Avianca Ignores JFK Traveler Until Employee Selfies From His Stolen Phone Show Up On His iCloud Account

Though Avianca has come out of bankruptcy under new ownership, its reputation for poor service and worse attitude continues to pursue the airline. Once seen as the pride of Colombia, in recent years the airline has earned the ire of passengers and frustrated even the country’s (now former) Vice President, who took to Twitter to denounce their performance.

In the latest case making the rounds in Colombian media, Ecuadorean Geral Jaramillo, who goes by the Twitter handle @lugerjamo flew Avianca from Ecuador to New York (JFK International Airport). While he did accidentally leave his carry-on bag behind, when he returned for it, an Avianca supervisor told him that no one had found anything and there was nothing they could do.

That seemed to be the end of things—until multiple “selfies” of Avianca employees began to show up in Jaramillo’s Apple iCloud account, proving that Avianca employees did in fact have possession of Jaramillo’s personal belongings, even though they denied it to his face.

Jaramillo took to Twitter with proof and embarrassed, the airline responded by quickly returning his carry-on bag with some accessories, and according to Jaramillo, most importantly, with the stuffed toy his daughter gave him to always accompany him on his travels. Still, the phone was missing, apparently in the hands of an Avianca employee.

Avianca first offered him a telephone, but it was someone else’s and not Jaramillo’s. Avianca did, according to Jaramillo, then purchase a replacement phone after the incident had become public.

Hear Jaramillo’s interview with Colombian network W Radio (in Spanish) below:

Photos: @lugerjamo (Twitter)