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Avianca Reviews
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Reviewed Sept. 29, 2023
Purchasing flights from the website is slow and unclear. I had to select another country for it to process through. Flight meal was inedible. Very processed junk. Do not eat. Bring something. Drinks were fine. Employees were good at the airport. Customer service does not exist, only policy upholding department. NO managers, no one that can actually help and serve customers. This is the primary reason I rate it 1 star. 0 service = 0 business. I will NEVER buy Avianca again due to their 0 customer service/compassion/empathy. Even under reasonable and understanding situations, all I get is a script robot-like response for 2 hours. I'd rather take the 12 hr layover than fly with them again.
Reviewed Sept. 8, 2023
Since May 31st, 2022, Avianca will not give you a cup of coffee or a bottle of water without you paying for it. I thought I'd 'upgrade' to their Plus seats. What a waste of money! They have squeezed in as many seats as possible in an A320(neo). Customer comfort is the least of their concern. They've lost me as a customer.
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Reviewed Aug. 29, 2023
Lack of communication made me missed my connecting flight. No announcements and no email letting me know gate was changed. But the worst part was the lack of customer service. When I tell you they don’t care and just let you fend for yourself it’s sad. The frustration and anxiety I had with these people, Thanks to them I lost my job and ended up at the hospital. Also my daughter couldn’t start her semester on time so she missed that money. It’s just sad that they don’t do anything about it and they keep doing this to passengers. First and definitely last time I will ever use this airline.
Reviewed Aug. 21, 2023
I had an extremely disheartening experience with Avianca Airlines during my recent trip from Brazil to Colombia. Despite following all the necessary protocols and having valid documentation, I was denied boarding on my return flight due to an unexpected requirement that was not clearly communicated beforehand. I had traveled to Rio de Janeiro from Medellin, Colombia, for a short weekend getaway from August 18th to August 20th, 2023. The purpose of my trip was to explore Brazil and return to Colombia, where I am currently staying as a tourist. Unfortunately, my journey back turned into a nightmare.
When I booked my ticket and completed the check-in process, there were no indications or warnings about the need for a yellow fever vaccine card to re-enter Colombia. Even the official Colombian travel website states that there are no vaccination requirements for entry. I had encountered no issues when entering Brazil through immigration, and no one informed me of the necessity for a yellow fever card to leave the country.
On the day of my scheduled return, I arrived at the airport at 4 am, well ahead of my 7:25 am departure on flight AVianca AV260. To my shock, the Avianca agent called out certain names from a list, and I was among those asked to come forward. The agent then informed me that I could not travel unless I had a document proving Colombian residency or a yellow fever vaccine card. Despite explaining that I was visiting Colombia as a tourist from the United States and holding a valid tourist visa, I was told that this was inadequate and that I needed a residency card.
I was perplexed by this requirement, especially considering the lack of prior communication and its inconsistency with Colombian travel regulations. The agent proposed alternative routes, including one through the United States, which I reluctantly booked, only to be informed later that this option was invalid due to multiple stops within Colombia. This led to additional financial loss and mental distress.
Notably, my work responsibilities are based in Medellin, Colombia, and I needed to return promptly to resume work. However, my flight departed without me, and Avianca agents did not offer any alternative solutions or assistance. This lack of care and knowledge by the airline's staff was deeply disappointing. In my desperation to return to Colombia, I ended up spending $1000 of my own money to book a night flight to Lima, Peru, and then on to Medellin. This arduous journey involved multiple flights and left me physically and emotionally drained, with next to no rest.
To add insult to injury, upon arriving in Colombia, immigration did not ask for any yellow fever vaccination or documentation. This revelation highlighted the inconsistencies in Avianca's information and the inadequate assistance I received. In light of this frustrating experience, I formally request a full refund and compensation for the financial losses, time wasted, emotional distress, and inconvenience caused. The lack of proper communication, knowledge, and care by Avianca's agents towards international passengers, particularly U.S. citizens, is unacceptable.
I urge Avianca Airlines to address these concerns promptly and to ensure better communication, transparency, and support for passengers. If no action is taken to rectify this situation, I am prepared to take legal action to seek reparation for my financial losses and emotional distress. It is disheartening to know that similar incidents have occurred with Avianca Airlines, and I am considering initiating a class-action lawsuit to address these recurring issues. This ordeal has left me greatly disillusioned and disappointed with Avianca Airlines, an experience that I felt compelled to share. I implore the company to rectify this matter and prevent further instances of mistreatment and misinformation towards its passengers.
Reviewed Aug. 21, 2023
I will never flight again with this airline. I’m planning in filing a complaint with the Better business bureau in US do to my experience with this airline. If you find yourself needing to fly and have no other alternative, make sure you check all their policies as they are always seeking to charge you for anything. If you call their customer service line, you will encounter individuals like Ana Isabel ** and her supervisor Leon **, both lack customer service skills. They don’t make any attempts to assist the customer, do not listen to the customer's concerns, offer no form of assistance and all they try is to have the customer hang up without a resolution to the difficulties. We have the recorded conversations and plan in filing a complaint and seeking to retain legal assistance.

Reviewed Aug. 1, 2023
Avoid this airline at all costs if you have other options. Please read till the end...We took a flight with stops both ways cause there was no other option by the time we book our vacation to Cartagena with a stop in Bogota. Family of 4, 2 kids. We were very surprised when we realized they charge everything on board even a bottle of water, only tap water is free and you need to be specific, though I wouldn't recommend it. On top of that, no American Express is allowed inside the plane. When we landed in Bogota we had to take the plane stairs and take a bus full of people with doors that were not closing, it was cold, like 56 degrees Fahrenheit. We travel with a stroller, and even after being very specific that we needed it during our stop, they send it straight to the destination. There was no way to get it back during the stop.
The second flight was delayed by an hour after we were waiting already 20 minutes in the boarding line we returned to the gate, with no explanation given, after the hour they advised us to move immediately to the new gate and we walk in a rush to make us wait another 30 minutes. The outbound flight was the worse of all, my daughter was feeling ill cause of bad digestion and I asked for a wheelchair at check-in so she didn't have to walk in Bogota airport, they couldn't fulfill my request, no apology at all, they asked me to wait around 15 minutes for someone to come up with the wheelchair and believe me for them 15 minutes is more like half an hour waiting, in my personal experience (for the record we did not have a bad experience during our vacation at the city, on the contrary, everyone was very polite), my daughter had to walk or we were going to lose our flight home.
Last but not least they called my name on the loudspeaker and at the counter they told me I was selected for the aleatory security verification, I was set aside with another group of people and they did not let me talk to my family after that and they took my passport. Remember my daughter was ill which I explained to a lady, I was traveling with my husband and my other kid. They did not care and were very rude, I was carrying their documents at the time and I they also took it from me when I told them in a very rude way too. I had to make signs to my family through a glass from the distance to hardly explain what happened, they were confused and my daughter was scared. I could tell from her face, it was a very unpleasant moment. They treat me in a very very unprofessional way with no consideration at all.
Worse airline experience in my entire life, and for the record we travel around 2 to 3 times a year as a family, at least 1 more as a couple. Had to pay for our luggage too, the carry-on was not free either so we decided to check two suitcases which were cheaper at the end. Oh, a few more things...after seat number 10 the seats don't have an incorporated pillow and won't recline, and their entertainment selection is very very poor...for kids, there are only 6 options. In-flight Internet is not available. I could write a book of bad stuff but nothing compares to what they did to us taking us apart in such a rude way!
Reviewed July 2, 2023
We flew out of JFK and it was a mess from the start. They kept saying the line was starting at different places. One of their workers threatened to hit my mom because we were separated in the line. That language is unacceptable. Once we got to the kiosks, it was self-service and the machines kept crashing. In addition, the representatives refused to help many of us when we needed their help at the check in kiosk. They kept saying, “You have time. Figure it out.”
Many of us had to help out each other. If our flight had not been delayed, more than half of us would have missed it. I get it that they’re trying out new technology, but representatives are still needed. It was the first time that any of us were using a kiosk.

Reviewed June 25, 2023
So, I book a flight to my wife and my 6 years old daughter from Boston to Belo Horizonte (Brazil) with 1 stop in bogota. For my wife surprise, the airplane used from Boston to bogota was a regular airplane, the same used on domestic flights, without a tv, no food was served, she had to buy. No notice was posted at the moment we was booking letting we know that they don’t serve free meals. And now comes the worse, inside the plane was so hot that most of the passengers was feeling bad. My 6 years old Daughter was vomiting for at least 3 times, no help at all was offer to my wife! Fly attendants didn’t care at all. My daughter's blanket that she love, (she sleep with the blanket every night) my wife had to throw away, so sad!!! The plane was so small that the personal bags had to go under the seat, because the plane wasn’t equipped with those luggage compartment. I hope I can hear something from Avianca.
Reviewed June 13, 2023
Avianca changed our flight last minute with no explanation resulting in over 3 extra hours of travel and an extra layover. Tried calling customer service but kept getting hung up on. Customer service is atrocious, the airline nickels and dimes you with baggage fees, and the flights are so uncomfortable. No reclining seats for a 6 hr flight!

Reviewed May 22, 2023
This is by far the worst airline ever! They will steal your money in your face, laugh about it, and direct you to read their "Policies". I arrived to the Managua airport to come back home when they told me my ticket was refunded. The people in the Managua airport were nasty and very unprofessional when it came to helping us. They just told us to move away from the counter and call the call center, no help at all! Once I call the call center and a couple of agents and supervisors later, no one helped!! They kept telling me to file a complaint online and that if they think the complaint was valid, they will give me a call within 30 business days! 30!!! Now I have $800 that Avianca stole from me!! Yes stole!!! They stole my money because I requested a change of date, not a refund!!! They processed a refund without telling me and which I did not request, and the only thing they're refunding me is $60 of taxes, out of $800!!!
This people are rude!!! Extremely unprofessional, no one agrees on what is going on with my case, every agent tells me a different story, they have hung up on me multiple times, and no help at all!! Now I have $800 lost!! Avianca I need you to call me and refund me my full money since I requested a change of date!!! Not a refund!!! Your people has no sense of customer service!! Below you will find the names of all the people that have been rude to me! My case #: **.
William **- supervisor of Avianca in Managua, Nicaragua airport. Laughed in our face when we told him we needed to fly back home that day because we had already turned in our hotel room, car rental, and were stranded in Managua with 2 small children. He simply laughed and said "You're not flying today, call the call center" and moved us out of the line. Heyvy ** - a supervisor that over the phone told me clearly that I needed to understand that they were not going to help me, and that if I wanted to fly back home I simply need to buy another ticket. Rude, disrespectful, unprofessional!! Yelled at me and then hung up.
Juan ** - over the phone told me there was nothing left to do, that I lost my money and couldn't transfer me to a supervisor because they will just tell me the same thing, then proceeded to hanging up on me! Jennifer **- gave me the runaround, made me fill out a form of complaint telling me they will prioritize it, but when I called later on to make them aware the form had been submitted, a new agent told me they couldn't do nothing with that form that he "Apologizes" for the bad information given to me by Jennifer. My experience with Avianca has been nasty!!! I will never fly with them again!! Neither will none of my family members! I hope Nicaragua bans them from flying to there for their fraud and such terrible customer service!!
Avianca Company Information
- Company Name:
- Avianca
- Website:
- www.avianca.com
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