Avianca is the national airline of Colombia and the airline has been founded for 101 years (as of 2020). Starting in 1919, it made its debut between Barranquilla and Puerto Berrio. It is headquartered in Bogotá, D.C. with its main hub at El Dorado International Airport. Avianca is the flagship of a group of eight Latin American airlines, whose operations are combined to function as one airline using a codesharing system. Avianca is the largest airline in Colombia and second largest in Latin America, after LATAM of Chile. Avianca and its subsidiaries have the most extensive network of destinations in Latin America. It is also under Star Alliance.

For the flight review today, I will be reviewing two segments as part of our trip taken in December, from San Jose, Costa Rica to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, via Avianca’s hub in Bogota. I had redeemed Lifemiles for the flight on Avianca, worth 22000 miles per person for SJO-PUJ in business class.

AV693 SJO 01:55 – BOG 05:01

AV128 BOG 06:17 – PUJ 10:02

The first segment from San Jose to Bogota took two hours. It was a red-eye flight and there were not many people at San Jose airport. We took an Uber from our apartment in the downtown area to the airport, which took about half an hour. We reached around midnight and checked in without much delay.

In 2019, SJO connected Costa Rica to 38 destinations around the world. Four domestic airlines and 28 international commercial airlines operated in its facilities, with more than 5.4 million in passenger traffic.

We then waited at the boarding gate. The main duty free shop was still open, as well as Starbucks, but the rest of the shops at the terminal were closed already.

Boarding started at 01:10. For business class passengers, we had the priority to board first. It was a single-aisle Airbus A319. So the business class section had only 8 seats. This Avianca flight was operated by one of the subsidiaries, Avianca Costa Rica SA.

From the window seat, we could see an American airlines plane parked at the bay. If I remember correctly, this plane was bound for Dallas DFW airport.

Past midnight, there was not much traffic and the plane took off on time. Since it was a short two-hour flight, I wasn’t expecting much for the inflight meal even in biz class. Surprisingly, about 40 minutes after takeoff and the plane was cruising at a constant speed, the meal service came out. We had a ham and cheese sandwich, with a fruit platter. There was also alcohol selection and I went for a glass of red wine. The sandwich was served hot and even though I already had dinner, I ate this as supper. After which, the crew cleared the tray tables and the cabin lights were dimmed.

Around 4am local time, the plane started its descent into Bogota airport. Even though it is nearer to fly from San Jose to Punta Cana, but there are no direct flights operating between these two countries and the option was either to transit in Colombia or Panama. I made use of my miles redemption to fly on Avianca. The first segment was done. I could not comment much about the service because it was short but the crew were professional and efficient. The seats were comfortable but not fully lie-flat as in the case of Singapore airlines.

Upon landing, we did not have to clear immigration as transit passengers. Different airports around the world have their own set of rules, so please check before hand. For US airports, there is no concept of transit for international passengers so all passengers have to go through immigration checks before proceeding to their connecting flights. We had our onward boarding passes under Avianca. As we were flying in Biz, we qualified for the free lounge access. I remember visiting Bogota airport back in 2018 when me and my friend made a trip to Colombia. Nothing much has changed since.

Actually, the lounge and airport are modern and clean. It was around 5am and the breakfast buffet was served. We couldn’t eat much as it was still early so we just drank a glass of juice. There were quite a number of travellers at the lounge, some of them seem to be on business trips.

Our flight to Punta Cana on AV128 was ready for boarding. We left the lounge and proceeded to the boarding gate 46A. Surprisingly, around the same time, there was another flight on Wingo going to Santo Domingo, the capital of Dominican Rep. Punta Cana is the main gateway to the beach resorts and eastern part of the country, with many flights from Europe and the Americas. We were going to meet her sister and the nieces/ nephew who were flying in from Canada. We would then spend a few days at an all-inclusive resort in Punta Cana.

Avianca was celebrating 100 years of flying in 2019. The lounge has quite long operating hours, from 2.30am to 11pm, after which it would be closed for a few hours for cleaning and maintenance. Bogota airport is definitely a much bigger airport than Guatemala or San Jose, so there are many flights round the clock.

Walking past many of the souvenir shops, I was reminded of the Colombian coffee and warm people of this country which I had visited in 2018.

Colombia is definitely one of my favourite countries in Latin America and I would highly recommend that you visit. From the highlands to the Amazon rainforest to the Caribbean beaches, you can easily spend two weeks to a month exploring this diverse country.

Boarding was done manually and there was no aerobridge, so we had to walk to our plane. It was a similar aircraft as the first segment, an Airbus A320 this time, also a single-aisle plane.

This time round, there was inflight entertainment on board. The advert of Mexico reminded us of a few weeks ago when we were travelling in Yucatan, Mexico and checking out the ancient ruins of the region.

The duration of this flight is 2 h 45 min, flying across the Caribbean and also over Aruba, one of the destinations which I am interested in, famous for its stunning blonde beaches and wind-sculpted desert landscapes.

On the tarmac while waiting for takeoff, we saw a Wingo plane. Maybe this is the plane bound for Santo Domingo. Wingo is a new airline that I have seen, a low-cost airline based in Bogota. Actually the aviation market is quite large in Colombia, and people are spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing airlines for their international or domestic travels. There is Avianca, Wingo and Viva Air Colombia, which has made the prices of flying around the region more affordable.

The crew came around to distribute immigration forms for landing in Punta Cana.

Breakfast was served shortly after takeoff. I chose a mushroom omelette, with fruits and bread served by the side. There was a choice of hot coffee or tea as well. The inflight magazine shows the 100 years anniversary of Avianca, with an image of the first plane flown and the old stewardess uniform. It has a retro feel and suits in with the theme of flying. Avianca has been voted as the best airline in South America and there is great potential for the airline to do well in the aviation market.

My wife was sleeping and woke up late so she missed the meal service. When she asked the stewardess about the breakfast, the lady was a bit annoyed as she had to busy herself again to prepare it. This was another version of the omelette, served with potatoes and bacon. After serving the meal, the stewardess went back to her seat to chat with the steward. It was not very professional because she is working and also her attitude was not friendly.

After finishing up the meal, the stewardess was quick to clear the tray table. Soon, it was time to prepare for landing. As you can see, there are 12 business class seats. Since it was a daytime flight, we were treated with the azul waters of the Caribbean as we landed at Punta Cana airport, and we excitedly headed to our resort after clearing the immigration checks. Note: for Singapore passport holders, we can visit Dominican Rep visa free for 30 days.

The second segment on Avianca was comfortable, but the negative aspect was the rude attitude of the stewardess. Some people were be tired from jetlag and do not want to be eating breakfast at 6am, so she could have been more understanding to serve it later. Overall, I am still impressed with Avianca flights and hope to try out their long-haul flights in the future.