Avianca Reviews & Complaint Guide

After a tiring trip, I mostly wanted the bags to show up and the staff to be polite. That is exactly what happened. The baggage belt at YVR started quickly, both checked bags arrived together, and the employee nearby helped an older passenger lift a heavy suitcase without being asked.

Our original flight was cancelled and Avianca automatically moved us onto a connection that looked impossible from the start. Staff at FRA kept saying the new 11:10 departure was the only option, but by the time we landed the onward gate was already closed. What bothered me most was being told to call support while standing in the airport with hotel nights already paid for.

We came off a long international leg exhausted and still had one more flight to go. The crew on Avianca AV582 noticed several people were connecting onward and made a point of checking who needed gate information. It was not fancy service, just thoughtful and human, which mattered after a long day.

The area around seat 16D smelled strongly of the lavatory for most of the flight. A crew member offered a middle seat several rows back, but that was the only option. For a long trip, this was one of those problems that sounds small until you are stuck with it for hours.

Once the connection was missed, every person pointed somewhere else. Airport staff said to call, the call center said to ask the airport, and the app kept showing options that disappeared before I could select them. Nobody sounded responsible for getting us to the destination anymore.

The app changed first, the airport screen changed later, and the people at gate A4 still had no explanation. By the time someone finally said the 11:10 departure was delayed, several passengers had already missed the chance to adjust their connections. The delay was frustrating, but the silence made it worse.

The app said Avianca AV730 was boarding soon, the airport screen still showed delayed, and the gate desk told us to ignore both until they made an announcement. That kind of mixed information is exhausting when you are trying to decide whether to get food, call a ride, or run to a different gate.

A phone was left with the wrong family member during boarding, and I expected that to become a mess. The gate agent at G3 stayed calm, coordinated with the people still outside the jet bridge, and got it back before the door closed. That one employee saved the trip from starting badly.

I submitted the refund form after a cancelled Delhi to Kolkata trip and received a case number right away. After that, nothing was simple. Each call felt like starting over, one agent could not see the previous notes, and the email replies never gave a real date for when the money would be returned.

The fare looked reasonable when I booked, but the final cost felt different after seat selection, baggage, and a change fee. For the Johannesburg to Cape Town trip, the add-ons made the ticket feel misleading. I would rather see the real price earlier than be surprised step by step.