In Business of Avianca Ecuador to Bogotá from Quito

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

Thanks to the invitationóAvianca number, we traveled to Medellín from Quito vía Bogotá to the airline MROínea and on that flight we were able to enjoy the business class of the airlineínea, that for only one hour longón of the flight between both capitals, It is a pretty good product and is widely differentiated..

Our flight was originally in economy classómica, but thanks to the kind gesture of the Commander, was offered to usó the upgrade and the 3D seat was our assigned position for this trip to Bogotá, with final destinations the José International Airporté María Córgood.

ticket purchase

I have always found the Avianca purchasing process a bit long and not very clear in the líline of the journey that the user must take until completing the purchase. The online steps are as follows:

1. Destination or destinations, date and núpassenger grouper.
2. selectófare or flight number required.
3. Login to the LifeMiles system or main passenger data entry.
4. Accept the Políethics.
5. Entry of complete data of the passenger(s).
6. selectónumber of seats and additional services (optional).
7. Accept Téterms and conditions.
8. Make payment (does not allow reservation).
9. Confirmópurchase number.

The Avianca website allows you to pay only with a credit cardéhere, but accepts all credit cardsénational and international editions. Airbus press photo We start a review of the most important news, the airínea implementó a new system for purchasing tickets through WhatsApp, which makes it a pioneer in this type of services in the country.ís and that next to the «Traveler Plan» offers several alternatives to be able to make the purchase for all of your más de 100 destinations around the world and not only from point of sale.

Additional services

At Avianca Ecuador they are currently in a fieldña parallel that is called «Rate without surprises», this in alusión to the rates paid in airílow cost lines or others that have differentiated services and that require an additional payment to have them. Usually, the airínea offers everything legacy or traditional at no additional cost and there are only two extra services that can be purchased for a value:

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

In the case of the chair with más space is notá available on all flights and if this is the case, all seats have the same treatment and there will be noá additional charge for selecting e.g., Emergency exit.

Luggage

Avianca maintains a legacy concept, This means that all rates for both sunéstatic and international always include, one suitcase in the hold at no additional cost, but like in any airplaneínea from the second suitcase in the duty holdás pay.

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

Regarding hand luggage, Eastá one carry-on bag of up to 115 centímeters at its height, length and width, and that its weightáximo does not exceed the 10 kilos. Spaghettién an artípersonal ass like backpack, laptop, cámara o cartera isá 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 will haveáYou should anticipate your arrival at the airport to avoid problems, at self-service kiosks or on the página web.

From the optionón web, you can check-in from 24 hours until 2 hours before your flight, these times tooéThey do not apply to the use of the application.ón mówill, which I personally foundé a little erróneat in its operation, given that upon landing in Bogotá, my handó my boarding passes for the next leg to Medellín, so I was forced to go to a service counter.ón.

If the case is that you must check a suitcase in the hold, couldás 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 easier.ás ráI ask.

Airport and Boarding

Try an airline's airport serviceíIn the end it depends on the needs of checking in or sending a suitcase to the hold of each passenger.. In my case, In Quito I didn't get closeé to check-in counters since I was traveling light and went directly to the filters and immigration control.

But as I told youé, in the Bogot sectioná a Medellíin the applicationón mówill falló and lostí 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, No functionó in my case, without indicating the problem.
3. Do the traditional check-in line.

Point 3 was the one that touched usó do, how do you haveíamos 2 layover hours, no había apuro. In El Dorado, The Avianca zone involves at least 20 checkpoints, so the process was ráI ask and to avoid prómajor problems with the applicationón, They printed all the boarding passes for the round trip sections.

The moment of boarding at the Quito Airport everything happened very smoothly.áorder and efficient, this tooén thanks to the new máself-boarding machines that have been implemented at this airport, so passengers with just their board pass and scanning the cóI say in the máquina they address directly without the need for participationón of an airline staffínea. SpaghettiéIt should be noted that self-boarding announcements have been implemented in Quito.ápersonalized optics for each aeroplaneínea.

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.ños. In our case, the group assigned for the row 4 was the C.

The flight leftó from Quito on the itinerary and there were no delays either in departure or arrival in Bogotáá.

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 they fly directly úonly Avianca and Wingo, while it is expected that Tame will soon restart these flights after suspending the route Quito – Bogotaá – Caracas and equally VivaColombia.

Quito – Bogotaá

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

Bogotaá – Quito

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

On board

The flight was carried out on an Airbus A319 matríHC-CKN cylinder, the más old fleet of Avianca Ecuador with little más de 15 añyou since your first flight. with núMSN serial grouper 1882 realizedó his first flight in the añO 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 Económica. The núnumber of seats is thisástandard for the A319 fleet of all Avianca, allowing for better planningón and solve problems in case of unscheduled maintenance.

This flight operatedó with an occupationón 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 courtsíto the crewón of this flight.

the grandfatherón HC-CKN being of the más old in the fleet and previously having belonged to Mexicana, does not have individual entertainment, withí characterizes the rest of the Aerol fleetínea and its interior, despite being quite well preserved, denotes age and feel más «old fashion» when comparing it with the rest of the aircraft in the fleet of Avianca Ecuador and Avianca.

The seats in Business are large and cómodes 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 consistsíin an egg omelette stuffed with jamón and cheese más vegetables and the second optionón, jam crepesón and cheese with vegetables.

We ask for the optionón 2, which were the crepes filled with tomato and brócoli with chorizo, accompaniesñseasoned with fruits, pan integral o croissant, jam and butter. The excellent flavor and the porción máHow generous for the short flight.

As for the drinks, in Business passengers are offered a welcome drink, what caníto be juice or water (I remember thatñthe atreás, when AeroGal operated this route, daban champán to passengers). Subsequently, during normal service, with underíto order any type of drink to accompanyñar breakfast and without restrictionsón.

It should be noted, that in Económica the service on board correspondedó to a sándwich with elecci drinksópassenger number.

In flight

How did it move forward?ó, it's avión specífico does not have individual entertainment screens and it is the main difference for the passenger when flying in this aircraft.ón when comparing it with the other planes that Avianca has in its fleet.

For this very reason, it's avión principalmente isá assigned to short or sun routesésticas in Ecuador, to theí manage to maintain the stateástandard of service offered by Avianca. Airline usersínea isán accustomed to entertainment, fleet screens and seats, but when you get on this planeón, sí couldíeven notice a significant change in the service.

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

In the rest of the Avianca fleet, All planes have individual entertainment screens with movies.ínaughty, series, música, documentaries, games, live map and más. For instance, in the fleet of Airbus A318 aircraft, the airínea implementó personal entertainment with WiFi for exclusive use of the appóAerol Entertainment No.ínea for Androd and iOS, what I allowedó provide a new service and repower the use of these airplanes that seemíbecause they were going to leave the fleet.

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

Concludedón

For such a short international flight, Avianca's product on this route is very good, so much attentionón to the user as in the on-board service. Of course, in the grandfatherón specíI'm touching usó on this flightí a decrease is feltón of the quality of the final product, I'm sure it's much better with the planes.áfleet standard with its screens and seats to which passengers areán accustomed to receiving from Avianca.

In the specific caseífic of HC-CKN and HC-CLF aircraft, which are the mostáold Avianca Ecuador, both are ex-Mexican, sooner or later these will come outáfleet number. These aircraft were among the first to be part of the renovation.ófleet number of the missing AeroGal, así that his departure will be givená and the replacements, as they have already been given, vendorsán from Colombia with the estáapart from normal de la aerolínea y así finally match the quality of Avianca Ecuador's service to its customers.

The Quito route – Bogotaá It is the international routeás sued from Ecuador and in which más de 517 thousand passengers during the 2017. With such high demand, but few competitors, Prices are generally high and it is necessary toás competition on this route, which is expected to be regulated with the return of the airlinesíneas más mentioned above.

With 228 monthly flights, Avianca is líder indisputable on this route and there is the projectionón of an increase in frequencies to be able to face the new frequencies that Avianca Ecuador will startía a volar a Curacao, Aruba, Santa Cruz and Lima from Bogotaá.

Additional data

• As Ecuadorians, Entry to Colombia can also be doneén only with cécitizen dulaía, but I always recommend using a passport.
• Bogotaá and Colombia in general, They have the same time zone as Ecuador GMT +5.
• sun operationséAvianca offices in Bogotáá changeán of Bridge Aéinmate to the El Dorado terminal from the 28 of April.