Bolivia’s national airline is adding a second route to the United States, which I think might just qualify as the world’s least pleasant flight? Y’all tell me.
In this post:
Boliviana de Aviacion will fly to Washington with Boeing 737s
Boliviana de Aviacion (BoA) has been flying to Miami (MIA) for years, and it has been the carrier’s only route to the United States. However, that will soon be changing. As of Tuesday, November 4, 2025, BoA will launch 2x weekly flights between Santa Cruz de la Sierra (VVI) and Washington Dulles (IAD) via Panama City (PTY).
The flight will operate in both directions on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with the following schedule:
OB760 Santa Cruz de la Sierra to Panama City departing 9:30AM arriving 1:10PM
OB760 Panama City to Washington Dulles departing 1:50PM arriving 6:40PM
OB761 Washington Dulles to Panama City departing 8:05PM arriving 12:55AM (+1 day)
OB761 Panama City to Santa Cruz de la Sierra departing 1:35AM arriving 7:15AM
BoA intends to use an all-economy Boeing 737 for the flight, and the stop in Panama will exclusively be for refueling, given that this route is way beyond the range of a 737. The airline won’t have pick-up or drop-off rights in Panama. The journey time is 10hr10min in each direction, with one of the sectors being 4hr40min, the other sector being 4hr50min, and there being a 40min stop in Panama.
In total, passengers will likely spend at least 11 hours onboard this narrow body aircraft, with no seat back entertainment or Wi-Fi. I’m genuinely curious — can anyone think of a less pleasant flight, anywhere in the world, where you’re stuck onboard a 737 for this long, without even being able to stretch your legs?
BoA has three wide body jets, in the form of former Virgin Australia Airbus A330s. They have a pleasant onboard product, and I reviewed that experience between Miami and Santa Cruz de la Sierra. However, with such a small fleet, those planes are prioritized on the existing Miami route, plus for Madrid (MAD) flights, so it sounds like they won’t be flying to Washington.
What’s the motivation for this Washington Dulles flight?
Why is Boliviana de Aviacion flying to Washington Dulles? Is it for political reasons, or because there’s actually demand?
I find it interesting how the airline is launching flights on Tuesday, November 4, which also happens to be the typical election day in the United States. That’s probably a coincidence, but it’s a funny one, no? I’m not sure what to think here in terms of where this route falls in terms of prestige vs. demand. I mean, there’s not much prestige about a 10+ hour all-economy 737 flight, but…
In fairness to BoA, the Washington area has the largest Bolivian population in the United States. However, we’re talking about a total of around 30,000 people of Bolivian heritage in the Washington area, which is hardly sufficient demand for launching a flight.
At least out of Miami, a large part of BoA’s business is simply undercutting competitors and offering cheap fares for those with final destinations in Buenos Aires (EZE) or Sao Paulo (GRU). So I imagine that’s partly the goal here too, but goodness, talk about an unglamorous journey.
Tuesdays and Thursdays seem like extremely inconvenient days to offer this service, though, since that’s not great in terms of helping people maximize their time off of work. I suppose BoA has a great cost structure, given its outdated fleet and low labor costs, but still, I struggle to understand why people would take this flight.
Existing airlines in the market charge $500 or less roundtrip most days, so I can’t imagine that BoA can even have much of a pricing advantage.
Bottom line
Boliviana de Aviacion will be launching 2x weekly flights between Santa Cruz de la Sierra and Washington Dulles, via Panama City. The route will be operated by an all-economy Boeing 737, meaning passengers will be stuck onboard the aircraft for 10-11 hours, at a minimum. I struggle to think of a less pleasant flight that one could take.
What do you make of Boliviana de Aviacion’s Washington flight?
The loyal readers of this site are asking for a review of the flight
I don't have to imagine a more miserable flight because I flew it. My grandparents loved to travel, but they weren't wealthy or extravagant.
So, one year, they decided we (I traveled with them every summer) would go to Australia but their travel agent had found a "great deal". The great deal was on Air Niugini, which, at the time, flew HNL-POM. Somehow that travel agent had booked us on an absurd routing.
LAX-HNL...
I don't have to imagine a more miserable flight because I flew it. My grandparents loved to travel, but they weren't wealthy or extravagant.
So, one year, they decided we (I traveled with them every summer) would go to Australia but their travel agent had found a "great deal". The great deal was on Air Niugini, which, at the time, flew HNL-POM. Somehow that travel agent had booked us on an absurd routing.
LAX-HNL on The Hawaii Express' lone 747-100.
HNL-POM on Air Niugini's 707-300.
POM-SYD on, I believe, a different Air Niugini 707.
The total journey time from LAX to Sydney was significantly longer than the more direct routing on Qantas, LAX-HNL-SYD, which we did two years later. I believe it was in excess of 24 hours, all but the LAX-HNL leg, in tired narrow bodies (although seat pitch was generous).
Maybe they’re taking some of the USA money by running deportations. It’s certainly a thriving business right now and being a foreign airline they don’t have to concern themselves with the lack of due process.
I went from Washington to Bolivia in May. Copa through Panama City connecting to Santa Cruz. Literally half the flight from Washington connected to Santa Cruz. There's definitely demand.
I know this was more focused on narrow body misery, but think the French Bee ORY-SFO-PPT flight is way worse. Much longer trip and they managed to shove an extra seat per row, the narrowest Y seat in the world
Well, if you fly off your miles exclusively in BC or FC and in developed countries, you haven't really got much to compare.
This flight will be awful. People living here in the DC area have many better options to fly to Bolivia (to both Santa Cruz and La Paz).
how is this different than 11 hours on a long haul, low cost airline? and before anyone says one plane is narrowboyd and the other widebody, yes sure but we all know the seats in the back are pretty much the same at 17 inches wide. so what's the difference?
I agree. I flew Ethiopian from Addis to DC. Similar refueling stop in Dublin makes the flight about 16 hours in economy. It's always late and is scheduled to leave around 1am. Pretty sure that beats this BoA route.
“So” implies that one flows from the other, but that really isn’t clear in this sentence: “BoA intends to use an all-economy Boeing 737 for the flight, so the stop in Panama will exclusively be for refueling.”
Is this because of a weight issue? Can BoA carry passengers between Panama and the United States? Lots of missing info.
@ Nate -- Sorry, I could've made that clearer. Post updated now. :-)
FWIW, I remember flying a classic 737-700 with CO from EWR-GYE with an approximately 30 minute stop at PTY to refuel. The FAs sprayed insecticide (I think it was before we landed) and the Panamanian police came on board to look at everyone for some reason. We couldn't get off. And it was an evening flight, meaning you left EWR at sometime like 6 pm and landed at GYE at like 2 am. In spite...
FWIW, I remember flying a classic 737-700 with CO from EWR-GYE with an approximately 30 minute stop at PTY to refuel. The FAs sprayed insecticide (I think it was before we landed) and the Panamanian police came on board to look at everyone for some reason. We couldn't get off. And it was an evening flight, meaning you left EWR at sometime like 6 pm and landed at GYE at like 2 am. In spite of CO having better service than AA, it was a miserable flight. Too damn long. Now, consider that Santa Cruz is a good 3 hours farther south than GYE. Miserable and not worth considering. Just go with Copa and call it a day. At least you get a stop to stretch your legs and almost certainly a newer aircraft than whatever beat-up thing BoA digs up for this.
I think one thing is consider is that Bolivians are often quite short and thin, plus they are used to many hardships, so those economy seats will feel more like business to them.
Good to know that Copa may be dumping really cheap Y inventory on the IAD route in case I ever struggle to find business award availability to S. America and have to break the journey by going via the US.
I think the all-economy 777 from Moscow to Pyongyang would qualify as the "world's most miserable flight" over this, no? :D
Washington is the largest true US O&D market from Bolivia (Miami may have more flown pax now because of nonstop service, but a lot of VVI-MIA pax connect on to Washington. A 737 with a stop may not be the best way to serve this, though BoA has done the same on the MIA route when their 330s were getting maintenance.
Tuesday, November 4, 2025, actually IS an election day at Washington-Dulles, physically located in the Commonwealth of Virginia :)
This type of product is what Washington and all the fluorescent orange sycophants that populate it deserve.
“I find it interesting how the airline is launching flights on Tuesday, November 4, which also happens to be the typical election day in the United States.”
Not this year though. You knew that.
Unless their strategy was lining up with the Virginia state elections. They are landing at Dulles!
You are wrong. Virginia, which is where the airport is, has elections this year on November 4
Lucky write about the flying blue Sas devaluation
Haven't heard of that, got any link?