Review of Avianca flight from Caracas to Bogota in Economy

This is a trip report covering my travel from Caracas to Tampa via Bogota with Avianca to attend my niece's graduation. My journey kicks off pretty late at night, heading to Maiquetía Airport at 11:00 PM. The drive took an hour via Ridery (our local version of Uber in Venezuela). It was a super chill ride, getting us to the airport by 11:45 PM.

As soon as you walk into the airport, you see Cruz-Diez's majestic masterpiece, "Cromointerferencia de color aditivo." This is the place where we all take a picture before flying out, and it's what makes this airport so special to us.

Since I arrived so late, the airport was obviously pretty dead. The only thing catching your eye is the flight board, showing my Avianca flight as the first departure of the day. Its counter was all the way on the other side of the terminal.

While waiting for the counter to open, I watched the "big" UFC fight between Rousey and Carano. It was over faster than a fart, a total disappointment.

Around 30 minutes later, the counter opened, and the process itself was quite fast. It’s worth noting that they never made us measure our carry-on or personal item. Another thing to add is that, out of Caracas, Avianca includes a 23 kg checked bag. The only thing was having to wait for the luggage X-ray inspection; you can only proceed to immigration after your bag clears the scan.

Going through immigration was also quick. Since ours was the only flight and there weren't many passengers, everything went smoothly. Once inside the departure aerea, my plan was to grab one of the rest areas to get some sleep before boarding. However, that night, the heat and humidity made it impossible to sleep even for a minute. I am so jealous of people who can sleep through anything, no matter what.

Since sleeping was out of the question, I started walking around to get some water and hit the restroom. The airport looked pretty empty and peaceful at that hour. Luckily, two shops were actually open—one right across from the gate and Granier Bakery. I also have to shout out the staff's kindness; even at that crazy hour, everyone was super friendly.

The first time for spotting was about 1.45am when Copa Airlines 737-700 arrive from Panama City

By 2.04 am, our Avianca plane arrive our gate number 15.

Our plane today: Airbus a320, N562AV.

Boarding started around 3:00 AM and was a pretty fast process due to the low passenger count. I had seat 4D and was in Group C, which meant I was among the first to board. However, since I really wanted to sleep, I decided to board last so I could scout for an entire row to myself. Upon entering the aircraft, I asked the flight attendant if I could move to the back, and she said it was no problem at all. So, I ended up with all of row 30 to myself.

The jetway pov.

My row 30, a standard Avianca economy seat. It's a tight fit with pretty limited legroom, and the seats are pre-reclined; a very basic product. On the plus side, every row comes equipped with one USB-C outlet and two standard USB ports. In the seatback pocket, you'll find the safety briefing card and the duty-free magazine for online purchases. On the back, it shows the info to connect to Avianca's streaming entertainment via Wi-Fi.

My view on my seat. Laser Airlines Mad dog MD-81, YV1240, almost 36 years old.

The door closure and gate departure happened right as I sat down in my seat. We pushed back from the gate at 3:48 AM, the Captain made an awesome anoucement that this flight was a all female crew, then began the safety demonstration, and takeoff was at 3:56 AM on runway 10R.

La Guaira port view

The entertainment is available via Avianca's Wi-Fi through your own phone or tablet. On it, you can check flight info, watch movies and TV shows, or play games. Honestly, the selection is a bit limited, but for a short flight where I was planning to sleep anyway, it wasn't bad at all.

The ride was pretty rough—we had turbulence from the moment we left until we hit Bogota. The cabin crew couldn't do the service, so the seatbelt sign was never turned off. Even so, I managed to doze off for about 20 minutes until nature called. After holding it for 20 minutes, I finally asked the flight attendant if I could run to the bathroom. She told me, "You can go at your own risk," and I shot back, "Where do I sign?" It was definitely a shaky trip to the restroom, lol!

Shortly after, we began our descent into Bogota. It was still dark outside, so my body hadn't quite processed the lack of sleep yet, but those 20 minutes were a great energy recharge.

Arriving to El Dorado Airport.

We ended on a remote positition on the other side of the terminal.

One last look at our aircraft.

The trek from the remote parking spot to the international terminal is a bit long, but on the bright side, you walk across the whole terminal with nice views of the aircraft and ground handling action.

After arriving to the terminal i head out to International Connection gate, it was packed, but it has to entrys so the other one was full but it move really fast. 

After that i went to the Avianca Lounge, i bought the pass one day before, and the first thing i ask was for a shower an only that the pass was worth it.

I had a 4-hour layover in the lounge before my Tampa flight. I barely got any sleep because in the designated quiet room, there were two people talking in a high volume and actually working out—so sleeping was completely out of the question. But despite that annoyance, I have to say that Avianca’s staff was spectacular, both on the ground and in the air.