Review of Avianca flight from Cusco to La Paz in Premium Eco

intro

After a truly terrific time in Peru, visiting Machu Picchu, here are some pictures from Peru (I'll add more in the Tourism Bonus). Sadly, I wasn't quite as lucky as Kevin, it was rainy and cloudy almost all day?. Still well worth the visit, surreal.

Okay after falling in love with the town of Cusco, it was time to head onto the next adventure. For the next portion of the South American exploration, I would take Avianca from Cusco to La Paz in Bolivia. Having just flown Avianca, I was excited about what was hopefully a repeat of the last flight!

In summary of the flight, Avianca held across the hard product, but the service confirmed my previous post: not great at all.

Let's get into the full review!

routing

how i booked

Much like with my previous report on Avianca from Bogota to Cusco, this flight was expensive! To my knowledge, Avianca operates a triangle route from Bogota-Cusco-La Paz-Bogota several times a week. Passengers are eligible to book Bogota- Cusco/La Paz or Cusco-La Paz/Bogota. Regarding my fare, I wanted to try out the premium Recaro seat, which was $ 60$ extra.

All in all, the total cost of my ticket came out to 264$ for a 54-minute flight. However, if I had opted not to pay for the premium seat, the total would have come out to 204$; still a very steep cost for a flight of this length. My fare included my seat, 1 carry-on, and 1 personal item (not even a checked bag).

getting to cusco airport

Cusco Airport is located extremely close to the main town, about 15 minutes away to be more precise. An Uber in each direction costs about 6$ which is an absolute bargain!

Anyways, the main road was closed for construction.

After a couple of minutes of waiting, we continued on this makeshift road?. Gosh, I just love adventures around the world.

Eventually, we arrived back on a paved road?.

check in

Due to my trip being so chaotic, I made sure to arrive at the airport at least 2.5 hours before departure. If I had missed one flight out of any of them, my whole trip would have turned sideways. Today was no different as I arrived almost 3 hours before departure! 

Cusco is a very small airport, with very few airlines operating in this airport. Avianca check-in was located right next to the Latam check-in, and there was no line at this time. There's a reason for that?.

Strolling up the counter, I was greeted by a very friendly agent. The Avianca staff in Cusco were very nice! She asked if I had filled out the Bolivia declaration form and had not; so she guided me through it, helping me at every corner. She confirmed my frequent flyer on the reservation and handed me my boarding pass to Bolivia!

Boarding pass in hand, it was time to head through immigration, or so I thought?.

For those wondering, you cannot enter international departures until the plane before has departed as there is only enough space to seat a single flight in the waiting room. No wonder why Avianca's check-in was deserted! My recommendation is to arrive about an hour and a half before your flight. 

Not wanting to wait inside the small waiting area before immigration, I made my way outside to bask in the sunshine of Peru. Oh, how I long to be back there right now.

Eventually, they allowed us into the waiting room/gate area around an hour and a half before departure.

There is a single coffee shop/snack shop, but I would encourage you to bring your own snacks as a bottle of water costs 4.50$ for 500ml????!

Luckily, I timed my immigration perfectly as I was able to be the first one through the single security line and one of the 4 immigration posts.

Our inbound aircraft had made the loopy loops in order to line up for Cusco. 

Soon enough, our plane pulled into the gate a tad ahead of schedule. It was interesting to see the aircraft would be an A319 instead of the scheduled A320neo.

boarding

I queued up nice and early so I could snap some photos for the review. Boarding started at 11:23 am (about 20 minutes after the inbound landed) with Group 1 and Star Alliance Gold members.

My boarding pass was scanned, my passport was checked and I was on my way to county number 80.

It's a bit of a trek for such a short distance, you have to walk up two corridors before finally getting to the jetbridge. The baby bus is soooo cute.

Due to the triangle route operation, some passengers were already on board. However, no one was seated in the premium cabin today (but myself) which meant I could snap a couple of pictures. 

I settled into seat 1A where I found the legroom to be a lot less than in 2K. My suggestion is to choose a nonbulkhead row if you can?.

departure

Boarding doors were closed at 11:46 am and a couple of seconds later the jetbridge detached.

We held at the gate for about 20 minutes before pushback due to an inbound JetSmart aircraft. As I mentioned in my post about the airport, everything has to run efficiently here.

Eventually, at 12:06 pm local time, we pushed back.

The tug tugged us quite far, almost halfway down the taxiway?.

We were rocking and rolling by 12:18! 

We lined up on the sole runway two minutes later, due to depart East.

Much like with the inbound, the views out of Cusco are simply incredible!

the seat/cabin

I am not going to touch on the seat or cabin too much here, if you are interested in seeing every small detail of this seat, feel free to check the previous report! However, I did discover a couple of new features!

The table flips out from the armrest in the bulkhead seats!

Not sure if I like this design or not.

Moving on, here are a couple of pictures of the cabin if you are interested, including the weird little middle seat!

Individual Air Nozzles as well

And a better picture of just how wide these seats truly are. For an additional 60$, this was worth it on my Bogota-Cusco leg but I am not sure if it was worth it on this 54-minute hop.

service

The service was comical on this flight. There was a single FA working the premium seats and the only interaction I had with him was when he said, "Do you want to buy anything".

He then proceeded to close the curtains. until…

He went over to one of the premium seats and started taking pictures out of the window. For me, this isn't a huge issue. We were over lake Titicaca and it's beautiful, perhaps he doesn't fly this route a lot and wants some memories.

What did bother me was how multiple passengers just moved themselves up to the premium seats for about 20 minutes of the 54-minute flight to "take pictures". I get it; you have an aisle and want to take some pictures, but I don't think sitting in a seat that is more expensive for 20 minutes is okay. Just makes me wonder why I had to pay for it. Nobody sat next to me so wasn't the end of the world, but I do think this should be enforced.

The FA never asked them to leave, he was just enjoying taking some pictures. I digress, all is well. 

ife

The IFE was exactly the same as what was on my flight from Bogota to Cusco. I was happy to see that the older A319s were shown some love at least!

lake titicaca

We started our descent into La Paz when we were over Lake Titicaca, more to the Eastern side by Copacabana. Did you know the Copacabana beach in Rio was not the original but the one in Bolivia is? Here are some views over Lake Titicaca.

arrival

La Paz is an hour ahead of Cusco. At 1:39 pm local time the captain announced we would be landing in approximately 30 minutes, the visibility was 8000 meters and the temperature was 15 degrees Celsius.

We had a constant right-hand turn for about 75 seconds, and I was worried something might be up due to an announcement from the captain. Apparently and I quote, "I am getting interference from somewhere, can everybody please make sure their mobile phones are off". Huh…

Eventually, we straightened out which was followed by a brief left bank. 

Something that might contribute to this short flight time is how you takeoff at over 11,000 feet of elevation and land at over 12,000 feet of elevation. As far as I am concerned this is the only route in the world that does this with a jet engine.

I had 0 idea of what to expect in terms of looks for La Paz. When I saw this out of the window, it blew my mind?. More on this in a future post, but Bolivia is one of the most incredible countries I have visited. I rank in number 3 out of the 81 I have now been to!

Wow.

We touched down a tad behind schedule at 2:12 pm local time after a 52 minute flight. You can swipe through the slideshow if you are interested in seeing some old scrapped planes in random locations?. As I said, a one-of-a-kind place.

We pulled into our gate 3 minutes later and waited for the jetbridge to attach.


Thankfully, I was first off of the plane with this 60$ seat purchase. I kid you not, this saved me hours. 

A look back at the Avianca A319 that took us on this short hop today. Thank you for a safe flight!

I am gutted since I didn't get to fly BoA this time. However, I already have plans to head back to Bolivia next year for a couple of weeks as a friend of mine does some great work with an orphanage, which I would like to get involved with! Then I will fly BoA, I promise!

I legged it immigration, praying there wasn't an international flight before us.

Well, there wasn't. There are 3 immigration officers for the whole plane and if you are a US citizen it takes 15 minutes to get the whole visa application done. You also have to pay 160$ for a visa if you are American, but at least it lasts 1o years. Lastly, it takes up a whole page+the stamp…

Looking back at the line, I could not imagine. Best 60$ ever spent?

Not before baggage inspection. If you think this is severe, wait until you hear about how a dog sniffs everyone's bags at the gate in departures. 

Finally, wooohooo we made it to Bolivia. Country 80 YAYAYAYA. 

Coffee in hand, I made my way to the taxi stand to head to La Paz. Expert tip: the USD has been banned in Bolivia (not illegal to bring in), meaning you will get a fantastic exchange rate from almost anybody due to the black market. USD will be your best friend here.

12,000 feet in elevation, I started to feel it! Find out more soon in what I got up to in the 8 hours I was awake in Bolivia, a jam-packed schedule!

Thanks so much for reading! I'll attach my Machu Picchu review in the tourism bonus and share some pictures of Bolivia in the next trip report! 

On other notes, my visa got denied for DPRK today which means that review will have to be postponed. But but I might be able to hop on Aeroflot this summer/Conviasa and potentially a Cubana aicraft, we shall see how it goes. 

machu picchu:tourism bonus (won't let me add for some reason)

My fourth world wonder is a terrific one at that. For those unfamiliar with Machu Picchu, it is located in Peru, specifically in the small town of Cusco. After a terrific flight onboard Avianca from Bogota to Cusco, it was time to take the long day trip to Machu Picchu. I wasn't quite sure what to expect after visiting Angkor Wat, The Taj Mahal, and The Pyramids Of Giza in the past 4 months.

The answer: Breathtaking.

Let's get into it!

A day trip to Machu Picchu is going to cost you, and there are no two ways to get there. This is because you need a return train, return bus tickets, transport to the train station, and the actual ticket to enter Machu Picchu. Technically, you do not need a guide, but I would recommend one if you are going.

I booked my tour through GetYourGuide for a total of 329$ all in. This included everything listed above and free water!

There weren't many options online regarding a single-day trip, but on your GetYourGuide you can find one company.

The day prior to my tour of Machu Picchu, I arrived in Cusco and someone from the company came to the hotel to meet me with the tickets. He went over tomorrow's plan and let me know the company would pick me up at 3:45 in the morning! Yes, you heard that right. 

Getting to the train station requires an hour and a half drive in each direction. Sure enough, the van picked me up right on time at 3:45 am.

After picking up all the other passengers, I went straight back to sleep for an hour and a half. 

We arrived about 30 minutes before the train's scheduled departure time, which meant one thing: COFFEE. It was needed badly.

There are plenty of trains up to Machu Picchu, but I was on the earliest train. I plan to go back soon and try the Belmond luxury train, but Peru Rail ain't bad. On your boarding pass is the carriage number along with your seat assignment. I headed over to my carriage, F38.

Once again, the agent checked our tickets and confirmed that we were eligible to be on the train (ticket check 2). 

The interior of the train is stunning. The seats are comfortable, and free water is provided. Snacks, beer, and coffee are available for purchase at decent prices. A cup of coffee is about 3$ USD, while a beer is 5$ USD.

Thankfully, I had a free seat next to me. This meant I was able to get some quality rest for about an hour and a half, while the remaining 20 minutes was spent gazing out at this beautiful scenery! There are also toilets on the train by the way!

Our train ride on the way out was relatively short, clocking in at a mere 1 hour and 45 minutes. Upon arrival, it was raining, and I purchased a raincoat for 2$ USD from a local seller. This brings me to my next point: what to bring:

A raincoat or waterproof gear

A small backpack

Portable charger if you use your phone a lot

Snacks

Some water

Make sure to use the toilet before going inside MP

A willingness to be startled

Tickets and Passport

Everybody from the train was ushered into a waiting line, and we were sent to the back. After a 15-minute wait, we were allowed onto a bus for the 25-minute journey. Not before they checked our tickets, of course, ? (ticket check 3).

machu picchu

Finally, we get to the good part: Machu Picchu. At this point, it is 6.5 hours since we departed to the hotel and we finally arrive at the entrance. Enter ticket check number 4… Bathrooms are located here, and only on the outside. GO BEFORE.

You need your passport to enter Machu Picchu, so DO NOT FORGET IT. We showed our entrance ticket and passport and were finally inside the ancient Incan grounds.

It's about a 15-minute hike to get up to Machu Picchu. It shouldn't be much of a struggle for most. Thankfully, it had stopped raining but the clouds were still covering much of Machu Picchu. 

Finally, the guide took us a little closer and the clouds broke! What a special place! Part of the tour was heading inside for about 45 minutes as the guide told us the history. Side note: This guide was top-notch and truly incredible!

We took the bus back around 12:30, of course with the mandated ticket check 5 to the town of Machu Picchu. I joined a bunch of people I met on the tour as we sat around eating Alpaca and drinking beer/pisco sour.

Someone from the tour agency brought around the amazing Machu Picchu stamp for your passport! There's one stamp I will never forget! I know I'm only page 10, I just got it 3 weeks ago give me a break? (almost managed to get a new US passport in sub 48 hours).

We were booked onto the 4:43 pm train back, meaning we had a couple of hours to kill in Machu Picchu. After enjoying some food and coffee the journey back was upon us.

It started with a train that took about 2 hours and 15 minutes this time. The train is identical to the outbound one but the only thing different was my level of beer consumption?.

Apart from I was awake for this ride! The views out of the window are incredible! I had a wonderful conversation with a woman from my tour group as we embarked on the journey back to Cusco. If you get motion sickness, bring tablets incase!

Once off the train, the final part of the journey was in order. Another hour and a half drive from the train station back to Cusco. Thankfully, I was able to get some good sleep and woke up with 20 minutes remaining to Cusco.

All in all, I got back to my hotel at 9 pm, 17 hours after departing. It was a long day but well worth it.

There are other options for those wondering, such as staying in the town of Machu Picchu (I forget the exact name) for a night or two, but this is what best suited my travel plans. 

Thanks so much for reading! If you are interested in learning more about Cusco or any of the other places I have visited, feel free to check my blog out!