Review of SATENA flight Medellín → Bogota in Economy

Introduction

Hello amigos, this is the return part on a trip between Bogotá and Medellín on Satena. You can check the BOG-EOH part here.

So after the partying was done, it was time to go back to Bogotá. Instead of departing late in the afternoon towards MDE up in Rionegro (around 1h away from Medellín) I stayed one more night to take "advantage" of Satena's "business-oriented" early morning flight to Bogotá…or so I thought.

At Medellín-Enrique Olaya Herrera Airport

I took a cab to the airport, which is only a 10 minute ride away from El Poblado sector of Medellín. As I wasn't checking in any bags I was done with the check-in in no time. In contrast to BOG, Satena issues supermarket-like BPs…bummer. I had previously been to EOH, if you wish to check it out click here.

I didn't find nowhere to have a decent breakfast while I waited for the gates to be open.


As soon as they were open I was let in, security took no time and then I waited for a half an hour to board. Everything seemed to be OK, so I would be at my office by 9, great!

Boarding

Something I love about EOH is that you may walk to the plane, enjoying the smell of JET-A1 in the morning is just what every avgeek needs every now and then to keep going. In contrast to the crisp new ATR that brought me into Medellín, my flight to the Capital would be on an older model. The platform was shared by a derelict Dornier formerly operated by Aerolíneas de Antioquia and an EasyFly ATR.



The ATR showed its age, but it was comfortable enough for the 1h ride to BOG.

Take off and flight

We took off from RWY02, which allowed for great views of Medellín, starting by El Poblado, then the CBD, which eventually gave way to the northern part of town which is mainly composed of favelas.



Once we exit the Aburrá valley, we went over the very hilly countryside between Bogotá and Medellín (which turns the short distance into a 6-8h roadtrip between the cities)


Due to the early wake up and late drinking, I slept through most of the flight and missed the coffee service (which I don't drink anyway). I woke up again when approach into BOG was announced.



Landing was smooth and soon we were at the CATAM platform. As told in the previous FR, this meant a long bus ride to the main terminal. Apparently this further implied that the bus would take a long ride to our plane, and then back. And so we waited for the bus for over 10 minutes after we were at our position.

One last picture of our ride before taking the bus.


The bus ride lasted another 15 minutes. I left the terminal about 40 minutes after landing, so the business convenience of departing from EOH was swiftly blurred. To make things worse the Transmilenio ride, which should have taken me straight to my office in 25 minutes took 40 minutes instead (including a non-scheduled/non-announced bus change).

Well, the things we do for new rides.