In Business of Avianca Ecuador to Bogotá from Quito

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Welcome to a new flight report and on this occasion we flew on Avianca Ecuador Business to Bogotá from Quito on an Airbus A319 to participate in the launch of the new campaign #everythingtofallinlove.

Thanks to the invitation of Avianca, We traveled to Medellín from Quito via Bogotá to the airline's MRO and on that flight we were able to enjoy the airline's Business class, that for only one hour of flight duration between both capitals, It is a pretty good product and is widely differentiated..

Our flight was originally in economy class, but thanks to the kind gesture of the Commander, We were offered the upgrade and the 3D seat was our assigned position for this trip to Bogotá, with final destinations the José María Córdoba International Airport.

ticket purchase

I have always found the Avianca purchase process to be a bit long and not very clear in the line of the journey that the user must take to complete the purchase.. The online steps are as follows:

1. Destination or destinations, date and number of passengers.
2. Selection of fare or flight required.
3. Login to the LifeMiles system or main passenger data entry.
4. Accept the Policies.
5. Entry of complete data of the passenger(s).
6. Seat selection and additional services (optional).
7. Accept Terms and Conditions.
8. Make payment (does not allow reservation).
9. Purchase confirmation.

The Avianca website allows you to pay only by credit card, but accepts all national and international credit cards. Airbus press photo We start a review of the most important news, The airline implemented a new system for purchasing tickets through WhatsApp, which makes it a pioneer in this type of services in the country and that together with the «Traveler Plan» offers several alternatives to be able to make the purchase of all of its more than 100 destinations around the world and not only from point of sale.

Additional services

At Avianca Ecuador they are currently in a parallel campaign called "Rate without surprises", This is in reference to the rates paid on low-cost airlines or others that have differentiated services and require an additional payment to have them.. Usually, The airline offers everything legacy or traditional at no additional cost and there are only two extra services that can be purchased for a value:

• Selecting a chair with more space (not available on all flights).
• Special services (Wheelchair, assistance to minors, etc).
• Additional luggage.
• Sports or musical teams.

In the case of the seat with more space, it is not available on all flights and if this is the case, all seats have the same treatment and there will be no additional charge for selecting for example, Emergency exit.

Luggage

Avianca maintains a legacy concept, This means that all domestic and international rates always include, one suitcase in the hold at no additional cost, but as with any airline, from the second suitcase in the hold you will have to pay.

The suitcase allowed in the hold by Avianca can have a maximum weight of 23 kilos o 50 pounds, This applies from 3 april 2017 and depending on the origin or destination flight, these can be up to 2 suitcases in the hold in economy class. In business class you can take 2 suitcases in the hold as part of the rate from to 32 kilos, depending on destination and origin.

Regarding hand luggage, one carry-on bag of up to 115 centimeters in height, length and width, and that its maximum weight does not exceed 10 kilos. Also a personal item such as a backpack, laptop, camera or wallet is allowed per passenger, This applies to both domestic and international flights..

Check-In

The check-in process can be carried out both at the airport, but you will have to anticipate your arrival at the airport to avoid problems, at self-service kiosks or on the website.

From the web option, you can check-in from 24 hours until 2 hours before your flight, These times also apply to the use of the mobile application, which I personally found a little erroneous in its operation, given that upon landing in Bogotá, eliminated my boarding passes for the next leg to Medellín, so I was forced to go to a service counter.

If the case is that you must check a suitcase in the hold, you can do the web check-in, print your onboard pass or use the APP and go directly to the exclusive baggage drop-off to make the process faster.

Airport and Boarding

Trying an airline's airport service ultimately depends on the needs of checking in or sending a suitcase to the hold of each passenger.. In my case, In Quito I did not go to check-in counters since I was traveling light and I went directly to the filters and immigration control.

But as I told you, On the section from Bogotá to Medellín the mobile application failed and I lost my boarding passes. If this happens you have 3 immediate options:

1. Try again with the APP, In my case there was no way for me to return the reservation data.
2. Use a self-service kiosk, it didn't work in my case, without indicating the problem.
3. Do the traditional check-in line.

Point 3 was what we had to do, as we had 2 layover hours, there was no rush. In El Dorado, The Avianca zone involves at least 20 checkpoints, so the process was quick and to avoid future problems with the application, They printed all the boarding passes for the round trip sections.

The moment of boarding at the Quito Airport everything happened very quickly and efficiently, This is also thanks to the new self-boarding machines that have been implemented at this airport, so passengers board directly with just their boarding pass and scanning the code on the machine without the need for the participation of airline personnel.. It is also worth noting that personalized automatic boarding announcements have been implemented in Quito for each airline..

Avianca works with the group boarding system. The first group being those passengers in business class or LifeMiles members with preferential boarding and people who need assistance or traveling with children.. In our case, the group assigned for the row 4 was the C.

The flight left from Quito on schedule and there were no delays either in departure or arrival in Bogotá.

Itinerary

Avianca with its subsidiary Avianca Ecuador, It is the main operator of the route between Quito and Bogotá, operating until 5 daily flights between these capitals. At the moment, On this route only Avianca and Wingo, while it is expected that Tame will soon restart these flights after suspending the route Quito – Bogota – Caracas and equally VivaColombia.

Quito – Bogota

Operate up to 29 weekly frequencies on Airbus A319 and A320 aircraft. On Sundays it operates 5 flights.

Bogota – Quito

Operate up to 28 weekly frequencies on Airbus A319 and A320 aircraft.

On board

The flight was carried out on an Airbus A319 registration HC-CKN, the oldest in the Avianca Ecuador fleet with just over 15 years since your first flight. With MSN serial number 1882 made its first flight in the year 2003 at that time for Mexicana de Aviación N882MX.

powered by 2 CFM56-5 engines have a capacity for 120 passengers divided into 2 lessons, 12 in business and 108 in Economics. The number of seats is standard for the entire Avianca A319 fleet., which allows better planning and solving problems in case of unscheduled maintenance.

This flight operated with an occupancy of 107 passengers, so thanks to there being some free seats, Even in Business we were granted the upgrade to this class thanks to the courtesy of the crew of this flight.

The HC-CKN aircraft is one of the oldest in the fleet and previously belonged to Mexicana, does not have individual entertainment, as it does characterize the rest of the airline's fleet and its interior, despite being quite well preserved, It denotes the age and feels more “old fashion” when compared to the rest of the aircraft in the Avianca Ecuador and Avianca fleet..

The seats in Business are large and comfortable despite the model and have a pitch between seats of 40″.

Food options in Business were 2 in this case by the time, breakfast. The first consisted of an egg omelet filled with ham and cheese plus vegetables and the second option, ham and cheese crepes with vegetables.

We ask for the option 2, which were the stuffed crepes with tomato and broccoli with chorizo, accompanied with fruits, pan integral o croissant, jam and butter. The excellent flavor and the more than generous portion for the short flight.

As for the drinks, in Business passengers are offered a welcome drink, which could be juice or water (I remember that years ago, when AeroGal operated this route, They gave champagne to the passengers). Subsequently, during normal service, You could order any type of drink to accompany breakfast and without restriction.

It should be noted, that in Economy the service on board corresponded to a sandwich with drinks of the passenger's choice.

In flight

How was it advanced?, This specific plane does not have individual entertainment screens and it is the main difference for the passenger when flying on this plane when comparing it with the other planes that Avianca has in its fleet..

For this very reason, This aircraft is mainly assigned to short or domestic routes in Ecuador, in order to maintain the standard of service offered by Avianca. Airline users are used to entertainment, fleet screens and seats, but when you get on this plane, Yes, they could notice a significant change in the service.

The seats do not have a USB charger, but they have a very good inclination that allows you to rest comfortably.

In the rest of the Avianca fleet, All planes have individual entertainment screens with movies, series, song, documentaries, games, live map and more. For instance, in the fleet of Airbus A318 aircraft, the airline implemented WiFi-enabled personal entertainment for exclusive use of the airline's entertainment app for Androd and iOS, which made it possible to provide a new service and re-invigorate the use of these aircraft that seemed to be leaving the fleet..

on this flight, for the duration, pillows or blankets were not provided to passengers.

Conclution

For such a short international flight, Avianca's product on this route is very good, both in customer service and on-board service. Of course, In the specific plane that we had on this flight, a decrease in the quality of the final product was felt., which is surely much better with the standard fleet planes with their screens and seats that passengers are used to receiving from Avianca.

In the specific case of the HC-CKN and HC-CLF aircraft, which are the oldest of Avianca Ecuador, both are ex-Mexican, sooner or later these will leave the fleet. These aircraft were among the first that were part of the fleet renewal of the defunct AeroGal, so his departure will be given and the replacements, as they have already been given, They will come from Colombia with the airline's normal standards and thus finally match the quality of Avianca Ecuador's service to its customers..

The Quito route – Bogotá is the most important international route sued from Ecuador and in which more than 517 thousand passengers during the 2017. With such high demand, but few competitors, prices are generally high and more competition is needed on this route, which is expected to be regulated with the return of the airlines mentioned above.

With 228 monthly flights, Avianca is the undisputed leader on this route and there is a projection of an increase in frequencies to be able to cope with the new frequencies that Avianca Ecuador would begin to fly to. Curacao, Aruba, Santa Cruz and Lima from Bogota.

Additional data

• As Ecuadorians, Entry to Colombia can also be done only with the citizenship card., but I always recommend using a passport.
• Bogotá and Colombia in general, They have the same time zone as Ecuador GMT +5.
• Avianca's domestic operations in Bogotá will change from the Puente Aéreo to the El Dorado terminal from 28 of April.

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