Flight Review - Avianca Bogota to San Andres - Economy Class, but not as you know it! 

Great video Matt! I’d only ever seen one Avianca video before and that one didn’t end well if you know what I mean. All the best!

I just read your bio and it’s funny xD good video 👊💜

Depressing how Columbia’s flag carrier is better than the UK’s

I loved living in Bogota for a short while, and San Andres has an excellent reputation among Colombians. One of my friends used to own a beach mansion on San Andres. I've never visited San Andres, and your video is welcome!

Matt, we must be of similar age as I also like a paper boarding card rather than relying on electronic stuff. Cheers!

Great watch as always 🙌

Look forward to the video on the island itself, I visited in 2015 and had a great time.

Great video Matt! Stumbled upon your channel in the last 6 months and now it's a firm favourite! This might be the wrong forum but can we share our Amex referral codes here as you have pointed out in previous videos?

Another interesting and useful flight review, Matt. Avianca has, it seemed, to struggle to decide what to do with their premium offer on their regional routes so it was interesting to see these ‘compromise’ seats between armchair style and eurobusiness. If it’s priced at a reasonable level, I’d consider it. I wonder if Avianca is still offering included meal service in international regional economy. I was served breakfast a few years ago Santiago - Lima and a sandwich last year Bogotá to Curaçao. On the domestic legs Bogotá - Cartagena, zilch even to buy. Their service seemed very confused so I hope it’s settled down now. Cabin crew, by and large, were very pleasant. I’m enjoying this trip vicariously. You’ve inspired me to return to Latin America next year - maybe Ecuador, Colombia and Honduras this time. I have to say I was most verklempt that LATAM left OneWorld - they were my go-to option in that part of the world before.

Nice video Matt. A better product than most European Airlines’ business class.

Imteresting review. Bonus points for staying off the beaten-track. Triple word-score for leveraging status with a small carrier on the other side of the world. Columbia? Not for me - but I've given some thought to Panama and greatly enjoyed Costa Rica.

Soooo happy you've covered my adopted Country! Writing this from cold London I'm jealous. Service there is fantastic. Y a todos.......es ColOmbia no Columbia jajaja.

Possibly the duty free checkouts check your boarding pass to see if you are leaving the country like they used to do in the Uk on european flights when we were still a member.

Sounds like an option for the next 241, I’m off to BAH to use mine up. Middle East is my next continent to conquer then maybe South America not sure yet.😊😊😊Shame about the lounge 😢 still always like your videos Matt and I see you sharpened the intro again 😀. Till the next time Oliver

Living in Colombia (but traveling to Europe relatively frequently) your positive comments on Avianca surprise me and likely other Colombians. Up until the recently introduced Avianca hybrid concept Avianca has business class on domestic flights which was not bad. There were also free refreshments in both classes on all flights even short legs like Bogota to Medellin. The new Avianca is not well loved. Colombia has also lost two airlines recently Viva and Ultra which has led to capacity constraints. It also appears that Avianca and Viva were involved in rather underhand merger negotiations which would have led to a near monopoly. Of the other airlines Latam also has an Premium economy and it is arguably better than Avianca although with a fairly strange route timetable. Flights in Colombia are relatively cheap, although not subsidized. Annual monthly earnings in Colombia are around $200 so the airline staffing costs, including pilots are low. However those low earnings have often seen frequent and prolonged strikes. One of the beauties of flying in Colombia are the approaches to airports, like into Medellin’s JMC Rio Negros airport. Although Airbus 319/319/320/321 are the most common equipment you also may see some older equipment on routes to say Venezuela and even 727s hauling freight. One other airline to try is COPA who fly to Panama using some of the few 737s in service in the region. On the weather storms are increasingly frequent and end of day flights, catching up from earlier delays are often late. Medellin also suffers quite badly from fog in the early morning.

I think duty free works domestically as long as you're going to a different country later on and don't open the items till you get there.

how strict are they with bags? I have XS fare which only allows for a personal item. Technically, I'd have to pay for my backpack as a carry-on (I will be on backpacking trip) but I heard people getting away with pretty big backpacks as a "personal item" and not needing to pay.

Colombia - Bogota/Medellin has been on my list of places to visit for a while now. Do you need a good level of Spanish to get by?

Check-in areas for international and domestic departures are very separate. The lounge access confused me. From the views it looks like you were in the international part of the terminal but not having Star status I'm not sure. I've never seen duty free on the domestic side, maybe San Andres has some special quasi-international status? Some years ago I walked that road with the houses with the good airport views to the other end where I found live cock fighting. You'll be pleased to hear that the local airport workers had created additional entry points to the airport along that wall to facilitate their own access. Hashtag security no security?

Colombians not residents of the Island have to pay that fee as well.

They should have renamed the city as San Andreas haha