www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I recently had an opportunity to use the new VivaColombia Airlines in Colombia. I had made plans to take a colombiana favorite for a three day beach vacation in Cartagena, so I was looking to go MDE-CTG.

Bottom line is the whole experience was acceptable and very affordable… but you need to expect a Spirit airlines type of experience… be prepared to put up with little inconveniences to save money.

Save money I did… I ended up spending about 210 r/t per person all in. Avianca's fares were double that. I could have paid less if I had booked a little more in advance, or traveled on different days. My trip was over a holiday weekend in Colombia and Cartagena was packed. Like Spirit airlines, VivaColombia limits the size of your carry on, and additionally the weight… the max weight is 10 kg. My favorita, who needs to bring her entire wardrobe and be ready for any situation, needed to check ha piece of luggage, and I paid the extra for "up to 20kg"…. 30000 peso each way… still not a deal killer.

The flight I originally booked was for 2:30pm … they called me in MDE and switched it to 5:30. Not sure why … but I suspect they bumped me because they overbooked… was not happy.

There was a bit of confusion in JMC airport in Rio Negro as to where to check in. Even though it was a national flight, the check in counter is in the international section. In MDE things went smoothly. In CTG there was a long line and they were very disorganized. They tagged my checked luggage with a tag that read BOG…. Then they crossed it out and wrote over it in magic marker “MDE”… the girl at the counter looked 18 yers old and it appeared to be her first day at work.

There are no assigned seats… so it’s a race to board! Colombians don’t believe in the integrity of a line… they crowd in push in and cut in… this is not the UK. Good news is they board and deplane from outside stairways from both the rear and front of the aircraft.

On board drinks and snacks were reasonable,,, 2000 for a soda or snack, 5000 for an aguila light.
Flights were pretty full . Planes are decent and clean.

All in all not bad…. I’m sure they will resolve some of the bugs … I don’t have a problem using them again. right now they only have 3 planes and go to about 8 different cities.

PR

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Why settle for just one woman when you can enjoy them all?

That's an understatement... jaja.
Thanks, for the review, PR. I think I will test the waters with a trip to Cali using my free ticket. (I wonder how much of the flight will really be "free." )
I hoped you stayed away from the tap water in CTG.

quote "There are no assigned seats… so it’s a race to board! Colombians don’t believe in the integrity of a line… they crowd in push in and cut in…" quote

Airlines problem for letting this happen. But truly an unforgettable Colombian memory from 1980 on.

My Grandpa always said "You get what you pay for" and my dad always bought the cheapest damn thing he could find and bitched like hell when it broke 5 minutes after opening the package.

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"If you think that I'm half crazy your wrong, I'm at least seventy-five percent gone. I was born this way and I'll die this way so I probably won't be changing today." - Richie Allbright, South Texas Singer/Songwriter. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ftvsq3mX0Ow

Just got this YouTube link in the mail from VivaColombia:

http://youtu.be/JTbktHXZBAw

I went to the pep rally last month, to claim my free ticket. But, they made me participate in this publicity stunt. I am the one in the back of the yellow 'balloon" wearing a tight-fitting yellow t-shirt.