Hello everyone…this was set to be a premiere, the first report on AV's new Dreamliner, but someone stole my thunder while I was doing the trip.
Anyways… I was sent to Chile for work, with the good fortune that I was able to change my flights and score two 787 flights between Bogotá and Santiago and back. Originally I was to fly an A319 to Santiago, and back on the 787.
It was really exciting to try Avianca's new toy, and to see how it fared compared to the A332 that used to by Avianca's flagship. —–
My girlfriend took me to the airport after I arrived from work, to a rather deserted AV counter. I was checked in by a rather uninterested employee. I then asked for an itinerary receipt, and she refused to print it (…good job Avianca, going back to the crappy days). Then she asked me when I was coming back to Bogotá, and I answered with my scheduled date…she answered in a sarcastic way that if I stayed until that date I would stay in Chile for good. I told her I had changed my schedule, and she said it didn't show up on her screen. I asked her to show me…but she refused. She practically shooed me off, and I went to the reservations office, where a kind lady printed my itinerary (and it was as I had scheduled it indeed) without problem.
With that little detail aside, I then decided to go ahead to the airside to check that night's traffic. Emigration, for the first time travelling in BOG's new terminal was slow and chaotic. The reason: a local football club was playing a match in Brazil and the hooligans where going to see their team. They behaved as badly as they would at the stadium, and none of the authorities would do anything to maintain order. I felt lucky to be in AV's flight to SCL, because most of those blokes where going on the LA flight. It must have been a very fun flight.
Once airside I bought a bottle of Old Parr whiskey ( which is mainly consumed in Colombia, Panamá and Venezuela) to the friends that would give me lodging through the weekend. And then it was on to check some planes. Mostly A332s to Spain, the LH A346 had left for Frankfurt, some AV, CM and LA narrowbodies to the neighborhood and LA's 763 to SCL.
I found this to be a nice coincidence, the LA plane that would do the SCL run was the same plane I rode to Chile for the first time 12 years ago!
There were two 787s too…this one which I assume was bound to EZE or GRU
And mine…but it was not visible at the moment. For the while I waited at my gate for us to be called onboard. Our gate area was tending for our flight and another headed to PTY.
When boarding was called, I made sure to be one of the first to board so I could have my room and time to check the new plane inside. While boarding, I noticed there were a lot of Dominicans and Haitians taking this flight (more on this later).
Our plane from the airbridge
Once inside, the plane looked…cool but not as cool as on the renderings. But it was a nice thing to ride on a rather new plane for a change.
Avianca changed its economy and business class seats with the introduction of the 787. It also adopted a 3x3x3 configuration on its Y cabin. You can see that every single seat had a pillow and a blanket (is it really that hard CM?)
The first thing I noted when seated was that the seat was really narrow, compared to the ones on the A332.
Two toilets separate the two Y cabins. During some rough air they sort of bounced….I had never seen that. Actually the plane had a lot of plastic creaks…it felt rather cheap.
And while I begged for the flight to be empty so I wouldn't have to share my row, by prayers were left on blue double-check…I was to share my row with two Chileans who didn't even cared about my presence. The middle row was empty (one of the few) but these guys were not going to be separated…beh. The guy in front of me moved to the row and claimed the three seats for himself. Nice move considering this was a redeye.
Avianca also seized the chance to improve its IFE. While the previous one wasn't so bad, this one was a HUGE upgrade. I loved it. The only dark spot is that contents are rather low, compared to what other airlines offer. The moving map option (a must for AVGeeks) was awesome. I was really impressed with the new IFE. We were told by the Captain there were some delays expected (I forgot the reason)…I was totally unbothered by this, since I had a long day in Santiago and I knew my hotel room wouldn't be ready for me. More sleeping time for me, in a way. In the meanwhile I was setting my playlist for the night. Then I noticed that I had left my earphones in my flat..so I was left with AV's free to take, horrible and mediocre headsets.
Sorry…outside views were rather bad.
While we taxied to Runway 13L, the crew impressed the clients with the mood lighting (or so I guessed).
We didn't turn to Runway 13R, the south runway, and thus where southbound departures take off from…maybe the delay was because of the change in the runway configurations now that I reflect on it. I totally loved the electronic and mechanical noises the plane made…it felt like a spaceship. I was so happy to ride this plane.
And take off time…about 30 minutes after scheduled departure time
We turned southwardly, there were some nice views of Bogotá (sorry my camera isn't that great) and then into complete darkness.
After there wasn't more to be seen, I began watching the last movie from the Hobbit trilogy. It worked perfectly as a pre-nighty night movie.
About an hour after take off the crew passed some menthol-wet paper towels, and then distributed dinner. Beef or chicken were the options. I chose chicken. With it, a rather boring salad and a pack of fruit jelly cookies. Overall, it felt cheap. AV is, as we say in Colombia, scratching the pot for every single penny it can get it seems. The taste was Ok, but the size…an iPhone 6Plus is about the same size as the plate.
The crew were cheerful and very respectful (they had a really good vibe)…but after picking up the dinner, they were not to be seen again for the rest of the flight…not until we were almost arriving and they handed out some glasses of water. When the guy was near my seat he ran out of water, and that was it. So no water for me. Well…what the hell, at least I wouldn't feel the urge to pee in the middle of the night.
The plane didn't take too long to get us to Chile, and the guys up front managed to compensate for our late departure.
We landed in Santiago during the twilight. So no pictures.
Now, I hadn't been in Chile for 12 years. The first time I went there I was amazed (I still find it really nice), but one of the thing that amazed me the most was SCL. It was so awesome back then….now, back to 2015 it felt like a dump. It was on serious need of maintenance. The officers tending the immigration booths were either sleepy or just plain inefficient at their job, which took ages. Since we weren't given customs forms on the plane (thank you very much Avianca!) we had to fill them on the hall.
I was impressed with the huge amount of people in what I guessed was irregular situation in Chile who were travelling on my flight. And that made the deal even slower as each time the officer saw something fishy, he had to escort the involved party or people to the black room, which was already full and had a line of people waiting to enter.
When I had my turn I was a bit nervous (…something to do with having a Colombian passport) but the guy was very uninterested, he just asked me if the address was OK and my passport was stamped, and I got a little paper ticket that was my temporary visitor ID while in Chile. Then I went to change some USDs to Chilean Pesos and off for my bag.
Since I took so long in immigration, my bag was already out when I went to baggage claim. Customs took no time at all, and then I was off to the Ibis Santiago Providencia on a collective minivan (the cheapest and comfortable way to town). As expected…there were no rooms for me at the moment, as I was explained by the lady at the hotel ( I find Chileans to be rather lacking on their hospitality skills at hotels, you always end up feeling as if told off by the person), I tried to do some small talk and soften her out so she gave me a room (and the bed I craved for so much). But no luck. So off was I into Santiago's streets as it woke up. It was a really cool experience anyway…but that's another story.
See more
Verdict
Avianca
7.9/10
Cabin7.5
Cabin crew9.0
Entertainment/wifi9.0
Meal/catering6.0
Bogota - BOG
7.4/10
Efficiency6.0
Access7.5
Services8.0
Cleanliness8.0
Santiago - SCL
3.8/10
Efficiency3.0
Access4.0
Services4.0
Cleanliness4.0
Conclusion
It was exciting to check Avianca's new plane. Sadly the flight's hours don't give a fair chance to have the full experience.
AV: While the new plane is great, and the IFE is Awesome (contents could be improved I reckon), the plane feels cheap with so much plastic on it, and the 3x3x3 configuration is awful. The catering felt so cheap it damaged the flights mojo for me. The crew were nice, but AV crew have that awful practice to make themselves scarce during night flights. If I could, I would have given 0 points to the ground crew. I hated that lady, and I even wrote to AV complaining. Of course, I was given a rather mediocre answer.
BOG: I was about to say....as usual OK. But this time they were really incompetent handling the hooligans.
SCL: Disappointment. A lot has to be done so it can get back at the place it used to hold. It is no longer Latin America's airport to show. I hated how long it took us to get into Chile.
Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for the flight back to Colombia!
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Normally is 1 hour difference, but this year Chile kept tis DST for the whole year. That's the reason for the other hour. I didn't get it, as it was daylight around 7 am... but then again, work begins at 9 in Chile. Go figure.
The catering was OK...but when one compares it with what DL gives you on a similarly long flight, one questions AVs offer.
Can't compare with LA, but I reckon is quite on par.
Chile is an awesome country, I really admire them and I wish I could live sometime there. But it does have its flaws. I wish you could hear more of us across the pond, and for the good things going on here!
Sincerely I didn't expect anything less that what I got. And I think the timing was better than what CM did on the JFK-PTY. I prefer to eat and then sleep for the rest of the flight than sleep and then being woken midflight.
It does feel cheap, as NGO says, cost cutting is everywhere.
Chile is really expensive in some aspects compared to Colombia (overall), but comparing Santiago and Bogotá, some things are on the same price scale (e.g. eating out in a restaurant). But other things are stupidly expensive....like a bottle of water or a soda.
You sure have a knack for finding bad experiences in your travels, whether it be obnoxious passengers or rude ground staff.
they sort of bounced....I had never seen that - I've seen this on a B777 before too, might be a Boeing thing. The plastic feel of the B787 is down to Boeing minimizing cost/weight on an already expensive project.
When the guy was near my seat he ran out of water, and that was it. - AV cost-cutting? Overall, catering looks acceptable for a red-eye international flight, usually more like a supper than a dinner.
I often find early morning immigration to always be slow for the reasons your mentioned, the employees look half asleep.
I noticed there were a lot of Dominicans and Haitians taking this flight (more on this later). - You never finished that story :)
I guess I must keep a positive vibe on my next trips ( trust me I am trying to be better behaved)...maybe is as we say here in Colombia : estoy rezado.
Catering was OK, my main fuzz is about the size, I don't think it is sufficient.
The deal with the Dominicans and Haitians is that...ballpark estimate, 3 out of 4 of them where retained for further inspection. And as I said, a lot of people on the flight were either Dominican or Haitian (there where also a big bunch of Venezuelans), I have never seen something like that before.
Hey thanks for sharing! We'll just say it's the first report on the AV 787 :-) Aircraft interiors in real life are hardly ever as nice as on renderings. The catering is really minimal. I've heard many times that 787s are cramped in 3-3-3. It's really a shame because it keeps you from enjoying being on such a cool aircraft. These short redeye flights are really rough as it is and the whole fiasco at immigration would really make me cranky.
Indeed, the way Avianca has become so cheap (cramped interior, minimal catering) somehow tarnishes the 787 wow-experience.
My conclusion is that one should avoid these short redeyes (but it seems I didn't learn my lesson, as I have one scheduled soon), well one must try to figure out a way to rest the most.
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9 Comments
Looking at a map SCL seems to be in the same time zone as BOG so I was surprised to se a 2 hour difference.
Flying a 787 is so much cooler than a 319, however I agree that this plane sometimes fell cheap and fragile with all that plastic.
Catering is really nothing to fuss about, it's the bare minimum for a 5h international flight.
LAN seems to provide a better service overall.
Interesting comments about Chile and how it is compared to the other south american countries. In Europe we mostly hear about Brazil and Mexico.
The catering was OK...but when one compares it with what DL gives you on a similarly long flight, one questions AVs offer.
Can't compare with LA, but I reckon is quite on par.
Chile is an awesome country, I really admire them and I wish I could live sometime there. But it does have its flaws. I wish you could hear more of us across the pond, and for the good things going on here!
I find it impressive that AV serves a dinner in the back at this dept. time instead of just a snack, even though the dinner was just average.
Interesting comment about the WC's bouncing during turbulence and the amount of plastics around. I guess plastics = light weight = fuel efficiency.
From what I have heard Chile is not really cheap compared to other neighboring countries due to its strong economy.
It does feel cheap, as NGO says, cost cutting is everywhere.
Chile is really expensive in some aspects compared to Colombia (overall), but comparing Santiago and Bogotá, some things are on the same price scale (e.g. eating out in a restaurant). But other things are stupidly expensive....like a bottle of water or a soda.
You sure have a knack for finding bad experiences in your travels, whether it be obnoxious passengers or rude ground staff.
they sort of bounced....I had never seen that
- I've seen this on a B777 before too, might be a Boeing thing. The plastic feel of the B787 is down to Boeing minimizing cost/weight on an already expensive project.
When the guy was near my seat he ran out of water, and that was it.
- AV cost-cutting? Overall, catering looks acceptable for a red-eye international flight, usually more like a supper than a dinner.
I often find early morning immigration to always be slow for the reasons your mentioned, the employees look half asleep.
I noticed there were a lot of Dominicans and Haitians taking this flight (more on this later).
- You never finished that story :)
Catering was OK, my main fuzz is about the size, I don't think it is sufficient.
The deal with the Dominicans and Haitians is that...ballpark estimate, 3 out of 4 of them where retained for further inspection. And as I said, a lot of people on the flight were either Dominican or Haitian (there where also a big bunch of Venezuelans), I have never seen something like that before.
Aircraft interiors in real life are hardly ever as nice as on renderings. The catering is really minimal. I've heard many times that 787s are cramped in 3-3-3. It's really a shame because it keeps you from enjoying being on such a cool aircraft.
These short redeye flights are really rough as it is and the whole fiasco at immigration would really make me cranky.
Indeed, the way Avianca has become so cheap (cramped interior, minimal catering) somehow tarnishes the 787 wow-experience.
My conclusion is that one should avoid these short redeyes (but it seems I didn't learn my lesson, as I have one scheduled soon), well one must try to figure out a way to rest the most.
Thanks for reading!
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