“Bla Bla Bla!” Avianca Denounced By Colombia’s Vice President, Celebrities For Turning Its Back On Passengers

It is an extraordinary event for a national official to publicly rip a private company for poor service, but that is exactly what happened Sunday, when the Vice President of Colombia, Marta Lucía Ramirez lost her patience with Avianca. Formerly Colombia’s flag carrier, Avianca recently emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings and moved its corporate home across the Atlantic Ocean to London, England.

“Your call is very important, please wait on the line….bla, bla, bla”

The call center of @Avianca @AviancaNAM is a lack of respect to the client” tweeted the vice president on her official Twitter account.

Su llamada es muy importante, por favor espere en la línea…. bla, bla , bla
El call center de @Avianca @AviancaNAM es una falta de respeto al cliente!!

— Marta Lucía Ramírez (@mluciaramirez) January 9, 2022

“It’s unheard of to call during three days to the call center of Avianca without obtaining a response. After one hour listening to a recording, the call hangs up. Improve options of customer service and have an operator please!!” continued the Vice President in her Twitter feed.

Es inaudito llamar durante tres días al call center de @Avianca sin obtener respuesta. Después de una hora de escuchar la grabación la llamada se cuelga. Mejorar opciones de servicio al cliente y tener un operador por favor!!

— Marta Lucía Ramírez (@mluciaramirez) January 9, 2022

The Vice president wasn’t finished, expressing the frustration of many passengers during recent years. “The call center of Avianca is a non-answering machine…” The Vice President also tweets to call attention to the problem to Colombia’s civil aviation authority and commerce watchdog (Aerocivil & Superintendency of Industry and Commerce)

Su llamada es muy importante, por favor espere… así de fácil es solucionar…..
El call center de @Avianca @AviancaNAM es una máquina sin respuesta. @AeroCivilCol @sicsuper

— Marta Lucía Ramírez (@mluciaramirez) January 9, 2022

Beginning with a contentious pilot’s strike in 2017 and shareholder battles, Avianca’s performance declined with the airline declaring bankruptcy early in 2020. Now, even coming out of bankruptcy and with an investment banker rather than an airline operational expert in charge, passengers are screaming.

Empresas no deben esperar que clientes se quejen a través de redes sociales, ni que sea el cargo de quien se queja lo que le facilita atención. Todos los colombianos merecen respuesta eficiente y oportuna y call center debe tener operadores. @Avianca ya se contactó y solucionó.

— Marta Lucía Ramírez (@mluciaramirez) January 10, 2022

“Businesses should not wait for customers to complain on social media, nor should someone have to complain to get attention. All Colombians deserve an efficient and timely response, and the call center should have operators. Avianca contacted and resolved,” the Vice President tweeted.

Vice President Ramirez’s dissatisfaction with Avianca is not isolated. Her tweets obtained thousands of likes, retweets, and responses, but her public complaint is just the latest in a high-profile outpour of dissatisfaction.

Former Colombian beauty queen Paula Andrea Betancur took to social media to denounce the airline in November. Betancur says she was ripped off purchasing more expensive seats in the first three rows but was put in the cheap seats further back.

“I paid for [a seat in] the first 3 rows to be comfortable with Fatima (her 16-month-old daughter) and I’m going to board the plane and look at what they give me, the 10 D, which obviously the chair is cheaper, and they charged me the more expensive,” she adds.

“Unfortunately, I had to travel with this airline again. This is my last time, my last experience, because the truth is that I had already bought my tickets before, and I have to travel again and I have to return in less than eight days and this happens to me, terrible, terrible,” she said.

Colombian soccer analyst and television personality Carlos Antonio Velez took to twitter multiple times, going back to June of last year to express his dissatisfaction.

“I was reluctant to believe it, but Avianca is a shame. They do not answer the phone, unused tickets are lost in a pandemic, they solve nothing in the chat, offices are closed!!! Chaos! Just in case, the money paid for unused tickets belongs to the passenger, not you. The End!” he vented.

Me resistí a creerlo..pero lo de @Avianca es una vergüenza!!! No responden al teléfono,se pierden los pasajes no usados en pandemia,en el chat nada resuelven, oficinas cerradas!!! Caos! Por si acaso el dinero pagado x los pasajes no usados es del pasajero no de Uds. The end!

— Carlos Antonio Velez (@velezfutbol) June 16, 2021

Velez returned to Twitter more recently in defense of an acquaintance. “Avianca’s service continues to be the worst. A passenger embarks with her suitcase at 027, which left Madrid today [Sunday]. She arrives, but not her suitcase. Immediate claim and response from the local fleet. ‘We don’t know where it is because the barcode was not registered.’ How irresponsible!

El servicio de @Avianca sigue siendo lo peor…una pasajera se embarca con su maleta en el 027 q partió desde Madrid hoy.Llega ella y no su maleta.Reclamo inmediato y respuesta de flota veredal. “No sabemos dónde está por q no quedó registrado el código de barras”Q irresponsables!

— Carlos Antonio Velez (@velezfutbol) November 22, 2021

Apparently, a day later, Avianca was able to find the lost luggage.

Soap opera star Carolina Ramirez shared her frustrations with her over two million social media followers. Ramirez also indicated that she was on hold with Avianca’s call center for 45 minutes, and then the call inexplicably hung up on her, similar to reports from other frustrated passengers.

“Thank you Avianca, you have really made traveling hell for me,” she says, her ire and emotion evident.

Another TV presenter, Mary Mendez complained online: “The robbery is real! Avianca has the nerve to charge 5x more for a business class ticket and the seats don’t even recline? Mandan mucho huevo!!!!” Mandan mucho huevo loosely translates to “they have a lot of balls.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Pilleselo (@piilleselo)

The complaints aren’t limited to the famous. Last year for example, Avianca denied boarding to the president of a new airline launching in Ecuador. Then and now, Finance Colombia has reached out to Avianca for their side of the story, but has received only silence.

Hoy fue negado el embarque de nuestro CEO en un vuelo de @Avianca de #Guayaquil a #Quito, pese a estar en puerta 20 minutos antes de la hora salida. En #EcuatorianaAirlines esto no sucederá, nuestra prioridad serán los usuarios, respetando nuestras propias políticas. pic.twitter.com/1GaJVgHofA

— Ecuatoriana Airlines (@EcuatorianaAir) February 15, 2021