We pulled into the gate at Bogota Airport at around 6:45PM, while my connection to Madrid was at 9:43PM. On the jet bridge there were two Avianca employees waiting for me. They didn't speak any English, though fortunately I speak a little bit of Spanish. They explained they'd take me to the lounge. I'm not…
Continue reading: Review: Avianca Diamond Lounge Bogota Airport
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Looks as though they provided "special" treatment jajaja. Avianca Diamond lounge is opened to diamond lifemiles card holders (at least those were the rules until last year), while the rest of the bunch can use the other larger lounge (where the showers are located btw).
I am so disappointed. I had a scenario worked out in my head as to why someone was meeting Lucky at the plane: the inquisitive Avianca agent at LAX had concluded that Ben was a nefarious international criminal! And she had alerted officials in Bogota, who descended upon the plane with guns drawn. Poor Ben was dragged to an interrogation room and subjected to heated questioning, including why he was wearing sweatpants in a premium cabin! Sobbing, Ben tried to explain his passion for aviation blogging while the baffled officials passed around the Lufthansa duck that they had found in his bag. The officials decided that they needed to question the flight attendant on the flight from LAX about Ben's demeanor. The FA was in a rush to get home to watch her favorite tele novella and resented being summoned to this filthy room. She rolled her eyes at the officials' questions. The enraged officials and the FA got into a heated shouting match! During the commotion Ben quietly slipped away just in time to catch the Madrid flight where he calmed his nerves by enjoying a G&T.
I've been frustrated in the past by you being resistant to admitting you received special blogger treatment, so in fairness I have to give you props for being so open about the customized ground experience here. Thank you!
@Imperator - I applaud you for the creativity and how well you tied in previous posts
I didn't see the salad bar at BOG, which might have made a difference. I'd say this was a hugely disappointing experience before my BOG-GIG flight. Lots of crappy carbs, nearly every table had dirty tableware, and it wasn't in an enclosed room IIRC, just on a higher floor "loft" at the airport (an ambience I dislike). LAN/LATAM lounges are way superior.
I will be flying Avianca Business to Cartagena late tonight with a layover in Bogotá. I'll add some comments to this thread to let you know if the lounge has improved, stated the same etc. Since my flight arrives around 6am I doubt I'll get an escort. I'm hoping the lounge is open but if not I have my Amex Concierge on standby for other options.
Beware
"Apparently the lounge has showers, though I didn’t have a chance to check them out."
Why would the reviewer skip such a crucial part of the review? Seems suspicious. Also, reviewer shows no photo of the fridge with refreshments. Other reviews say it has a pad lock on the door and no food items after 9pm.
I hear that Avianca is tending to reduce direct flights domestically and route more though their BOG hub. As a result I had to connect twice through BOG recently on 6 domestic business class flight itinerary. Each time I passed through BOG just ‘outside’ their peak lunchtime hours. As no food was served onboard, I depended on getting something gluten-free in the lounge - NOTHING, only fast food rubbish!
As BOG receives many international flights at all hours, why do they insist on sticking to rigid meal times? Not really latino, is it? Generally, food outside the lounges is rubbish too.