Avianca

Avianca is Colombia's flag carrier and one of the oldest airlines still flying, built around a twin hub at Bogota's El Dorado and a second base in San Salvador that anchors its Central American network. It is a Star Alliance member, so connections and reciprocal lounge access line up with United, Lufthansa and the wider group across the Americas and onto Europe.

The network is heavily intra-Americas: dense domestic Colombian flying, short hops around Central America and the Caribbean, plus longer runs to North America and a handful of European routes. The airline came through a restructuring and now runs a leaner, lower-cost model, with fares unbundled and extras priced separately. Flying Avianca works best when you treat it as a well-connected regional operator with long-haul reach, rather than a full-service legacy carrier, and pick your cabin and seat deliberately.

The published cabin layouts cover the airline's Airbus narrowbody backbone and its long-haul Dreamliner. The A319, A320 and A320neo carry the two-cabin domestic and regional pattern: a small business section up front in a 2-2 layout, then a long single-aisle economy cabin in 3-3 running back to the tail. Across the three types the character is the same; the neo and the larger A320 simply give you a few more economy rows.

The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner is the widebody in the set and the one that changes the experience. The published configuration shows a lie-flat business cabin in a 1-2-1 layout, ahead of a wide 3-3-3 economy cabin. It is the aircraft worth seeking out on longer routes. Avianca has signalled a future business-seat refresh on the 787, so the forward cabin may change in time.

On the A319, A320 and A320neo, business is a regional recliner product rather than a flat bed: a wider seat with a blocked middle, extra recline and more pitch than economy, sold across short and medium routes around the Americas. Economy on the narrowbodies is straightforward single-aisle seating, slim and tightly pitched, with the airline's streaming entertainment delivered to your own device rather than seatback screens.

The 787-8 is the step up. Business here is a proper lie-flat seat in a 1-2-1 layout, so every passenger reaches the aisle directly and solo travellers can take a window pair without climbing over a neighbour. Economy on the Dreamliner is a standard long-haul 3-3-3 cabin with the cleaner cabin air and bigger windows the type is known for. Service is friendly and unfussy across both cabins; this is a value-focused airline, so expect competence over indulgence.

On the narrowbody Airbus jets, the front business rows give you the recliner and the blocked middle, and they clear quickly on arrival. In economy, the over-wing rows ride the most smoothly and the exit rows trade a little recline for usable extra legroom. Keep clear of the very last rows near the rear galley and lavatories, where the recline can be limited and the through-traffic is constant.

On the 787-8, the lie-flat business seats are best chosen by trip type: the centre pairs suit couples, while the window seats give solo passengers more privacy. In economy, aim for the forward section of the cabin and away from the galley breaks, where carts and queues gather. As ever, check the published seat map before you commit; a bulkhead can mean a fixed armrest and no under-seat stowage, and the rearmost rows are the ones to avoid on a full flight.