Introduction
¡Hola amigos!
Welcome to this FR covering the return flight from Santa Marta to Bogotá. Previous flights on this trip are here. I add a previous BOG-SMR I took earlier that year which was pretty much the same as the one on this trip.
Flight routing
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While the Colombian market is basically a duopoly between Avianca and LATAM (and back in those days Viva and UltraAir were still alive), I picked LATAM as our airline for domestic flights. I have vowed to avoid AV like the plague (and have kept true to my promise for the most part). I didn't pick Viva because the price difference didn't justify the pains of flying an LCC, while Ultra's survival was still in question even back then.
So…LATAM it is.
At Santa Marta's Simón Bolívar Intl. Airport
After a great family week on the shores of the Caribbean, it was time to head back to Bogotá for the christmas celebrations. The resort we stayed in provided a shuttle to SMR, which was less than 20 minutes away from the resort.
SMR has been recently upgraded, and is in my opinion the best airport in the Colombian Caribbean Region.
Check in was quick and painless, even if we were a large group with children
Another cool feature of SMR is that the Caribbean Sea is just metres away!
Security was quick and painless, and we were airside. While is starting to feel cramped, it is nowhere as disgraceful as CTG
We were able to avoid the crowds and enter "The Lounge".
It had a decent selection of drinks and snacks
With state of the art cooling technology
And glorious views to the buses that take you to resorts….jokes aside, it had a nice view to the sea, city and mountains….and planes departing.
But it was quite cramped and cleaning wasn't too thorough
The WC was clean and nice though.
Back when there was some competition in Colombia. Another interesting aspect is that there were flights to/from cities other than BOG or MDE, in this case Bucaramanga and Pereira.
Onboard LATAM's A320
LATAM has upgraded their cabins for their Colombian fleet…they are the best seats in the local market.
No further amenities are provided, but for the short hops within Colombia, this is not needed.
Enroute to Bogotá
Our flight was full, and having everyone seated took its time. We then taxied to position ourselves to the south. SMR doesn't have parallel taxiways so this is done on the runway and requires backtracking.
And so…we had to wait for this AV A320 to vacate the runway
Then it was our turn
Since we took off towards the south, my view was to the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (the tallest mountain in Colombia), with a short glimpse of the Caribbean and then the town of Cienaga and the "Zona Bananera".
The snow peaks were barely visible
Then it was a nice 1hour cruise across Colombia
We were given a snack and a drink
IFE was available on our phone. While I hate this method, its arguably better than nothing. And LA's IFE is quite good.
Soon our cruise was coming to an end
Is such a stark contrast….from the placid Caribbean, to the cold and rainy Altiplano
Smooth landing on RWY 14L
Welcome to AVland
And the small LA hub
It was then a short walk to baggage claim
Where we waited about 15 mins for our bags
¡Hola Bogotá!
