Sky High Luxury: Avianca Business Class #862 Review from Cuzco to Lima
The overall trip
In the latter part of our Ecuador/Peru trip, we were heading back to Lima for a few days from the Sacred Valley before heading back to the UK. I normally look to book OneWorld airlines where possible but although Latam fly this route (and indeed we used this on the way to Cusco) there was economy class only. I noticed that Avianca (Star Alliance) also fly this route and offered business class. It was easy to book direct, the flight was scheduled to take 1hr 30min; departing Cusco at 10:50am arriving into Lima’s Jorge Chavez International Airport at 12:20pm. Having booked this flight at least nine months ago, during this period there were a couple of time changes, one of them significant meaning it actually involved a flight number change.
We left Tambo Del Inka at 7:45am after breakfast - although the journey to Cusco’s Alejandro Velasco Astete Airport is only 56km (about 35 miles) the taxi journey is scheduled to take over 1.5 hours. The roads, though not particularly busy are windy as we rise from the lower altitude in the Urubamba valley (around 2,900m above sea level / 9.500 feet) to the potentially altitude sickness inducing 3,400m /over 11,000 feet in Cusco itself.
Checking in
Check-in at the airport was simple - I had been able to download the Avianca app on my phone to track the booking and also used this within 24 hours to check-in online. This worked well, was simple to complete the procedure and we were able to get our boarding passes saved in Passbook. I asked the check-in agent if there was a lounge and she said there was on the 1st floor (i.e. ground). We had to go up one flight for departures, checking passports and boarding pass was easy and we quickly progressed to security. This has to be the most fast paced security I’ve ever experienced - the agent was literally throwing empty trays down a long metal table for people to fill them almost as they were being thrown. As seemed to be the case with domestic security at other airports within Peru there was no need to remove liquids, laptops, iPads etc. At the rate passengers were being moved through I would imagine there was no way anyone scanning the bag images could detect anything untoward anyway.
After security we saw signs for the VIP lounge as directed, one floor below, so walked down and showed our boarding passes. Though pleasant enough, the attendant on the door advised us that they had no association with any airline and therefore we could not get access. As well as this being a complete waste of a staircase, it was also extremely annoying considering we had been specifically directed there by the Avianca representative at check-in. I sent a tweet to Avianca checking why there had been the misinformation - impressively, under the circumstances, Steve (from Avianca) replied within an hour (while we were still at the airport) to advise that because of space constraints they were unable to establish an agreement with the third party and send me a link of where they do have VIP lounges across the world. Perhaps it might be an idea that check-in staff are informed of this too so they don’t send passengers on a wild goose chase.
We therefore walk back up the staircase to the main boarding level where is seemed most gates were located. Though our boarding passes advised to be at the gate by 10:05am, despite it being after this there was still no gate showing on the departure board. After about 10 minutes the board was updated to show that we will board from gate 3, we therefore make our way across there and find a seat. The signage at this gate indicates that there is an Anytime boarding priority queue - there seems to be no sign of the even more priority queue that Latam (and it seems any airline in Brazil) have for “the elderly”. Each time we see who joins this queue they actually look the same age as us and we don’t consider ourselves anywhere near elderly. Most people we see using these queues look perfectly able bodied, middle-aged and in many case carting multiple, huge backpacks with them.
About 20 minutes before the flight was due to depart, there was some flurry at the gate and boarding seems to commence. We go across and join the small priority queue that is forming and after about 5 minutes our boarding passes are checked. Another 5 minutes after that the queue has boarding passes checked again, but this time it involves the agent taking the slip from the passenger and walking to the scanning device on the counter, obviously this takes longer each time she has to walk further and further back up the queue. There seemed to be some confusion though when she comes to us and our boarding passes on our phones - I think the dilemma is that she then can’t take our phones away to scan on the scanner, so after a few seconds the decision seems to be that our details are just shouted across to another agent at the desk, who types this into a computer and then apparently computer says yes and she moves on to do the same for ‘Mrs” ThePrivateTraveller.
Avianca Business Class Seats
A few minutes later we start to board, the aircraft (an Airbus 319) looks newish and is clean, with pleasant Avianca staff welcoming us (who had literally just boarded themselves only a few minutes before). The business class section comprises of only three rows in a 2-2 configuration. We had had seats 1A and 1C reserved, but when the flight had to be amended because of changed timings these had been reallocated to 2A and 2C. On check-in online however, I was able to select seats 1D and 1K for us. The seats were spacious and comfortable, though bizarrely seemed older than the aircraft itself, with a very old, very thick small TV monitor hiding in the central armrests, which were extricated for the security briefing. Although we were one of the first few to board, one of the annoying things is that the front overhead bin on both sides were blocked as ‘no stowage’ - this just effectively left one bin on either side for all 12 seats, the third bin spanned the section with seats behind in economy.
Though overall the flight seemed busy (lots of young, American backpackers), business class was maybe just over half full. There is the quick safety demonstration briefing and the plane starts to taxi. Cusco airport is right in the centre of the town - with being quite high up in the Andes mountain range the city is surrounded by hills so this is really the only feasible flat space for the runway. As we experienced when we landed here, this will afford us quite a scenic take-off.
Avianca In Flight Service
We take off at 11:03am, almost 15 minutes behind schedule, and once airborne (yes, there was some stunning shots taken for Instagram, and the windows actually weren’t too scratched or dirty) we’re asked what we would like to drink. There is a choice of tea, coffee, water and orange juice - we both just have some water. Just as we think this is the extent of the business class in-flight catering, we’re pleasantly surprised to be offered not one, but two, small bags of salted peanuts.
I’d noticed on the outside of the aircraft that it indicated that WiFi was “A Bordo” so once at our cruising altitude I checked to see what the deal was. Basically the deal seemed to be non-existent and I could find no evidence of WiFi being available on either my iPhone or iPad. There was a special Business Class inflight magazine (and a separate Duty Free shopping one) but both were in Spanish only.
The rest of the flight was uneventful, I catch up on some writing for my blog (and this airline review) and finish off the hotel review for Tambo Del Inka, from where we have just left. It’s an amazingly scenic flight across the Andes and I need to stop myself from keeping on taking more and more photos.
Descending into Lima, Peru
We were due to land at 12:20pm, at 11:44am it’s obvious that we are beginning our descent into Lima and there is an announcement from the Captain but only in Spanish. Sorry, rewrite that - there is a later (very short) announcement in English about landing, so just allows for a very quick trip to the one toilet at the front to check how it is - again, quite clean but similarly seems older than the body of the aircraft itself.
We touch down on time and it’s a short taxi to the gate and we soon disembark. Within a few minutes we find the luggage carousel for the flight and, incredibly, fast track luggage seems to work and our bags come off amongst the first. All in all a good experience, only issue really was the lounge access rejection.
