Avianca Reviews

Terrible ground staff and terrible processes in general. Not every seat is equipped with infant oxygen masks making them split up families. Absolutely cannot recommend this airline. It's not even priced well - It operates as low cost airline but still charges high prices.

Very bad the way the airline handles these claims since you Avianca left the note that the suitcase had been checked. That is why should care and be concerned of what affects your passengers, you charged 150 dollars per weight to robbed my wife and give her belongings, that is the policy and culture of Avianca today. Very bad from the customer service at the counter and the theft of things, the truth is I will not recommend Avianca to anyone, instead I will see how to publish this irregularity in the media and on social networks. Very bad, everything they charged even for water and on top of that they steal and they are only interested in money. The worst experience traveling.

I’ve been a loyal Avianca customer for over five years, but my recent experience with gate agents Clarivel, Tamar, and Rosa for flight AV39 to Cali, Colombia, was beyond unacceptable. Their behavior was rude, unprofessional, and frankly humiliating. My friend, who travels with essential lupus medication, was carrying a personal backpack that was slightly puffier than usual. Rather than allowing us to explain or adjust, we were immediately dismissed and berated in front of other passengers. They refused to listen, told us we would miss the flight unless we paid $120, and even forced us off the boarding line.

On flight Av7, several issues passed by: 1) They charged all of us who had tickets with personal items $125 for checked luggage and another passenger for a small plastic bag that he was carrying in his hand because it was only 1 item and he bought it at the airport. They called the supervisor Carmenza ** and she just said “pay or you don't miss the flight”.

This was our first time flying with Avianca airline and to San Andres Columbia. Flying from JFk to Bogota flight was delayed so we missed our connecting flight to San Andres. Which was fine. It wasn’t a huge delay but we still missed few hours of our vacation. When it got worse is returning home. Our flight from san Andres to Bogota was suppose to depart at 10:52am which was pushed by 2 hrs to 12:52. Which then got delayed again to 2:05pm. Of course we were going to miss our connecting flight to JFK.

Surprised about our recent trip from NYC to MGA via El Salvador, they charge us a ridiculous price for an extra luggage 230 dollars, when we came back from our trip, we missed the flight in El Salvador to NY for poor customer service communication, which made us paid 300 per ticket, on top of that, they don’t even give you a bottle of water in the flight, with premium price for a coffee or snacks. Really bad experience, seats were very uncomfortable, they sell you a normal seat as premium for really high price, stay away.

I am writing to express my extreme dissatisfaction with the experience I had during my recent flight with Avianca last week. The issues I encountered were not only unacceptable but also demonstrate a serious lack of professionalism by your company. Below are the key points that highlight the poor service and unfair treatment I received:

I took the red eye flight # 42 from Medellin to JFK airport. I am 60 years old, have been flying for business most of my life & this was the worst flight of my life. A man who sat behind me entered the plane drunk & continued to drink alcohol the entire flight. He banged on the back of my seat and sang. I kindly asked to please not bang on the seat so I could sleep. He was verbally abusive to myself and my wife. He made it a point to tell me I am in his world now and need to respect a "Medellin man" and anything could happen to me in his country. Whatever that means. My wife is from Colombia & I am from the US. The crew continued to provide alcohol the entire trip and did nothing. Everyone in the area observed the problem. I kept calm & avoided physical confrontation to this inappropriate drunk. Disappointed to know we cannot count on the crew for order & assistance. I will not fly them again.

Original flight price was reasonable... then the charges begin. I'm a veteran and they where giving me a hard time because I have a cane and wanted me to pay for my backpack as my walking cane is considered a personal item. Eventually they dropped it and let me board but this was after finding out that all the way from the check in they had put a note on my ticket to charge me for the cane... Avianca is most convenient to go to Colombia to visit my family but it's getting as bad as Spirit. Otherwise the rest of the staff was pleasant and professional.

This airline are true thieves, I’ll never fly with them again, I had two oversize luggages which they had charger me $120 for each luggage, which one of them was not allowed to send it on the plane because it was not gonna get there on the same flight, and which I had to go pick it up 3 to 4 days later and I was 4 hours away each way from the airport, so the best solution they give me at the end after so many trips back and forth to the wrapping center to make small carry on bags.

We arrived at the airport an hour and a half before the departure and only THEN we received an email from the airline that our flight was cancelled. Who cancels the flight an hour and a half prior to departure??? Staff at the counter told us that flight was cancelled because one of the flight attendant got sick.. What??? Aren’t they supposed to have an extra staff for situations like these? We were told that we will be placed on the next flight which is 14 hours later! Our entire 1st day of vacation is ruined including the cost of our first night at the hotel in Lima. Additionally, we paid 140$ for taxi to get to the airport and back home, then, 12 hours later we had to pay another 70$ to get to the airport so 140$ wasted and the airline refused to take any responsibility for this financial loss. We arrive at the airport the next day 1.5 hours prior to departure.

Horrible customer service. I've never been treated so poorly by a company before. We had a problem with our domestic flight -the plane was broken, which was supposed to get in 6 hours before our Avianca flight, and as we waited and waited we realized we weren't going to make our international flight. We had only added luggage a couple hours before when we checked in online, and it cost us $130 for one checked bag with Avianca. We called Avianca, knowing that we wouldn't get our flight money back because it was a non-refundable flight, but we just wanted our luggage money back since we wouldn't be on the flight. Instead of even being nice about it but refusing, the customer service agent blatantly argued with me and tried to make me look stupid for thinking I should get my luggage money back when I had purchased a non-refundable *flight*. This is only part 1, though.

Worst airline I’ve ever flown. They canceled our flight, rerouted us to a different continent, downgraded our seats (which don’t recline). They just really suck in every way possible. Avoid this airline at all costs!

Worst airline in history. Avianca is a joke, please stay don't book your trip with them. There are so many reliable airlines in the market. There is not reason to use this company. The customer service is awful. They are not transparent and don't even offer a cup of water on a international direct flight Bogota, Boston. What a disgrace of a company.

Bad customer service. Rude staff and scammers. BE AWARE AND STAY AWAY FROM THIS AIRLINE. BE AWARE AND BE REALLY CAREFUL. I will NOT fly again with them. They got me so disappointed and they do not care. They just care about the money!!!

This is the worst airline I have experienced with. They changed my flight schedule, probably combined us with another flight. So the seats I purchased were no longer available after the flight change. Which is fine, if you can simply refund my payment for those seats. NO. They made it so hard for me to get back my refund. So hard! Instead of simply refund to my credit card account, they asked me all the bank account information of each passenger in my party. They can only refund to the person holding the ticket (who did not pay for it!). I don't understand what logic these people are following, or none at all.

Worst airline ever! We purchased a direct flight. Months later, they changed the flight to have a layover in a different country and lengthened the travel time by 3 fold. That was unacceptable to us. They would not refund us. Their website wouldn't work for refunds (isn't THAT convenient), so called all of their customer service numbers which just directed us to WhatsApp and answered only by AI, and that told us to use the website... the non-working website. We emailed support, and they told us to use website even though I told them the website didn't work for refunds. SCAM airline.

I Have a friend that purchase a ticket with thru a agency called Beneva located out of Florida. This Airlines cater more to the Hispanics. The agency purchase the ticket with the airlines knowing that she will not be able to fly due to new restrictions in Colombia. They took her money and refuse to be held accountable. The agency as well as the airline. I am going be that friend to file a law suit against the agency. They are lying to people and scamming people out of they hard earn money,.

This company is a riff off. I am flying out of Toronto and they have prices in US dollars. Their website is not easy to navigate. They make it hard for you to understand probably so that you can end up paying a lot more. Their price information is deceiving.

I have flown with Avianca many times, mainly because of prices for availability of flights, but their customer service is horrible and I am never able to complete my booking online. For the past year every time I go to book online it keeps giving me an error code 403 before I am even able to enter my payment. Then I have to go and waste hours calling in to customer service to confirm my flight. they always try to charge me extra for them to process my booking when their website doesn't work properly. Fix your website for payments. This has happened on my last 4 trips. As a frequent flyer this is extremely annoying.

TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE!! I will never fly AVIANCA again!! Avianca charges for everything, is like a low budget airline, bad customer service. I will pay more money so I can fly other airline. My experience was 😖 awful ... Stay away.

Horrible service. Check my bags and got charged 120 for a bookbag. They pay less for my checked bag round trip than the bookbag. Never again. I rather pay a bit more in American airlines. Please do not book with Avianca.

My Via Crucis started in Chicago on Dec 21, 2024 when I took a flight to Bogota connecting later with Cali Colombia. Flight was oversold and delayed. We arrived to Bogota late and I lost my connection. No single AV employee helped me, everything that have we done was got after begging the bureaucrats. I was put in the list for another flight the following day without explanation. Coming back I took again AV from Cali to Monteria, the flight was again oversold, I arrived into Bogota, my reservation moved to the following day and for worsen things my checked luggage was lost for two days. OMG, I needed to call the AV employers begging again for any information or explanation. Nothing was provided but bad information, aggressiveness. I will never fly again with AV and encourage to the rest of people not to do it as well.

Flight delayed over 5 hours in Toronto, and under Canadian law, I am entitled to a refund for the delay for the full amount. Tried to enter Ticket No. and Booking Code but the form itself rejected it. Their WhatsApp bot is grotesque waste of time. This is petty theft. Customer service is akin to talking to a donkey, but at least a donkey can truthfully say he doesn't understand you.

I was promised a refund within 30 days of the update. I provided all the necessary information, but since then, I haven’t received anything. The status of my refund request hasn’t been updated. I called their customer service, and the girl had no idea what to say, so she just hung up on me. Their so-called refund analyst has also stopped replying to my emails. It's obvious that they are not going to refund me anything.

All about the Benjamins, stealing from customers then begging for your business. Only if you are stupid. We are missionaries in Nicaragua and I run a business 2 weeks in Fla and the rest of the month in Nica. The business supports 5 churches and 10 children.I bought a RT ticket,4YIFWS Nov 25-Dec 13 MGA to MIA and back to MGA 12/13. I have a OW return on Avianca 12/31. We were on a mission trip to poor in Costa Rica when I got word my 89 mother was hospitalized. I flew home emergency ($350) on Spirit, only ticket available.

The only reason I gave Avianca two star is because their direct flights other than that is really bad. Customer service is awful. I think they are in other countries and because there is no number to call them. If you have an emergency and want to change your flight's date. You should do only via e-mail and they make impossible for You to change it. The only easy way to do is if you pay the ridiculous amount of fees that They charge. Is like buying the ticket again. I choose them before because as I mentioned for their direct flights but it has been the worst thing flying with them. I really don’t recommend this airline. Keep away from them. There are better airlines with good prices and excellent customer service

Worst airline I have ever flown on. Spirit is first class compared to Avianca and that's saying something. My flight was delayed or reschedule at least 4 times causing me to involuntarily stay for an extra 5 days. Only two of those days could they compensate me for my hotels due to what they called “external factors”. Funnily enough they gave me 3 different reasons for these external factors none of which made any sense. This airline should not be in business and I recommend EVERYONE to find another option as this was the worst airline experience I’ve ever had.

This airline was terrible from start to finish. My flight was delayed, and when I finally got to the gate to ask for updates, boarding had nearly finished. The ramp and door were still open and connected to the plane, but when I asked about boarding, the gate agent just shrugged and said, "Close the ramp." Her response, along with the airline’s disorganized and unhelpful approach, left several passengers stranded with no information or assistance. The lack of communication, empathy, and basic customer service was shocking. I would strongly advise against flying with this airline if you’re looking for a smooth, respectful, and reliable experience. I also have video of the television screens that said delayed with no updates until the airline took off. Also the agents that lack a whole lot of common sense.

Absolutely a terrible airline and horrible experience with them. I could make this lengthy with details but I won’t, just trust me if you can find ANY other airline, you will be much better off. Customer service person was so very rude and short and acted like I was his worst enemy from the start. I purchased a ticket for round trip plus additional baggage to bring my surfboard. Due to a personal family issue, I cannot leave the home, so I called to cancel. I understand I cannot receive a refund because I bought a non-refundable ticket, but they won’t even refund the extra I paid for bringing my board that now won’t even be on the plane because I am not going! Like really?? And I know that if I cancel they will resell my seat and make a killing on this! So I decided not to cancel and now of course I just won’t show up and prevent them from selling my seat. Total crooks!

2) They canceled my flight once and only pretend that they will refund the money paid. They send a link that does not work, they write up a trouble ticket and then they disappear. They are a slippery company.

This is the absolute most uncomfortably designed plane in commercial flights. Also I paid extra for leg room my seat was designed not to recline. Check out my photo of all my leg room. If it isn’t cheapest by a lot don’t do it.

The customer service in this company cannot solve my payment problems. I tried to pay with 3 different credit cards and they didn’t go through, I even call my bank and told me that Avianca system is not working properly, and now my reservation has been expired.

“I travel frequently for business, using various airlines, but this was my first and likely last experience with Avianca. The customer service at the counter in Orlando International Airport today, Friday, October 11, at 3:00 pm was disappointing. The staff was unprofessional and seemed indifferent to the passengers’ needs. While I understand that anyone can have a bad day, encountering the same rude attitude from at least four different employees suggests a deeper issue with customer service. If you value being treated with respect, I recommend considering other airlines. Don’t just take my word for it; check out other passengers’ reviews for similar experiences.”

The flights appear to be cheap, the high cost of the suitcases, my flight had a paid suitcase from El Salvador to Texas but from Texas to El Salvador it was not included, I read a thousand and one times. I did not understand why they did not include my return luggage, I had to pay $120 dollars when boarding. They harass you that your carry-on luggage is not the size that they have or if it is not you have to pay another $120 dollars. They are thieves and to finish this I had some books in my hands to distract myself on the flight. They forced me to throw them away because they did not fit in my carry-on luggage. Very bad experience, I do not recommend Avianca Airlines at all.

They changed my flight and only gave me an hour for an international connection. I called the airline and they agreed it wouldn't be possible to make the connection. The only solution they offered was to charge me $5,000 to change one flight - more than I paid for the entire ticket. They refused to refund me and told me I could take my chances with the new itinerary.

I was very disappointed when I went on the app to add luggage and was charged $200 US for each luggage! When I got to the airport I was told it would’ve been only $90 per luggage. I thought that I would be charged more at the airport. I tried calling Avianca three times and even spoke with a supervisor. I was told that prices vary so no credit will be issued. I feel robbed. My flight was on 8/10/24 from Bogotá to Orlando. Beware of excessive fees. Very unfair.

Don’t pay for first class, is not worth it, we paid for first class, reserved it and pay for it. Then they change it and they do not refund your money. That happened to a lot of people, going to Costa Rica and back. Both times they did the same.

First time booking this airline and let me just say I would never book again, they charge for everything, they barely have staff that speak English. The plus seats suck, no comfort at all for the price you pay. The comfort seats are the same as the seats in the back of the plane. They are basically charging people 75 dollars to be uncomfortable! Very uncomfortable flight!

My husband and I bought an international return ticket (Brazil/USA) through Avianca and it was a nightmare from start to finish. They sold us business class tickets on an aircraft that didn't have business class. We had a delay of a total of 28 hours with the Avianca partner companies they put us on. Worst of all, to this day, our two bags have not arrived at our final destination (it's been 5 days). We've made several complaints to the company and they only say there's no answer yet, The AirTag tells us that our bags are lost somewhere in the airport in Brazil. This is completely absurd. We will never use this airline again, and we definitely don’t recommend it to anyone!!

Avianca airlines, worst ever on services, a bus have better space to sit on. Advise everyone to avoid using this worst airbus to travel with, I got such a headache and backache due to lack of reclining chairs. Hated hated. Even a coffee is charge to your credit card.

This is the second time I am using Avianca this year and never again. I am so frustrated with their service I don't know where to begin. When I tried to check in on a return flight the website was down. I could not check in and ended up with the worse seat on the plane, the last row with no window on a 6 hour flight. When I tried to select, and pay for a checked baggage the website told me the service was "unavailable."

This the most outrageous and dishonest airline I've ever seen in the Latin American, flights services and charges for the Latin American people are outrageous and super expensive, if I have to flight to anywhere in south America, I would never consider to use their services.

I am beyond frustrated with my recent experience trying to upgrade my flight with Avianca Airlines. Despite their promises of improved comfort, their customer service is utterly non-existent, making the whole process a nightmare. I attempted to upgrade seats for myself and my child, who has a medical condition and requires close supervision during the flight. However, after purchasing the upgrade, I found that we were seated separately—a situation that is completely unacceptable. I immediately tried to contact Avianca to resolve this issue, but it has been impossible to reach anyone for assistance. I have been bounced around through endless automated systems with no human help in sight.

Terrible service, expensive and unnecessary fees. Never riding with them again. My carry on was perfect with my previous connection flight and Avianca told me it wasn’t to their specific standards. Then having to pay over $200 for a carry on!?

Horrible experience round trip. Seats were not comfortable, wifi isn’t promising, and they don’t allow you to bring water or any liquid, despite it being bought in the airport. I suggest paying a little extra for a different airline than to fly with them. Avianca charges for anything and everything. I think if they could they would charge you for breathing on the flight.

They are us 177$ CND for a carry on. So 354$ for me and my girlfriend. I have no words. I never had an issue with any airline ever. Please do something about this. After that they told us to book online for the luggage. It will be less expensive. So I did and I went to buy one big luggage to put our 2 small one inside of it. So it was suppose to be less expensive. Book the luggage on the website, told us that they will send an email confirmation in less than 8h... Never got it.

I am only giving 1 star because they fly and landed the plane. They are worst. Rude check in people, rude flight attendants. They also charged me $$100 going and another $120 at the connection for carry on luggage. Total rip off. Do not fly this airline. You think you bought less expensive ticket but at end you pay a lot more and get a discount airline service level.

Avianca is the worst airline, they always over sale their flights and then for no reason they don't let you board and say you have to take a later flight. Their customer service is the worst as well, not educated people at all. I wouldn't recommend this airline. Save yourself stress and headache.

I tried to call customer service a day before my flight back to the US, which was impossible to get a hold of anyone. I wanted to find confirm some information about my luggage. When I got to the airport, they charged me $130 for my carry-on. On the flight, they didn’t even offer water, it just felt like a rip-off. It is an abuse that they forced you to pay more for the ticket by charging for the luggage. Any good airline doesn’t charge for a carry on and offers at least water.

WOULD HAVE GIVEN THEM ZERO STARS BUT WE ARE OBLIGATED TO ADD AT LEAST 1. Horrible, sloppy looking employees. It's a shame as Avianca used to have neatly and polished employees. Now, they are all ghetto. They overcharged me for a carryon that was 1 inch too thick so I was obligated to pay for a full luggage and they overcharged me twice! For one carry on luggage they charged me $330 total! And they were rude and obnoxious. Would not give me the time of day despite my being polite they asked me to step aside, and plane wound up leaving without me! They found me another flight but I lost half a day with this carry on luggage blunder. Please don’t waste your money, time and patience with this airline. It’s better to pay a little more and have peace of mind. THIS AIRLINE AND ITS EMPLOYEES ARE A DISASTER.

I booked a flight from Orlando to Medellin. Round trip. After my aunt was diagnosed with cancer I had to stop in Bogota before heading to Medellin. I called and when I asked about changing the first flight they wanted to charged me an stupid amount for the change. So I decided to leave as it was and book a new flight from Orlando to Bogota 2 days before my original date. A couple of days before the returning flight from Medellin I decided to check on the flight and realized these people had cancelled our flight. 5 tickets!

Unfathomable incompetence from this airline every step of the way. As a seasoned traveler who’s flown many airlines all across the world, this was the WORST one I’ve flown. NO bathrooms available in-flight… & hopefully you have small legs because their seating is as tight as it gets. Unless you have to, don’t fly.

HORRIBLE!! Never using this airline again. Super rude, unprofessional, incompetent crewmembers especially at the Guatemala airport Avianca station. I had a carry on backpack as “luggage” with me and I had bought a bag of Pollo Campero at the airport which is very common for people who leave guatemala. The lady at the boarding station told me to pay her $130 to keep all my stuff or to throw away my backpack or the chicken. She was very rude in her way of speaking and after she told us a bunch of rude stuff the other staff members were laughing as well. She didn't have enough with that but decided that my daughter needed a second revision who btw is a MINOR. They searched her up and down took everything out her backpack and made her take her skirt off to see if she wasn't hiding anything.

I honestly prefer to give 0 stars. This airline was the worst from beginning to end. No organization for being out of the country and rude, overworked employees. They only charged me for a carry on bag which was expensive to begin with then catch you with an additional checked bag fee of $120. Almost $500 in luggage fees between my husband and I. Unbelievable. Layover was even more horrific. No gate on ticket so you look onboard. Then gate changed. No announcement. It’s just people following each other to catch flight. Never again. The worst charge you for food and to breathe if they could. And when asking why it’s like the agent can’t be bothered with your questions since they’ve heard it a thousand times. Sad attitude and way to do business.

I can't believe they are still trying to reach out to us to ask us how they did!! First and all, Elisabeth ** is a minor who is only eight years old. I had told them this before, and they have records of her date of birth. I am her mother, Ana **. Their service is the worst, and I can not believe they are still reaching out to us asking about what they did. At the airport, I was promised I was going to get the money back if I paid for the other luggage after I told their representative I could call someone to come and get it, or I would buy a smaller one to meet their requirements. They were all the same price, but they refused to change it.

This is my first time boarding with Avianca but it will be my last. I paid extra money so I can pick my seat and my baggage but not only some of the employees were nasty, they gave my 5-year-old another seat toward the back of the plane by herself with my 11-year-old and my seat was in the front of the plane. Who wants to be seated away from their children. I'm not sure what business they are in but it's not good customer service and I wasn't the only parent that had this issue. Not sure if this for other purposes but be aware PARENTS!

I am utterly frustrated with Avianca Airlines' lack of customer service and responsiveness. It has been over three months since I requested a refund for my ticket, and despite endless calls, emails, and tweets, I have yet to receive any resolution. The customer service representatives are unhelpful and provide generic responses without actually addressing the issue. Avianca does not prioritize its customers or their concerns. I expected better from such a well-known airline. I will think twice before flying with Avianca again. I strongly advise others to be cautious when booking with this airline.

I would like to give -1million stars. I lost my flight by mistake. Hours change. I understand that is my fault but they stand that I lost round trip flight tickets. How can that be possible? To my point of view I just need it to purchase another one way flight and used the other to come back but is easy for them to take $1080 flight tickets. Always flight with united airlines. Unfortunately this was an emergency and had no choice but this was first and last. Thank you Avianca for taking money for nothing. Never again.

I flew with Avianca for the first time in January 2024, enticed by their competitive prices. Despite a less-than-ideal initial experience, I opted to fly with them again in June for a trip to Antigua with my daughter. However, we faced issues with our seating arrangements when we requested to sit together. Avianca insisted on a $15 fee to switch seats, and when we declined, they moved my daughter even further back, despite the flight being half-empty with plenty of empty seats nearby.

Avianca is a piece of garbage with incompetent people. My trip was an hour late to board and the avianca staff would not let me through even when my check in was ready because they said I was late. But the next day when I called they tell me they should have let me through because of the flight delay to board. Besides not assuming their fault they charged me double per ticket and they charge you for each of the 10k and 23k bags and their web page says one price and then doubles it, I noticed that when buying tickets and having to pay extra for luggage that other airlines include. One way flight with bags ended up costing me $1300. Thanks to their incompetence and aggressiveness in dealing with customers.

**Avoid Avianca Airlines at All Costs!** Despite numerous warnings from family and friends over the years about Avianca's irresponsibility and disdainful attitude towards its customers, not to mention the exploitation they subjected Nicaraguans to during the pandemic by charging exorbitant fees in collusion with the Ortega dictatorship, I was tempted by their seemingly convenient connections for our trip to Colombia. What a mistake that was!

How about changing flights without explanation 36 hours or more. And you either take it or leave it. Customer service? I didn't know they had any. How about carry-on. $$$ extremely expensive. The worse airline.

If I was able to give them a 0, I would give them a negative; this airlines is a disgrace. To charge a customer $220 for a bag that is clearly a carry-on is disgusting & the attitude of the people that work there is even worse - my family will NEVER take this airline again.

I have never disliked a company more in my life. My wife and I were trying to fly their awful airline to go on vacation, and the flight was canceled 5 months before the trip. They never notified us, and a week before we left, we happened to look at the itinerary and saw that the "new" flight was almost an entire day later. I had to book through another airline and after a month and a half they still have not refunded my money. They keep taking the max amount of time to string me along just hoping I will give up. I will never use this airline again and I am aggressively warning you to avoid them at all costs.

Worst service. In order to honor the 24 hour refund dictated by US laws they make you fill out a form which states that it might take up to 30 business days to get the refund which is ridiculous. Staff not even trained, was told that the 24 hour rule did not apply but only cancelations by end of same day of purchase where allowed. Avianca can screw their customers in Central America and whatever regions but NEEDS to abide to US laws. To take the money they take it in a second but takes 30 business days to refund it back. I asked to talk to a supervisor and was told there were none at the moment, what a lame excuse. Trash of an airline.

I am extremely dissatisfied with my recent experience with Avianca. I purchased an airline ticket but, due to unforeseen circumstances, was unable to use it. Trying to resolve this situation has been a nightmare, making Avianca one of the worst companies I have ever dealt with. First of all, the charge for the unused ticket was completely outrageous. I felt financially exploited, as there was no flexibility or understanding from Avianca's side. It's frustrating to see that a company of this size doesn't have more customer-friendly policies for unexpected situations, especially when other airlines have been more reasonable and understanding. Moreover, communication with Avianca is simply nonexistent. I tried to contact them in various ways—phone, email, social media—and nothing worked. I was ignored at every turn, which only added to my frustration. It seems the company doesn't care at all about providing even the most basic customer service.

I will not be using this airline, where do I begin? 1st they don't allow the drinks or food you buy in airport, Illegal!! They are all about making money off their customers, the person doing checking was more alert about checking backpacks, carry ons, etc to charge them extra as they did to me. They don't offer any drinks or food!!! Until people stop using their service and settling for less they will not STOP their dirty business of over charging people!!! Not to mention, no entertainment and comfort on their seats and foot room. Very very disappointed!!!! I don't like to complain but in this case! All this complaint are well deserved!!!!

Avianca is The worst flying experience. Period: nasty personnel, no food or even WATER served on two 6 hour flights; $230 fees for 2 carryon bags and $120 extra for one checked bag as a premier silver Star Alliance Alliance customer. Check in from Santiago took no less than 3 1/2 hours. All seats from middle to back of plane do not recline and have no headrests even on an overnight flight. The food for purchase consists of horrible junk food options like chips Doritos and terrible cold croissants sandwiches. Water for purchase only is warm: no ice available. The worst worst worst. The costs of flying is much higher in the end than MUCH better airlines flying the same routes such as Delta and even Copa or LATAM. NEVER AGAIN!

I don't recommend anyone to fly on this airline, they always having technical issues on the app to check in and to pay for baggage so when you arrive at the airport they can charge you the double. There is a employee name Silvia that she has a really bad customer service, you ask questions and she gets upset. She be screaming at customers' face throwing the papers at you. She forgets that if this airline doesn't have customers they don't have a paycheck so they should be more professional and have a great customer service.

The absolute worst flying experience I have ever had and I have travelled to over 30 countries. The staff is rude and if you are not ** they could care less about what you need or ask. I had an issue at check in, they didn't want to print my boarding pass… How can you refuse a customer their boarding pass if I paid for my flight and seat! We finally got out of Medellin and to Bogota. It only got worse!

‼️BEWARE‼️ $200 policy fee for 2nd suitcase. Avianca made No reference at all to this outrageous policy fee during the reservation process‼️ There are NO complimentary snacks, everything costs extra‼️

I recently flew with Avianca from Miami to Buenos Aires, with a connection in Bogota. I paid for Economy Flex (supposedly a better seat than regular economy, and with the chance to check 1 piece of luggage of 50lb). To my surprise, I found in the pocket in front of my seat a menu and noticed that Avianca, like every low-cost airline, charges you for everything. They don't even give you a glass of water, only sell you a bottle. Even worse, if you are cold, they "rent" you a blanket for U$ 9.00. The seats? Thin as they possibly are, uncomfortable, and dirty. Avianca is a Star Alliance member, which used to encompass the best airlines, but that is no longer the case. The tickets are not cheap, meaning they charge you almost the same as AA or DL, but with Spirit service. AVOID AVIANCA.

We purchased two tickets to El Salvador on 9/11/22 and made changes, Avianca is supposed to give us our money back and I’ve called several times and they asked to do a ridiculous process that takes you nowhere to resolve the problem. Every time I called they make me do the same thing and up until today they haven’t resolved my refund. I think that’s a political way that they use to not pay the money back.

We had paid for our flight tickets from LAX to SAL and set our seats 6 months prior to departure. Our flight departure was at 1:50 on March 22nd, 2024 (Friday). We first encountered a change of flight option 2 weeks prior, so I called and I was given the option to change dates or time, so I changed the time which was only a 5 minutes difference.

Absolutely the worst non caring check in people I've ever experienced in my 64 years of life. God awful. Avoid at all cost. If they are like that. Imagine the aircraft maintenance must be. Sub standard. Fly at your own risk.

The robbery occurred in the 15min between the completion of my SSSS extra search and the departure of the plane. Approx 633am643am. The security woman outside the plane doors has light eyes, red hair, taller and heavy set woman and a shorter dark haired security woman took my luggage right outside the plane. I asked the plane attendants to please allow me to take my phone out of the carryon that they told me could not come with me inside the plane. These woman watched me open my bag along with 3 other male workers who were there with wheelchairs outside the plane. They were incredibly aggressive and intimidating. They watched over me and they saw I opened my bag on the floor in front of them. They saw the contents of the black VS bag which is the exact stolen item out of my bag. The bag held my jewelry within my underwear so it should have been safe. That is when the red hair woman took the bag back from me and I walked back into the plane doors and we departed only a few minutes after that.

Very expensive, they charge for everything!! Rude employees. I paid over $300 just for luggage. I will never fly with Avianca again. There are better options out there. Avianca used to be a good airline, now is garbage

This company is Garbage, there are other options, you will regret flying with this company, I booked round trip from Seattle to El Salvador, due to missing my departure, they cancel my returning trip and forced me to rebuy my ticket with over 20 empty seats on the plane, these said it all about this greedy company, over 5 hours flight from el salvador to san francisco and no snack or drinks,.

I was told there was a change in my reservation without my approval. When I tried to get a refund they said that they have resolved my situation. I called back because there was no solution and they told me to allow 30 days. Well, I allowed three months as I was diligent and was completely ignored. I escalated to a supervisor, but nothing has been done. They recommended I just forget about the previous ticket and just buy a new one for hundreds of dollars more. This company should be investigated. Terrible experience and this was my first and last time with Avianca. They don’t deserve your business.

Avianca is the most disgraceful company! I don’t understand how this airline is not only still standing, but is allowed to do legally business in the states. I chose Avianca as they are part of Star Alliance. I had bought tickets for my husband and I and bought the most expensive option so we can reschedule if need it. Sadly we had to change our dates and even though we both had the “protection” we paid the same price as it was online. So we paid twice for tickets that we had “protection on”. That is not even the real issue! I had already made the mental note to never use them again and that would have been that.

Worst experience from start to finish. Constantly changing flight times, boarding gates, etc, very unprofessional staff at counters, en route to destination $200 American dollars to bring a bag of medical donations extra, then we sat on tarmac for an extra hours and a half because after they boarded everyone they unboarded half the plane and changed their flight and plane, there was chocolate all over our seats that nobody ever did help clean up and we got it all over us. On way home was worse, they cancelled and rebooked all of our flights with no notification, insisted it wasn't their fault despite it being due to a problem with their plane, which prevented us from being able to make our connections home despite me having received a severe injury the night before on the way to the airport for the flight that was no longer leaving and needing to return home for medical attention.

This is one of the worst airlines I have ever communicated with. Extremely unprofessional and unreasonable. The presidential candidate of the country I was traveling to was executed by gang violence. They issued a nationwide warning. I asked to cancel my trip in lieu of this. They refused. Extremely unhelpful, and unreasonable.

Today my 84 yr. old mom left from SFO international Airport to San Salvador, El Salvador. Prior to her departure date my mom and I had heard that this airline was now charging for luggage even if the luggage was not over the weight limit, and also that they would charge the passengers for their carry-on luggage. So I decided to look this information up on the internet and checked it out on the Avianca website which was telling me the total opposite! It stated that a passenger could take with themselves a carry-on luggage that weighed no more than 22 lbs and take a big luggage that weighed no more than 50 lbs and that it wouldn't be charged if it weighed less. So I made sure that her luggage would weigh less in order to avoid any extra charges.

Avianca took our money (3 round trip flights to the tune of $5000) and canceled our flights. We showed up at the airport and were told we had no tickets. We never got a cent back, except for the tax on the tickets. Weeks before our flight we had inquired via chat with a "bot" (the only way to actually communicate with the carrier) about getting a refund because my wife was very sick. It said, "Type "1" if you want to initiate a refund, so she did. We were then texted back, "Your tickets are non-refundable." We then texted, "Thanks for letting us know. We want to keep our tickets."

This is the most criminal airline that I’ve encountered. Deceptive practices doesn’t cover it. I believe there will be future class action lawsuits to recover stolen funds from passengers. If you can help it, DO NOT FLY AVIANCA. Before confirming seat changes or checking out, Avianca locked us into the $250 seat upgrade and $220 carry on bag fee. We tried to re-click on our previous seats (already paid for) when we realized the grossly inflated bag fee, but they do not allow you to return and instead extort you using an “Unpaid Items” section. WE HAD NEVER CHECKED OUT OR CONFIRMED, we were just looking at options during check in. Beyond stealing from customers the seats are also horrible. Stay away from these criminals.

Took flight from LAX but in their website return flight to LA was Ontario airport. They actually call Ontario airport - Los Angeles. You will find out when you are in the El Salvador airport for return flight. They charge you $230 penalty plus $300 to change to LAX. There were other people that they been screwed in the same flight. This is cheating to gain more money. Extremely poor customer service and dishonest business practices.

It was the worst experience ever in my life. Please stay far away from this airline. Firstly, they triple-charged the card!! So we called the bank and asked the bank to refund the 2 extra charges. (This was in July 2023) 5 months ago. Guess what? After receiving multiple emails of flight confirmation, check-in, everything. We showed up at the airport to be told that our tickets were reimbursed, on the day of traveling. To make matters worse, after more than 2 hours on the phone as well as speaking with the counter at the airport, and the bank, it has come to our conclusion that the reimbursement was never actually authorized, yet our tickets were stamped reimbursed; therefore we could not board the flight. They tried to charge us $1700 per person to get the same seats we would pay $250 each!

The Avianca Life Miles plan is a joke. You will never be able to use the mile. You have to continually accrue miles or buy them with cash every year in order for them to not expire. If you dont use them in less then a year or buy more they will expire. I had built up miles from flying that equaled 1 round trip ticket. But every time I tried to use those miles, I was told either miles could not be used on a certain flight or I had to pay almost everything for the flight plus my 50,000 miles. So 50,000 plus $600-$800 dollars. That makes no sense.

Paid over $700 for a trip to El Salvador. They don't give you even a drink during the flight. They want to sell whatever junk they have. I get at least peanuts and drinks on even short flights in the US. What a joke of service they have. In El Salvador they conduct a second revision (shoes off, scanner etc) after you have already gone to the security checkpoint. The Avianca revision took over 1 hour - almost lost the flight. They figure they are servicing ** people and they can do whatever they want with them since they do not have market competition.

Updated on 1/15/2024: This is a finish to my original review. Summarized, I received a ticket, wrong name, their mistake. After a month of countless communications with no results to get it fixed I finally managed to have my claim directed to a supervisor who advised me to do a waiver with supporting documentation. I finally received a ticket the day before my flight. If I had been sent in this direction to begin with there would have been no issues. Unfortunately due to my location I was unable to get to the airport in time for my flight so I requested a refund. I was refunded $162. CA on a ticket I paid $438. U.S. for. I immediately sent for an explanation.

It's the worst company ever!

I had an itinerary with 3 flights from Cascavel to Guarulhos to Bogota to Miami, and they cancelled my first flight from Cascavel to Guarulhos for no apparent reason! They did not want to cover my expenses to purchase a substitute flight to get to Guarulhos and would only give me a refund if I also cancelled my second and third flight, which is absurd! I called the insurance company to ask for coverage on the substitute flight and they told me that to file a claim I need to give them the reason as to why was the flight cancelled, but when I called Avianca, their customer service team couldn't even give me the reason because they don't have that information! So my flight was cancelled and I am getting no coverage, no refunds, no help, no nothing! I am never in my life flying with Avianca again!

Avianca is not a good experience for traveling on vacation, 11/12/2023 fly from Houston to Sjo Costa Rica, the call center instead fix a one of the passenger name cancelled our 3 tickets, and on San Jose Costa Rica fly to San Salvador 11/18/23. It was more inconvenient. And make us to decide not be use this airline anymore.

Avianca canceled my trip without telling me or sending me an email informing me of the change. When I called to ask for a written explanation over email they said it was not in their "policy" and they could not do it. I was told I could reschedule the flight with additional charges within the same week or lose the ticket altogether, which is what ultimately happened. Avianca scams its customers, please beware and fly with another airline.

I came back from traveling and when I open my luggage at home noticed few things were missing from my luggage. The discrimination parts is where other people bought bottles at airports and let them passed with them. I have bottles too I bought at the airport. They were sealed with the receipt and they didn't let me in with it like the other people did. The excuse was "it's liquid". The other people that had the same bottles of liqueur is liquid too.

AVOID BUYING YOUR TRIPS THROUGH AVIANCA. How does an AIRLINES force you to keep your trip obliged? MONOPOLY. That's LEGAL? I asked to cancel my trip two months before the date. AVIANCA fined me 70% or $200.00. WHERE IS CONSUMER'S RIGHT??

I had a flight for Nov 22, 2023. The airline cancelled my flight, I submitted a request for refund. I did not get refunded and my flight was cancelled. I called several times with no resolution. I was told the flight had been moved by 10 minutes but I could not receive my flight back or my money back. This is absurd. When I logged on it said my flight was cancelled and I even called and was told I was eligible for the full refund. That is not what occurred! I did not get any money nor flight. There is no one that has been able to help, I called and emailed and no resolution. This is ridiculous!

This is the second time that Avianca makes its own rules and changes for the most expensive ticket they have but they give you a made up story to charge you again for the seat when at the time of purchase it clearly said seat election included! 9 months ago it was included. Now bare in mind that you pay for business or the most expensive and you have to pay extra for the seat or you go for free on row 4! Which is the beginning of regular seats! NEVER BUYING A TICKET IN THIS AIRLINE AGAIN.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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!

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!!!

Avianca sucks. Be careful doing business with them. Remember me avianca. You made me miss my flight because you said I had to have a return ticket. No other time Miami to Sao Paulo did I need one. You said all nicely that could go on the next flight in a few hours. Just go down to the desk. The hitch? I had to pay for another ticket. I'll never forget. Your $30 USD refund didn't make me forget.. idek it was for since it didn't say...I will avoid your airline at all costs. I fly Copa now.

First time we booked our Ticket with Avianca. Please do not book from them. The most HORRIBLE airline. Without informing us they changed our return flight to US. Instead of 6 hours flight changed it to 15 hours and day after the original departure. I was on the phone for hours but was not able to reach anyone. If I did not check in online I missed my flight. I had to pay double for another night for hotel. Also they charge $85 for carry on. No food, plus no one offers a cup of water, also they allow dogs inside the plane. I never seen such an horrible airline. I wish I read the reviews before booking a flight. I hope they go bankrupt. No agent were able to explain.

Avianca is known as a poor reputation airline, but in this case they really went down to be the WORST! They do whatever they want with their passengers as to postpone, cancel flights, accommodate people to travel instead of two stops, make you do four stops, etc.; they don't give any credits. Additionally, their "supervisors" like Julissa ** are a scam; they don't exist and play with you. Also, DON'T EVER BUY AN UPGRADE! If AVIANCA cancels your flight, YOU DON'T GET THE MONEY BACK... in a single word - white tie thieves!

Avianca is the most bad airline, bad customer service, misleading publicity, not return of money, no leg's place on the plane, not water, this airline is a disaster. Please NO FLY WITH AVIANCA. My fly from Miami To Barranquilla.

Avianca is the worse company I have been dealing. For 2 months and over 20 phone calls I can not solve my problems. Regretfully I purchase airfare from Avianca 3 years ago. My flight has been canceled due to COVID pandemic. First, I tried to get a refund - Avianca refused to give a refund and offered just a credit. I travel 2-3 times per year and I agreed thinking that I could use my credit for future travel in form UATP credit. When I was trying to use my credit and purchase ticket on website, it only took off $5 from the purchase price. I called multiple times, get same answer - nobody speaks English in website department. I filled a case with tech support 1m ago. Nobody contacted me or trying to help. Avianca just stole my money. This company should not get any business in USA. STAY AWAY from Avianca.

This is the worst airline. I'd give 0 stars if I could. Long story short, this is a horrible airline to work with if you have a family emergency and need to make quick adjustments, they are greedy for money and they are not considerate - I'm a very popular person on IG and Facebook and I will tell them my experience is horrible.

I also flew from Medellin to Santa Marta on Avianca and guess what? That 1 hour flight had a larger plane than my International flight. No sense. I hoped things would be different on the way home to NYC, but it was the same horrible little plane flying home with no outlets again. Never, ever will I fly Avianca again. Period.

This was my first time flying with the airline. my issue first started when I tried to book on their website & got a message saying my payment was processing but my credit card was never charge. Did a few more times using different cards with same results. When I got to the airport my check baggage was double than what I could have bought it on their website. @ The check in counter I spoke with a national & he told me sometimes they don't charge him for extra baggage. I explain my issues with few agents @ the counter & one was polite & said call Avianca for a refund on the luggage 'cause my payment didn't go through. The other agent said I should have tried a card from a different bank.

Over the years this airline has consistently failed me and I only use it occasionally (2 times a year) when I have no other good choice for flights to Colombia. They consistently hit a new grim milestone every time I travel to them: flights canceled last minute, many hour delays (they give you a worthless voucher with poor conditions that make it unredeemable), HORRIBLE customer service keeping on the phone for hours, and arbitrary charges on luggage or other things that will always make you regret buying a ticket with them.

Avianca is possibly the worst international airline and fails on so many fronts. Quality of flights website and overall customer service avoid if possible. They do not care about you and will make yo waste your time and patience.

My family and I traveled for a wedding in Cartagena for the first time and the experience with Avianca were awful .. no entertainment, you have to pay for water and the worse part is the customer services representative in THE AIRPORTS FROM NY TO COLOMBIA and then Colombia to NY WAS WORSE. They are rude to welcoming and asking them questions is like the worse to them. My and family felt so disrespected. The check-in process in the app can be useless as well. I am sad they make our experience in Colombia horrible.

I bought a ticket for my grandmother on December 2022 & paid for the 1st Bag (23kg). They charged her $250 for the 2nd bag at the airport (Viru Viru, Santa Cruz Bolivia) but only after they saw her crying becae they were first asking $350 for it. They didn't even offer her water during the 6 hr. flight to Washington D.C. Tiny 8 oz. Bottle was $5.

This airline has always been abusive and takes advantage of customers. I tried to change my flight from Guatemala to Sacramento and they canceled my flight, when the total cost of the flight was &461.00 in total. I tried to make the change and waited for some sort of email confirmation and even called them and spoke to customer support and they said the request was still under review and there was nothing I could do or from them, after I talked to them on the phone I waited a couple of days and decided to call back to find out the status of my request, and they told me that my flight was canceled and the refund had already been provided. I told them that I had already tried to find out about the application and if they had told me that the flight was going to be canceled and that it was going to lose almost all the value, I would have left the flight as it is. But they didn't care about my explanation and hung up.

THE WORST AIRLINE FROM THE US LATIN AMERICA, they are rude, ignorant about their own services and super complicated about their services. I make a mistake when making a reservation and when tried to chance the date I had to fill forms, send emails with my ID pictures, deal with their hideous accents with they pretend to speak English. Their website is absurdly complex and they have no clue when you ask questions. They will tell you things like "at your own risk" or "it is not our responsibility" or horrible things like that in order to not continue helping you. Can you believe I had to fill a form when their site game a system error?

Updated on 12/05/2022: This is the second part of my review, it takes a lot for me to leave a negative review for any business or a person but I've had it. Not only is hard and frustrating to communicate with customer service. They never return the call when the line gets disconnected. If you refer to my ticket it says time at gate 2:59am! WHAT A DAMM LIE!!! Time at the line was 1:00am (there's cameras at the airport). The first one on the line, employees showed up at 2:45am // FLIGHT is at 3:30am // Gates close at 3:15am/ Flight ends up getting delayed because employees were still walking in to work. Beyond Unprofessional!! I was the First one at the check in counter and last one to make it to the gate. SMH!!

I bought a ticket through their website and was always pressured to pay more for the ticket when I just needed the basic fare. Unfortunately, I got sick with influenza before my trip and was forced to cancel it. I called Avianca and they said that unless I had a medical excuse, they would not provIde me with a voucher or reimbursement (I never wanted my money back, just a voucher that I could use for a future trip). Furthermore, they do not consider influenza as a valid disease to prevent travel. This is outrageous as I was feverish and could have spread the virus to other people.

I had a flight from Medellín to Miami that was booked 5 months ago. Two weeks ago they decided without notify me about the change, but I did my best to change all the bookings that I had arriving in Miami. This morning my flight was at 6:00 am when they didn't even tell me that the flight was delayed 3 hours making me lose my connection in Bogotá, that also made me have issues already with the rental car company. They gave us a voucher to buy some food, voucher that is only usefully after 9:30 am and my flight is at 9:15 am. Avianca customer service is useless!

Besides being assigned to the emergency sit, which didn't recline, and the 5.5 hr flight was extremally uncomfortable, I was carrying a large canvas painting, protected by a cardboard, 2mm thick, that fits behind the last seats on the plane, without bothering anyone. This airline charged me almost $100 and put my paint with the cargo. Very unnecessary and just plain rude.

This is the second and last time that I have flown Avianca. The first was in early 2020 and we were upsold at every opportunity, including being told my personal item (laptop bag) needed to be paid for. On this occasion, country hopping across South America, Avianca implement a requirement for proof of an active yellow fever vaccine to board flights from Brazil to Colombia. In the months leading up to the flight, I was bombarded with emails about upgrading my flight but not a single one mentioning that they would be demanding this at the airport.

DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY IN THIS COMPANY. THEY WILL STEAL YOUR MONEY. So we as family decided to go to Colombia for the first time. Beautiful country but the airline is the worst experience we had as family. On our way back to New York, we were at the line to board the plane and once we got there the attendant said, "There is no more room in the airplane. YOU ARE LATE FOR YOUR FLIGHT." I was like I wasn't sure if she was talking to us since she saw that we're right there. I smiled and said. "Not we were not, we are right here." Short story, they made us lose our flight and said that our flight tickets can not be changed for another flight and we have to buy new tickets... At that point I wasn't sure if that was true so we went to OTHER SERVICES, first the supervisor was extremely rude and he only said "sorry there is nothing I can do. We always over sell our flight for 10 extra seats in case there is people that are not on time.."

I've flown all different airlines around the world, from the USA, Europe, Africa, Caribbean, and South America. Avianca has been the WORST experience I've ever had. I booked through Expedia and was automatically given an XS fare due to it being the only fare available. I've never flown this airline before, and had no idea about how the fares worked. I figured I could pay extra to upgrade my fare eventually like any other airline I've flown. Several weeks on the phone with Avianca customer support, and almost every agent I spoke to did not speak English at all, or well. I was unable to get any help from their support team. Emails never received a response. Due to the 24 hour window for refund expiring, I was locked in and had no choice but to take this flight. $1082 total for 2 tickets, on a 1 hour and 30 minutes flight, which did not include checked bags.

This is the worst airline I have ever travel with. If there was a minus star, I will give it to them. Starting with the customer service, they don't even know they own policies when you asked a question related to the luggage. We paid for business class, it was not cheap at all, so you expect great service, but no, not with this airline. To start, the sits were duty, then the beverage, they did not offer you a variety of drinks, just water, coffee or tea, they didn't even have juices or soda if you wanted. Then the food, the sandwich, a cold awful sandwich with not even enough meat, very discussing. One thing is for sure, I WILL NEVER fly with this airline again and I do not recommend it to anybody. Look for other airlines, this one is not good at all and you will be disappointed.

I was in first class for a fly from Orlando to Medellin and the food was horrible, an old sandwich that tasted awful, I threw it away, I paid a lot of money for the ticket and not even the seats were good. I also have the same experience flying inside Colombia, drinks and food are bad.

I’d give 0 stars if I could. Long story short, this is a horrible airline to work with if you have a family emergency and need to make quick adjustments. I understand you can put things in writing where people purchasing economy airfare relinquish their ability to reschedule their flight without fees, but you’d think that a $422 one-way 6-hour flight pre-purchased 1.5 months ahead of time, made by someone who’s flown with you before, who has had a family emergency where their father had a heart attack and is undergoing life-saving surgery, you would morally think charging them $962 dollars in penalties to reschedule their flight to same day is a little heartless and unethical. (Bringing my grand total to $1,384). ESPECIALLY when there were open economy seats available on 3 flights leaving that same day.

I have an awful experience using this airline, Avianca broke many of my item and personal belonging what were properly packed inside my baggage. They gave me back my brand new baggage, wet, dirty, partial opened and mostly all items were damaged. Customer service disrespectful, arrogant and not helpful.

Avianca destroyed my family vacation and would not refund my money. They cancelled my flight three times, took me of my direct flight wanted to put me on a connection flight and they wanted me to travel overnight instead of on the same day, my travel time was increased by 7 hours and when I tried to cancel my flight and get a refund, they would not respond for their unacceptable treatment of myself and my family. Buyers beware this airline is the worse I have ever attempted to travel on, never again will I use them and fair warning if you do, they destroyed my vacation.

This is the first and last time I will fly Avianca. This was the worst experience on so many levels. I flew on this airline on May 22 and I'm finally calm enough now to write this review and it still will be scathing. I had just completed a week-long business trip in Sao Paulo, BR. and was flying from Sao Paulo to Cancun, MX by way of Bogata, CO. I have flown hundreds of thousands of miles for both business and leisure travel. I will do everything humanly possible to avoid this airline including walking to my destination. Avianca was horrendous in so many ways. I'll start with check-in process.

I purchased roundtrip tickets from Colombia to LAX for my fiancee late May, early June. Upon arrival my future wife was stopped at immigration and sent back home. (Yes, deported) I contacted Avianca weeks in advance that she would not be able to make the scheduled trip back to Colombia. They told me to go onto their website and fill out the refund section. I was able to provide the official documents by the United States Department of Immigration letters stating when and why she was sent back. When I called back numerous times I was brushed off saying I had to wait for a email response from the website refund department. A week after the plane took off I finally received the email stating that our refund was rejected.

At the airport, my husband and I were late and we were told by Avianca to re-schedule our flight with the call center. We were calling back and forth, being tossed between Avianca at the airport telling us that our reservation doesn't require waiver and the Avianca call center telling us that Avianca at the airport needs to provide a waiver and at the very end, Avianca call center cancelling our entire reservation.

Flight on May 3, 2022. SFO to SJO with layover in SAL. Airbus A320 & A319. Do not use this airline. We made an even bigger mistake by paying for business class flight! One of the worst service. Please don't waste your money. Now if you want bad treatment that's fine. But when you spend $$$ more money for business class? Come on. At least make us feel like it is worth the money. First of all, they don't even call boarding for business class. Both flights we had to go up front and ask if we can board yet since they are boarding the masses first. Then in El Salvador, the guy checking the tickets even made it a point to avoid us. How rude. In flight meal from SFO to SAL, a 5.5 hr flight was literally a soggy sandwich, a water bottle, a tiny bag of chips and nuts. No other drinks available other than coffee, coke and apple juice (like the one you get in the hospital). Then from SAL to SJO, the plane had to be serviced, causing a major delay. Seriously I hope you read this before throwing your money away on this airline.

We traveled on 4/10/22 to Bogotá from IAD. Like I always do, I printed out my Kaiser Permanente COVID test result. The check in lady (who did not have an ID badge) but she was wearing fake eye lashes, did not accept the print out of COVID test results. I tried to explain her in many different ways, I showed her the letter with my results in my KP app and she yelled at me and threatened “if I don’t want to I won’t let you traveled at all.” She said those same words to another Traveler that had Kaiser P. We both were threatened by the same lady. My tickets were for business class. Don’t waste your money paying more for a better service. The food is the same as coach, the flight attendants seemed very tired and did not care about us. No movies to watch. All of the business class travelers were very disappointed.

Business class is about the seat but not the food or service anymore. Seats are comfortable but the food is terrible! Bring your own food for sure. LAX - Bogota: Service was great. Food was bad. They gave us a sandwich and bacon for lunch and for breakfast the same bacon but with eggs. They had nothing for a vegetarian. Embarrassing. We boarded last because of COVID policies they said. That makes absolutely no sense since business class is separate from economy, where boarding from back to front makes sense.

This company is really bad, I just can't believe they are still in business. I traveled to El Salvador on March 30th 22, when I was checking the rude dude at the IAD airport name Mauricio ** asked several times to fit my bag into an small compartment they have to measure the bags. He clear saw the very first time that the bag fit but he acted as an arrogant person. If you travel in Avianca be prepared to be treated as a number and not as a human being. Also it looks like they discriminate persons over 40 years old because you will see at the counter only young people like in their early 20ist. To say something else I will say that when we arrived to San Salvador it was pouring so I saw water was coming from the roof of the plane, very unsafe situation and will never fly again with flying caskets.

This is the first review I’ve written of any kind…. Flew with Avianca For the first and last time. The avianca employees at the lax ticket counter were the rudest employees I’ve ever encountered, from any kind of business. The ‘manager’ named Dora would not even look away from her screen at me while I was asking her questions until she snapped at me and then lied and told me to go into a secure area and knock on the avianca office door. When they told me the area was for employees only, I was sure I misunderstood. I went back to her two more times with the same response. She then held up her hand to my face and said ‘I cannot with you’ and walked to the secure area she kept sending to. I asked the tsa employee who guarded said area, who said ‘dude they’re the worst’. You can’t make this ** up…. Unbelievably rude and offensive interaction with a paid employee of a corporation. I can’t believe they’re in business.

I have purchased on February 8 of 2022, tickets to return Travel with wife and two kids (8 months and 6 years old) from Cucuta to Bogota / Bogota to Miami (home). We are originally from Miami and we were visiting our family in Cucuta, Colombia from March 23 to March 27 of 2022. This tickets were only for March 27 2022. We took our first flight from Cucuta to Bogota, arrived to Bogota at 0955PM and passed all TSA to be at Gate 53 in ElDorado International Airport at 1005PM. The Flight from Bogota to was scheduled for 1110PM and it was on-time, gate opened at 1015PM. At the gate, the Avianca counter, the staff called Priority members and then rows 1-15, there was a long line so we waited before we boarded.

I received the card as a refund, but from Canada it is impossible to apply it to a trip without actually being in Colombia. Called customer service several times, and got nowhere. Terrible service, and rude agents that do not help.

Just bought a ticket with friend for a exact date and time. Until the payment page, the date was exact. After I paid and have received the ticket number, magically date was totally different. I called Customer Service and explained how that happened and seriously, this girl was not able to help me at all. It was unfair that I have to pay $200 extra just few minutes ago from purchase. I would accepted if I only did the mistake, but it was not me. This is really unfair.

Very uncomfortable trip in the economy class. Seat does not move. Extra inspection check in process even after you have passed security at the airport with no clear explanation of why. Bad food. Boarding is very messy.

Waited in line to check in, 3 flights around the same time. Never was notified my fly was about to depart. Was left behind. Could not talk to a supervisor after I waited for over an hour. Paid a lot of money to book a new flight.

I called your contact centre at 10:48 AM est and waited on the phone for over 1 hour to speak to agent. I explained that I would like to change our family's flight from San Cristobal to Guayaquil Ecuador to depart from Baltra Island instead. The agent searched for the fares and put me on hold for 20 minutes let me know that the cost difference would be approx $58 per person. I agreed to pay and needed my name, address, phone number, birthdates, passport information, spelling of all passengers. After I shared this, she proceeded to transfer me to the telephone queue where I was to insert my credit card information. After inputting my credit card, the system disconnected me. I lost over 1 and a half hours of my time on this call.

My husband & I flew to Honduras to help with the children's rescue mission for 10 days. 2 days before our flight home my husband received an email stating the airport had been changed.. A an hour further away. So like any normal person he called the airline. All numbers provided did not work (yes he dialed 00 or 01 or whatever they provided). He had been on the phone for at least 3 hours with no progress, so I checked their "What's app text" and got a number that just kept rambling the same recorded message, most times disconnecting me within 15 minutes on hold. I finally got a hold of someone, gave the phone to my husband and they talked for an hour before getting disconnected.

My father is flying my mother's remains back home to Costa Rica. Unfortunately, this airline has shamelessly price gouged him. There were some delays on this end due to Covid that were out of his control. His flight was approximately $490 and he had to make a change fee that the airline said was unavoidable. The EXACT SAME TICKET is now valued at $166 and Avianca is essentially saying it doesn't matter. So at this time, he has paid $690 for a ticket that is being currently advertised for $166 (including fees).

I search for a flight and the website give me an error and it display a message to try again, same flight, dates ETC 100 dollars more per person and it was 3 of us flighting. Not a good company to trust and do business with.

On July 8th, I filed for a refund for an amount of $1,321 USD on a flight I had bought the same date for work. I requested a refund due to the amount coming up to this amount of money for a one-way flight. I was notified of the amount by my bank's app notification. According to Avianca's website, their policy says "After filing the application with the financial institution issuing the electronic payment instrument used, Avianca and the issuing financial institution shall have a period of fifteen (15) working days to implement the reversal, if applicable." It will be 4 months on November 8th, 2021. I have called a vast amount of times, with them resorting to escalating the issue. I have not heard *anything* from *anybody*. I am aware there hundreds of lawsuits due to this situation. Their excuse is Covid. I suggest they either change their policy on their website or that they pay their customers. This has been a terrible experience and I will never fly with Avianca, ever.

Refused to refund our cancelled flights despite it being the law. After a year of trying to get refund they have told the travel agent they’ve refunded the flight so they can’t take any more action but told us they haven’t refunded them and to speak to travel agent. Essentially just stole best part of £1000.

UATP card. I am very upset with the quality of service from your airline. At approximately 10:00 pm on 10/5/2021 I attempted to purchase a ticket using the newly issued UATP card mentioned above via online. However, since the ticket price was higher than the original purchase I was not able to make the purchase online. I called Avianca a total of 3 times after that. The first time a man answered and offered to transfer my call to be able to make the purchase with 2 forms of payment. I was on hold for a long time and when someone finally answered the call hung up on Avianca's end.

I have been trying to book my flight with Avianca for 1 week. Finally through their Whatsapp help option they sent a separate link and I booked my flight but the payment status said "being validated". I called my bank and there was no attempted charge. I called Avianca and they said the reservation was cancelled. If I didn't call Avianca I would have not known my reservation was cancelled. I was referred back to the website to book...but website was not working. The Avianca rep said he can help to book it but for $30 per passenger. So the customer has to pay more money for their website not working. I asked for the supervisor's name and he mentioned they can't give that information.

Their website doesn't work. It's impossible to cancel a ticket, it's no use sending an email, getting in touch by phone, or WhatsApp, they'll disappear with your money. Inflight service is a joke. I do not recommend. I never travel from Avianca again in my life.

The selection of available flights to book with Lifemiles has become minuscule -- in many cases I can't find any flights on Lifemiles, thought flights show as available with Air Canada and United miles. I foolishly bought 245,000 miles just before Covid hit -- worst investment of my life.

Me and my family travel from Cali Colombia to NYC on July 3rd, when we got home we realized all our jewelry was missing from one our luggage (watches, necklaces, earrings), they responded it was our fault for putting it in there and took no responsibility for such a crime, employees stealing from customers properties, how pity, AVIANCA never again.

I have no respect for the way they handle customer service. The lack of respect with time is just ridiculous. 2 hours on the phone and the issue was not resolved. After 2 attempts my patience was gone.

THE WORST AIRLINE EVER. My flight was "closed" 1.5 hrs before departure. Calling for a refund and keep getting transferred between departments. My father is a pilot and my mother was both a flight attendant and ticket agent, so I know how the system works. There's no way a flight is closed 1.5hrs before departure. Not even 1HR before departure...That ticket cost almost $800 and there's no one available to talk to about a refund. I'm told to put a request through online..The website is down and there's no supervisor. I asked to have a supervisor call me and was told that can't be done. WHAT DOES THIS AIRLINE DO is the better question.

I bought 2 tickets from Miami to Managua, on December 15, 2019. It was canceled because of covid-19 pandemic, I've been trying to get my refund back for over a year now and still waiting. It is impossible to reach customer service.

6 tickets bought in 2020, Avianca assures you that you can book before 12-31-2021 at no cost, not true, but even if you were to book paying what they charge you from 200 to 340 per person, your booking is not guaranteed. They state they had problems with the system and payment did not go through. You stay on the phone for hrs to get a customer service person and they are unable to resolve your issue. No tickets back, no money back. Do not travel with Avianca, I lost more than 3000 dollars with that company.

Worst flying program and customer service. I redeemed a flight ticket from Colombia to Spain; unfortunately, I couldn't travel, so I cancelled my booking. I spent one day calling customer service with no success, then I emailed them and took ages to reply to my emails, and finally, they cancelled my booking. Still, the worst part is that Lifemiles reimbursed my milages and taxes 4 months later and I couldn't use my miles afterwards because they expired already! Please avoid this dodgy company; you can only redeem your miles with Avianca, which they are ALWAYS late.

I have an Avianca travel voucher from a flight I could not take last year due to COVID. The voucher is for the full amount of my initial booking. The issue is that you cannot use the voucher online. You have to book over the phone. It takes upwards of an hour to get anyone on the phone and the phone prices are $200-$250 more when you book over the phone as opposed to online. What this amounts to in practice, is that the voucher a customer received is worth less than what they paid because prices are artificially inflated over the phone. Airlines are notorious for having terrible customer service policies and this is just another one to add to the list. I will be avoiding this airline at all costs for future flights to Latin America. A company that forces people to pay more due to a pandemic is not a company I want to do business with.

Avianca canceled the flight from San Jose, Costa Rica to Aberdeen, UK in June 2020 and has not offered any reimbursement. When checking on the Avianca website for the status of request for reimbursement, we learn that the request has been rejected without any reason supplied. Avianca must refund the cost of this flight as the service was never provided and the cancellation has come from Avianca. Numerous efforts have been made to contact Avianca through phone (many numbers, sometimes more than 3 hours of wait without any response), email, FB messenger, to no avail they remain totally unresponsive.

As my parents who are elders needed to cancel their flights due to Covid-19 I was on the phone with Avianca for over 5 hours. The agency where I bought the tickets was trying to help but they needed a code from avianca and supervisors from avianca didn’t want to help. Jennipher ** and Herbert ** (both in El Salvador Avianca office) not only were rude but they refused to provide any kind of help. Zero customer service. Zero help. Zero humanity on with these people or avianca in general.

To be clear, this review is all about the customer service when it comes to resolving a flight booking. My wife and I are travelling to Colombia in December, my wife business with our baby and I was travelling in economy. I contact customer service via phone (which takes 1 hour to connect and then a further 4-5hrs discussing the same issue) - to see if I can upgrade to business to which they say and send me a payment link, they say it takes 8hrs to confirm upgrade. So I wait and await, and I end up calling them 24hrs later, then 48hrs later and again and again, when I speak to customer support team they tell me the bank is still processing payment.

We booked a flight London - San Cristobal which was canceled due to the pandemic. Then we asked for a refund but hadn't received it for 5 months. We used a voucher to book another flight Quito - San Cristobal on September 3d. The flight was AV1636. We had to buy another ticket to Quito. Two days before the flight we contacted Avianca using the chat and they confirmed that the flight AV1636 was scheduled on time. When we arrived in Quito and tried to check-in for AV1636 but we couldn't.

Bought a round trip that needed to be cancelled. Terrible service, mixed information, no replies, they never follow up with anything. It took me 5 months and a complaint to an outside agency to get a response.

I canceled our two tickets in January on their website. I had to contact them 30 days later when I never received the refund. I was asked for my bank acct info for direct deposit because I had booked through Priceline and could not get credit card refund. I gave it to them over a month ago, and still no refund deposited to my acct. They cannot say it got lost in the mail! So where is it? Base on other complaints I have seen, I wonder if I will ever get it!

Avianca is the worst airline ever and has a terrible customer service!! They let me wait for 2 hours 48 minutes on the phone today March 15, 2020. When, finally they answer I asked them to change my itinerary and they told me I have to pay $1,300 for the change when the airplane is basically empty. People is afraid to fly due the Coronavirus and Avianca is just expensive rip-off company. I will not recommend it to anyone. They had changed flights to us in the past with no reason and they never refund anything but when we need to change flights they just grossly overpriced. I hope they are not continue in business and people choose another airlines.

Second time flying Avianca and it is the worst airline ever when it comes to the culture of sneaking in to your pockets for more money and you will arrive 45 minutes to a flight and it is already closed. Just so convenient for them. Charge you another $750,000 for another flight. In my way back again they found a way to charge me for the luggage. That was ok at 12 kilograms before but now on my way back it wasn’t. There we go with another $139,000 for the luggage. It is a disgrace of a airline, poor customer service, and the people who attend you clearly show signs of enjoyment when they found a way of getting the money out of the customers. It is clearly a disgrace of a company.

This is by far the most horrible experience ever. I had a trip scheduled and arrived 5 min later the scheduled time to check in. The lady at the Avianca counter was checking in others. However, when it was my turn to check in she didn’t even check my ticket or ask me anything and just say I’m not allowed to be there anymore. She said “there are no more trips, all the planes left at this moment”. I felt really discriminated and frustrated as a first time customer traveling with this airline and having such a negative experience with Avianca.

**Best Avoided** Note - we have only flown twice with Avianca and we are not fluent in Spanish. The costs mentioned are for two people. 1st Trip - 2nd portion delayed until next day. They did provide a hotel for the night. However we missed our $80 shuttle and the 1st day of our vacation ($$?). 2nd Trip - 1st portion delayed and type of plane changed last minute so we could not check baggage. We had to depose of personal items ($100?) that could not be in carry-on, The delay caused us to be late for the 2nd portion and miss our connecting train ($120) and so we had to arrange alternative transportation last minute (flights cost $520). We also missed 24 hrs of family time the day of Christmas Eve (priceless).

I bought boyfriend his flight ticket to Madrid from Lima with my credit card. So we got the confirmation ticket and all. And when we went to the airport they told us he didn’t have a ticket that my card got rejected by the company (Avianca). But yet I still have it charged on my credit card. They said they emailed us to inform it was cancelled but we didn’t get anything. And I don’t get how it can be cancelled when we got like 3 confirmation emails, confirmation code and number plus the charge on my credit card since October. So they made us buy another ticket. We got that ticket since October for $450. Today was $725. And they just told me to handle it with my bank to give me my $400 back. But yet their airline is the one that charged. And to be grateful there was still tickets on that flight. -_-

I take 6 flights every month. I use Avianca frequently but on most occasions they are late departure. I have missed several connections this year which has cost me additional for purchase of new flights, taxis and hotel rooms and more importantly missed meetings. I have sent several complaints (to lodge a complaint with avianca is not easy as the process seems designed to put you off) with initial replies saying avianca don’t reimburse as it’s not their fault. Now they don’t reply. Last week I flew from Barranquilla to Buenos Aires. I booked the earlier 4pm flight “just in case” and yes it departed 1 hour 40 minutes late. Which meant again I had to run through Bogota airport to passport control and to the gate. I get there, then receive an email advising this flight is delayed. Again I get to Buenos Aires late, miss my connection then have to take the 1 hour taxi to another airport to get the next Aerolineas Argentina flight.

I have purchased a ticket online. As I completed my booking by choosing the destination (Lima - Cusco) and dates of travel (1st of November 2019), completed the payment entering my credit card details. Instead of receiving a reservation code and the ticket, I waited for hours looking at the screen reflecting message "Processing your request". I have not received an email or reference code or ticket number. Without this information there is no way for me to follow up with my booking and payment done. I am passionate traveler and purchased numerous tickets but I have never come across this badly managed service. Travelers are to be made aware of this. Companies providing this kind of service must be banned.

We had booked a roundtrip between São Paulo and Miami stopping at Lima, Peru. On the return leg from Miami to São Paulo, I had the WORST experience of my life! I arrived at the airport at 1 pm. The plane leaves at 4:15 pm to Lima. I ended up being in line for more than 1 hour! Then, when called for check-in, the attendant took my passport and after some minutes went away. My wife and I stood there for more than half an hour doing NOTHING! I ended up going towards the coordinator attendant that was assisting other passengers. It is THEN and by doing this that I found out that my flight was Oversold and we did not have seats available in the flight! In other words, I purchased the ticket on February 2019, I arrived at the airport early to do some shopping at Duty-Free stores, and I ended up living the worst experience of my life in travel.

Avianca worst airline ever! First off they double charge me for my ticket, no refund! Then the plane leaves before scheduled time!! Avianca won't offer to put me on flight that same day. I had to book with another airline for 4 times what I paid for the initial flight. It is a shame I have to give them a one-star. They deserve less than zero! DON'T FLY WITH THIS AIRLINE!!

We had booked a simple roundtrip between Lima, Peru and Cusco. On the return leg, after waiting at the gate with a full flight's worth of passengers, it was peremptorily announced that the flight was cancelled and that we would have to retrieve our luggage and rebook another flight. As we needed to be in Lima that afternoon to return home, we booked a flight on another airline. Bad enough - but things happen. Upon our return, we applied to Avianca for a refund of half our ticket. Not only is their website impenetrable for this, but here we are, over two months and a dozen emails later, including multiple requests for information which we supplied and re-supplied, and we finally got a response that the case has been resolved - but without any refund. This combination of incompetence and obliviousness shows the low esteem they have for their customers. Stay away!

Terrible customer service. I went online to purchase a ticket and chose the dates of travel, typed in passenger name, and my email...clicked to submit and continue to payment page but instead the page gave me a reservation code and 2 or 3 sentences that said the reservation was being processed and I had to wait 8 hours to receive an email to continue the reservation process (make payment). I've bought a lot of flight tickets in the past and have never come across this -- this isn't normal.

So July 13th 2019 I flew business class from LAX to Lima, Peru. The service was horrible, no different from coach. I actually would have preferred to be in coach. There was a male flight attendant that kept the opening the shutters to the front and letting bright light right on my face, now I know that is their job to go in there and get things for the whatever the reason, but he would go in there and leave them open, so I finally asked him if he could please take the time to close them since the light was bothering me. Of course he got a snappy attitude with me and pretty much told me to deal with it. Now keep in mind I'm in my 70's... like I said, horrible service Avianca. Expected much more, never again.

Don't even think to fly with Avianca, worst airline that ever flight. Since we bought the tickets they start making changes. They call at last minute to tell us about a change because of the weather. When I said them I was traveling from PA in we already in NY, they said come to the airport and we talk. Now they tell me we going to travel at the time that was supposed to be. That's a big lie. The truth they overrule the tickets and need extra space. First and last time I travel with them, I learn my lesson. Don't allow this to happen to you. Learn from my experience and don't flight with them.

For 5 months I'm waiting on a refund. I paid my tickets in Curacao office. When the refund was approved they can not send my payment back due they do not know how to send money back to a normal current bank account number. Spoken with a Supervisor but still they not know how I can get my money. I needed to get a proof of my bank that it was my bank account where the money has to be refunded on. After this process I send in all my bank details and the letter and still they cannot process this. The Agent Paola Cristina **, Monique ** are handling this case but they do not no a update. They are still sending email refund is processed. When I check my account there is no refund. I asked to get a Manager or a legal dept to help me with this issue but still no Feedback. When you call I get stories that are not adding up. Meanwhile 5 months later no refund no help!!!! So please do not book a Flight with Avianca.

Let me start by saying that I had a horrible experience with Avianca. It was my first time flying and unless I get this issue resolved it will for sure be the last. I bought a ticket in November through the Avianca website https://www.avianca.com/us/en/. My ticket had to be changed several times due to flights being cancelled and we even had to switch cities/airports in order to get to our destination. All the changes took a very long time to resolve because when I called Avianca they told me I had to call Avianca Brazil because they were the ones that changed the flights, when I called Avianca Brazil they told me I had to call Avianca because I had purchased the tickets through them. I had to call both several times until someone finally helped me (for the record it was Avianca’s responsibility because they sold me the tickets).

They will destroy your property and will refuse responsibility, they will make you lose your connecting flights and you will lose your fully -non refundable- car rental reservations, they will make you lose any tickets to whatever event you have had planning, and they will not lift a finger about it. All they do is refuse, refuse and keep silent. You cant trust them.

We never ever ever will fly with Avianca again. Call center is the worst place to call for help. Same at the desk at airport. No one knows how can fixing thing just only they convenience... They change ours seat. It was already confirmed... Ours luggage was broken totally zipper and wheels... They complain with 1 pound over 50. They want $200.00 for the extra... Crazy we had a big complaint with this lady from Avianca at airport desk. They make came down from airplane 2:30 am over Tegucigalpa. We was going to NY. Never mentioned before came out from airplane then back again to same airplane. The is so stupid and tire. My wife was very sick already.

I cancelled my flight with online chat team. They emailed me saying I needed to fill out the online request form: **. My ticket number: **. I called the call centre and they said they can not view any of my details in the database system. I am very dissatisfied with the service of this airline and I just want my refund of $550 returned to me. Can you please contact me as soon possible on ** to resolve this matter. Complaint case study number: **. Thanks in advance. Kind Regards, Holly-Ann **

I had a flight scheduled on business class from BOS to BOG RT for May of this year and Avianca changed both my departure and return flights. I purchased this with credit card points. They changed my return flight by 4 days and were unable to book anything on the original return dates of my flight. They told me someone "made a mistake" on their end and that I should now "request a refund" on their site. This process, they tell me, can take >30 days and my new flight costs double the original - I have to use cash to purchase these tickets (hopefully I get my credit card points back someday). My credit card company tells me they have never worked with an airline has such insane refund policies - especially when the airline made the mistake themselves.

I had a round trip flight booked from Boston, MA, USA to San Jose, Costa Rica with a short layover in San Salvador, El Salvador. Yesterday, I received an email that all legs of my flight were cancelled due to "unforeseen circumstances". When I called customer service, my only options were to move my travel dates or request a refund. We have already paid for housing, transportation, excursions so moving my travel dates was not an option so I requested a full refund. Customer service was very nice but they too had no explanation for the flight cancellation. This cancellation happened 3 months before my trip. I booked with Avianca Airlines because they offered the best pricing and schedule for my departure and landing. Now, I am forced to rebook my trip with current prices $300+ more round trip. Very upset and this ruins my overall trip budget!

Like everyone else I too have been screwed by Avianca and their prejudice towards Americans. Delayed my 8:15 flight with NO explanation given from Manta to Quito causing me to miss my 12:04 AM flight from Quito to Miami. While I listened to Avianca agent talking to her supervisor I heard her mention Americano several times, apparently, the supervisor was asking my nationality. Once it was made clear I was American, her Supervisor told her there is nothing they can do for me. Furthermore, I had to pay $278 for another roundtrip ticket to go back to my home in Manta since American Airlines could not arrange a flight for me until 4 days later.

My experience with this airline it’s the worst ever. I booked a round trip from Chicago to Guayaquil and to began the flight was delayed from Chicago one hour and a half. However when we arrived to Bogota the airline was never aware of the delay and I had to run with my 70 year old mom to the other side of the airport because otherwise we wouldn’t be able to make it to the gate. (By the way they never provide a gate number, I had to figured out in my own). Either way we were able to make it to the flight but when we arrived in Guayaquil our luggage never did. I had to wait until next day and because of my onsite se that I was able to pick up my luggage after a series of difficulties presented by Avianca personal el Guayaquil.

I had a non-stop round trip reservation Boston-Bogota-Boston. Yesterday I was informed by United Airlines (I am a frequent flyer member and purchased this ticket through them) that Avianca decided to cancel my non-stop Bogota-Boston, and instead put me on a 1-stop flight. here are my reasons for this 1-star review: My original flight time was departing Bogota at 1:15 pm arriving nonstop to Boston at 8:21 pm. Perfect time for me to get up in the morning and for my wife to pick me up in the evening form the airport. THAT IS WHY I SELECTED AND PAID FOR THIS RESERVATION!!!

The Worst line ever, after their website did not provide a purchase confirmation, we bought the same ticket twice (same hour, date, destination), and they denied the refund and credit the money and we were supposed to use the ticket to travel to Guatemala. Now that we have called several times to their call center, they find only half of the ticket to Guatemala. They made a mistake at the airport and have us as we use the ticket but we were never aboard. They want to charge us fees for change the flight when we never change it. We are not able to use the same tickets twice! They still have almost $1000 for tickets and they do not reimburse any money! Their call center is the worst ever. No one is able to solve anything!

I was thinking of flying on Avianca, but after my conversation with a CSR and reading all the reviews, I will not. Considering all the horrible things said about the actually flying experience, I'm lucky I never got that far. I was at their website trying to decide if I was going to book my flight from NYC to Sao Paulo, but could not find ANY information about what the seating was like in business promo versus economy or business. First I scoured the site, but there was literally NO information. Then I tried a chat, but that person could only help with website questions.

We boarded the plane and after sitting about an hour the pilot announced there would be a delay because they could not start the engines. It was very hot and stuffy on the plane as the air conditioners were not working. The flight attendants disappeared... They were hiding somewhere... After a few hours people literally stood up and began chanting "Open the door! Open the door!". They eventually let us off the plane, and after re-boarding they made us sit there for another hour because of a "...delay in authorization to take off". As a result of the 4+ hour delay we missed our connection flight and were stranded in Lima. We went to the Avianca ticket counter and asked if they could help us as we were stranded.

There are 2 types of companies, the real ones, and the Colombia mobsters! I purchase a ticket 4 months in advance. Then 2 weeks later I try to change my tickets. After 1 hour 20 minutes on the phone, they told me that the penalty was $450 each ticket. Do not do business with them, they still have Pablo Escobar in their veins!

I was verbally harassed, intimidated, treated horrible and not granted and able to travel on Oct. 2, 2018 by the Avianca front counter staff/employees at the Airport in SAP-Honduras. Here are the details of what I experienced with this horrible substandard and unprofessional Airline; I scheduled to fly back home to Los Angeles (US) on October 2, 2018 from San Pedro Sula, Honduras after a 5-day vacation trip. I even checked in on-line 24 hours before on October 1, 2018, as I usually do when I travel. I still arrived at the airport 3 hours before to be safe being an international flight. However, when I went to the Avianca front counter to check in myself and luggage the first thing I saw was two full passenger lines as it appeared they had another delayed flight, the pre-checked passengers line had only a few passengers.

I’ve had several incidents with HORRIBLE airlines in the last few months. First we purchased a ticket for my aunt to visit us In LA from El Salvador. When she arrived at the airport in El Salvador she was informed that the flight was overbooked and she would have to wait for the next flight. Her initial flight was 7am and she got pushed back until 9 pm. They gave her 200 for the inconvenience and told her it was her fault for not doing early check in. When we try to use the 200 later they would allow us to buy it online. They wanted us to buy with a representative and that meant that 490 flight was now 700. And again they said it was our fault. Not sure how.