a first class seat. I will never fly them again. They have already started transition to being the El Cheapo airlines they want to be. Worst food experience ever. Forget the first class treatment. That went out the window..I will go back to flying an American airline.
Calling customer service is even worst.
I've flown Copa business class a couple of times and never had a bad experience. I even had a stellar experience once (in economy no less) which earned them my loyalty. That doesn't blind me to the fact that I've been lucky and Copa's soft product is inconsistent. But at least it's not Avianca, which is consistent in a very bad way.
Plenty of other options available than this lot, have awful Business Class anyway, won't be missed, the hairy armpits brigade trizzying up and down the aisles full of attitude also not missed LOL
So, how will AV treat a Star Alliance RTW business class ticket in terms of luggage allowance, lounge access, etc? We now know they're not gonna provide a business class cabin, but how would the soft product change? Same as intra European business class (as in same economy class seat with the middle seat blocked but with lounge access and the old business class luggage allowance) or what?
Flew BOG to MEX business class in February 2022 on an A330. Flew the same route in June 2022 on a A320 and paid $300 more than economy for a slightly larger seat with no other benefits or amenities. Hasta luego Avianca, moving this status to Copa and LATAM.
Avianca used to be a reasonable alternative, however, since the bankruptcy, it is a disaster. Zero customer service, phone lines not answered and a disgrace to a great country. In Colombia itself, LATAM Colombia, Viva and more offer better service at reasonable fares. The former even has Premium Economy which is head and shoulders above anything Avianca offers. Avianca is on borrowed time.
Flew AV83 on A330 couple days ago. Still angle-flat seats but no premium service whatsoever. Water, Coca cola, Coffee, Tea and a plastic-wrapped sandwich for all the aircraft and that’s the extent of their inflight service. Disappointed emoji.
No wonder I was having trouble booking a business class flight in November. Extremely disappointed.
I guess I’ll have to fly United for 2-3 times as much.
I have an award ticket booked via United. I was booked in J, and have now been downgraded to Y. Do I have to call united for a refund of the miles due to the downgrade, or do they process this automatically?
Incredibly stupid. Another, and final, proof that this airline is managed by complete morons.
Their outsourced "customer service" call center is already a flaming disaster and the embarrassment of the industry for several years now, their websites horribly designed and broken for several major browsers, forcing users to attempt to reach a live ill equipped and slow to respond human agent, a fiasco from start to finish.
Avianca's one saving grace has been the aircrews -- very nice and professional and they do their level best to provide a good experience. But the management -- trash, that ought to be fired, and fast.
This dropping of business class between Colombia and the Americas is the final straw. They are no longer a viable option for anything other than a dysfunctional cattle wagon experience. It's a great shame.
I had that same issue and they will NOT refund you the money. You will get downgraded to an all economy aircraft with the first three rows with 6 more inches of legroom as American's main cabin extra. If you decide to complain as I did, you will have to go through their disastrous call center who will ask you to submit an online complaint case which then will take 4-6 weeks to respond telling you that since you flew on the first three rows of the cabin, it is considered business class therefore you are not entitled to nor can they offer any refund, voucher or compensation.
And to all those who already booked business class you won't get your money back, you will be flown in economy plus seats which Avianca deceptively advertise as business class
I flew Business Class LAX-BOG-LAX last week on the 787. Avianca has clearly stopped its Business Class service (despite charging business class prices). There was exactly one (brief) service: sandwich/water/juice box and chips. No alcohol on board. My alternative is AA through Miami which I will do in the future. Disgusting.
Sad news really, for years I preferred the ease of non-stop flights from DC to San Salvador with TACA (before merging with Avianca), and yes TACA was not perfect but their flight attendants were very good, same with the food and alcoholic drinks, and, again, the convenience of a non-stop flight made it the best choice over other carriers. Ever since the merger, Avianca has been sliding down on their service both sales and flight attendants. Food was not as good, then the pandemic came and they did away with the food service. So now, there is no business class, meaning no comfortable seats on a 4 and a half hour red-eye flight. So now the only thing they have going on for them is the direct flight ... wonder how long that is going to last as there are now other lower fare airline, Volaris, or maybe this is what Avianca is becoming. I for one, will certainly start looking at other options.
Just flew Avianca “Business Class” LAX-Bogota round trip. The 787 airplane itself is excellent. Approximately 6+40 each way.
The service is extremely poor and this is really not Business Class. A terrible sandwich, chips, Oreo cookie pack and no beer or wine, nor pillow or blanket on return flight.
In-country decided on VIVA and they were excellent.
WHEN THEY LOSE YOUR LUGGAGE THEY REFUSE TO PAY ANYTHING. GARBAGE AIRLINE. GOL THAT THEY WILL MERGE TO IS NOT ANY BETTER.
Avianca haven't lost it - they haven't had one for years.
Flew bus class Medellin to Madrid just.
K r a p
I cancelled a flight 24 hours before purchase and there really is no point in calling customer service they say email customer support and customer support says call the call center. Customer service is non existent with this airline too many stories of people not getting their rightful refund back.
You will be seated in a regular seat just the middle seat blocked and wont get your money back.
I will be a next victim⁉️. All coments I have read about AVIANCA are terrible! Wake up AVIANCA or you really will break down.
I’m thinking of flying BOG to MAD in a week. The Business class is only about USD 1,050. Surely it’s OK at that price? I assume the plane is a 787-8?
What do you all recommend?
We were just looking at Avianca from MEX to GIG (Rio) but with no business class they have lost our business. Going Aeromex or AA instead.
Wry disappointed in the new direction Avianca has taken. I have often used SAL to LAX, but will not fly it now. Often used SAL to SAP, but they have stopped flying regularly to SAP. Great. Time for another airline to move in.