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Post by livinginmedellin on Nov 10, 2016 14:06:46 GMT -5
The Civil Aeronautics announced Thursday that operations at Bogota's El Dorado Airport will have certain restrictions, after this week, which will affect its services due to the weather and different incidents in its runways. International connections will be affected. In this sense, the National Environmental Licensing Authority (ANLA) will be asked to authorize one of the runways to operate for one more hour every day. In addition, passengers were asked not to use the airport as much as possible to make international connections. The latter will be developed with the participation of operating airlines in the national territory, which will have to offer connections abroad through other terminals, such as Rionegro or Cali. The announcement was made by Alfredo Bocanegra, director of the entity, who made the decision in conjunction with officials of the Ministry of Transportation and several airlines operating in the country. "We have a crisis fueled by meteorological factors and is likely to extend until January," said the official. In addition, the Aerocivil will remove instructors , finding in investigations that are being carried out, that cargo planes from Leticia are abusing their capacity, which generated damage on one of the runways. It is worth mentioning that Bocanegra called for airlines to announce in advance to their passengers the cancellation of flights that present problems, so that the overall operation is not affected by user complaints and logistical problems of the same airlines. The director added that these measures would extend until the crisis is solved, generated by inclement weather, issues related to the operation of the airlines and the malfunction of a part of the lights of the runways of the Bogota terminal. See (in Spanish): www.eltiempo.com/bogota/restricciones-en-el-aeropuerto-el-dorado-de-bogota/16747187
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Post by wildstubby on Nov 11, 2016 21:31:49 GMT -5
Well I hope that they don't affect my flights too much. I am arriving on Tuesday around 3PM but the big one is leaving there at 5AM which I hope the weather will be cooperating at that hour of the day. I have about a 2 hour window to play with.
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Post by ozgringo on Nov 12, 2016 5:00:20 GMT -5
Land this Friday. Hopefully no issues. 4 hour lay over in Bogota then fly to Cartagena.
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Post by bickmed on Nov 12, 2016 8:32:31 GMT -5
It is a nightmare; we flew from Bogota to Medellin yesterday and it was Chaos. All the flights were delayed, many cancelled. Ours was three hours delayed, and then another 1 hour on the runway waiting which was announced as soon as we were all seated. In the terminal, people everywhere, the lounges overflowing, and its not expected to end soon.
The most annoying this for me was that Useless Avianca could not even send out a notice that flights were delayed; ours was still showing ''on-time'' from the online system when we arrived at the airport, which the 3 hour delay was clearly stated on the system there.
I would allow well more than two hours, although if your tickets are linked and with Avianca they will at least sort that out for you.
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Post by wildstubby on Nov 12, 2016 11:17:35 GMT -5
I have an arrival time on Tuesday at 3:30 Pm and a departure at 5AM next Saturday morning. I hope to get out before the delays start!
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Post by elexpatriado on Nov 12, 2016 17:45:57 GMT -5
This whole past 10 days has been a royal cock-up for me..dont want to get into it..real nightmare..cost me 1000s of dollars and unlimited stress
I will never ever fly in October , November , April and May again if I can possibly avoid it, and will avoid airports in Bogota , Pereira (even worse), Manizales (the worst) ad Armenia like the plague..
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Post by elexpatriado on Nov 12, 2016 17:47:58 GMT -5
It is a nightmare; we flew from Bogota to Medellin yesterday and it was Chaos. All the flights were delayed, many cancelled. Ours was three hours delayed, and then another 1 hour on the runway waiting which was announced as soon as we were all seated. In the terminal, people everywhere, the lounges overflowing, and its not expected to end soon. The most annoying this for me was that Useless Avianca could not even send out a notice that flights were delayed; ours was still showing ''on-time'' from the online system when we arrived at the airport, which the 3 hour delay was clearly stated on the system there. I would allow well more than two hours, although if your tickets are linked and with Avianca they will at least sort that out for you. You were actually extremely lucky, my friend..
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Post by livinginmedellin on Nov 12, 2016 17:54:49 GMT -5
Unfortunately I have to go to Bogotá next week from Medellín on a business trip - fingers crossed no problems. My wife tried to talk me into taking a bus but it's just too long of a bus ride.
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Post by bickmed on Nov 13, 2016 8:39:24 GMT -5
Elex - I have to fly to Bogota and then London next Saturday - I am already dreading it.
Living - a bus ride may be shorter than a flight!!
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Post by elexpatriado on Nov 13, 2016 9:11:25 GMT -5
Elex - I have to fly to Bogota and then London next Saturday - I am already dreading it. Living - a bus ride may be shorter than a flight!! Take a bus to Bogota. My girlfriend broke down and took a bus to Armenia after her 3rd or 4th in-country flight of the vacation was cancelled--in flight...
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Post by livinginmedellin on Nov 13, 2016 10:04:04 GMT -5
I'll take my chances on an Avianca flight to Bogotá from Medellín.
My flight is late morning on Avianca and they have many flights each day (18 total) to Bogotá from Medellín and they aren't likely to cancel them all. I checked online and yesterday they canceled 6 out of 18 flights (33% of flights) from Medellín to Bogotá. Several of the flights yesterday were on time. Only 7 flights that arrived in Bogotá from Medellín yesterday were more than 30 minutes late.
I have Diamond Elite Lifemiles status on Avianca so I get automatically re-booked if a flight is canceled plus I get priority standby. Also I can hang out in the VIP lounge if delayed. I'd rather hang out in a VIP lounge for a few hours than sit on a bus for about 9-10 hours.
Absolute worst case would be taking a bus as a backup.
I'm more worried about a trip I have to Curaçao with a connection in Bogotá in December. I hope they have this airport mess fixed by then.
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Post by wildstubby on Nov 13, 2016 11:13:19 GMT -5
I just looked at the cloud cover. It looks good today. Sun is shining here in Poblado now. I wonder if they let the smaller puddle-jumpers take off since they normally fly under the weather.
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Post by colombiana on Nov 13, 2016 14:12:25 GMT -5
I took a bus to Bogotá from Medellín once - it was 10+ hours and I won't do that again.
A 40 minute flight is much better but you'll have to risk some delays and cancellations until they fix the mess in Bogotá. Also the coffee triangle airports are seeing many cancellations according to some of my friends there.
Best to avoid the Bogotá airport now if possible - much fewer flights are being canceled in Medellín, Cali and Cartagena.
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Post by ozgringo on Nov 13, 2016 14:33:18 GMT -5
I just got an email asking if I would accept a change in my flight leaving Bogota to Santiago. On Latam airline (formally called LAN Chile.) Now leaving Bogota a day earlier (in mid January) which means an extra day in Chile. Probably not a bad thing.
Hopefully our flight from Bogota to Cartagena is on schedule this Friday . My wife the eternal optimist says it will be fine, there won't be any problems....I am just trying to keep my mouth shut...this and the power restrictions in Cartagena are making me wonder.
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Post by livinginmedellin on Nov 13, 2016 14:46:07 GMT -5
I just got an email asking if I would accept a change in my flight leaving Bogota to Santiago. On Latam airline (formally called LAN Chile.) Now leaving Bogota a day earlier (in mid January) which means an extra day in Chile. Probably not a bad thing. Hopefully our flight from Bogota to Cartagena is on schedule this Friday . My wife the eternal optimist says it will be fine, there won't be any problems....I am just trying to keep my mouth shut...this and the power restrictions in Cartagena are making me wonder. You may not have a problem if flying Avianca. Out of 18 Avianca flights from Bogotá to Cartagena yesterday, only 2 were cancelled. And today so far, none cancelled.
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Post by ozgringo on Nov 13, 2016 15:12:13 GMT -5
Thanks.
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Post by wildstubby on Nov 14, 2016 6:43:02 GMT -5
How has Copa been with cancellations? I'm flying LATAM tomorrow out of Medellin to Bogota.
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Post by livinginmedellin on Nov 14, 2016 6:59:13 GMT -5
How has Copa been with cancellations? I'm flying LATAM tomorrow out of Medellin to Bogota. LATAM has 5 flights from Medellín to Bogotá and yesterday none were cancelled. One was about 30 minutes late, another was an hour late, and the other 3 were about on time.
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Post by elexpatriado on Nov 14, 2016 8:23:11 GMT -5
I took a bus to Bogotá from Medellín once - it was 10+ hours and I won't do that again. A 40 minute flight is much better but you'll have to risk some delays and cancellations until they fix the mess in Bogotá. Also the coffee triangle airports are seeing many cancellations according to some of my friends there. Best to avoid the Bogotá airport now if possible - much fewer flights are being canceled in Medellín, Cali and Cartagena. Unless the 40 minute bus ride turns into 1 or 2 day wait in Bogota. This happened to my GF twice-both coming and going on this trip. She ended up taking the bus to Armenia-8 hours. I agree with you on using Medellin or Cali. Cali much more accessible fromManizales, and has connections to Panama and Houston
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Post by elexpatriado on Nov 14, 2016 8:25:45 GMT -5
How has Copa been with cancellations? I'm flying LATAM tomorrow out of Medellin to Bogota. LATAM has 5 flights from Medellín to Bogotá and yesterday none were cancelled. One was about 30 minutes late, another was an hour late, and the other 3 were about on time. Dont believe things posted on the internet. I can tell you from experience there is a lot of lieing with these arrival and departure times. My experience in the last week-every domestic flight I was on or My GF was delayed 2 hours minimum- usually 4 or 5 . some were cancelled. She had 2 turn back in mid flight. My flight Bogota to Pereira was delayed 6 hours, finally they had to reroute it to Armenia, and take a bus to Pereira The international flights seem to do better. Aruba flights from Bogota there and back delayed less than an hour. Might be better out of Medellin to Bogota than Pereira
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Post by elexpatriado on Nov 14, 2016 8:29:01 GMT -5
I just got an email asking if I would accept a change in my flight leaving Bogota to Santiago. On Latam airline (formally called LAN Chile.) Now leaving Bogota a day earlier (in mid January) which means an extra day in Chile. Probably not a bad thing. Hopefully our flight from Bogota to Cartagena is on schedule this Friday . My wife the eternal optimist says it will be fine, there won't be any problems....I am just trying to keep my mouth shut...this and the power restrictions in Cartagena are making me wonder. You may not have a problem if flying Avianca. Out of 18 Avianca flights from Bogotá to Cartagena yesterday, only 2 were cancelled. And today so far, none cancelled. So you were there at the airport? Avianca are liars, dont believe these stats posted. If you are at the airport in Bogota you would see different. You have been in Colombia a long time, yet you seem to take everything from internet , accountants, lawyers, and other "experts" as gospel. You have a lot to learn, my friend.
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Post by livinginmedellin on Nov 14, 2016 10:06:51 GMT -5
You may not have a problem if flying Avianca. Out of 18 Avianca flights from Bogotá to Cartagena yesterday, only 2 were cancelled. And today so far, none cancelled. So you were there at the airport? Avianca are liars, dont believe these stats posted. If you are at the airport in Bogota you would see different. You have been in Colombia a long time, yet you seem to take everything from internet , accountants, lawyers, and other "experts" as gospel. You have a lot to learn, my friend. A good friend of mine in Bogotá flew to Cartagena on the 12th on vacation and he called me asking for a restaurant recommendation. He also told me about the two cancellations as his flight was one that was cancelled and he was booked on a later flight. I also validated the cancellations on the flightstats website and Avianca's website. With www.flightstats.com/go/Home/home.do you can see all the cancellations and delays for a particular route. Avianca also posts flight status on their website that is accurate in my experience as I have been flying Avianca for over 10 years and I have taken over 100 Avianca flights.
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Post by wildstubby on Nov 16, 2016 10:27:51 GMT -5
I left Medellin about 2:30 PM just as the storm was hitting Rionegro yesterday. I landed in Bogota on time with lots of sunshine! As a matter of fact, it has rained at all since I arrived!
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Post by elexpatriado on Nov 16, 2016 10:49:44 GMT -5
So you were there at the airport? Avianca are liars, dont believe these stats posted. If you are at the airport in Bogota you would see different. You have been in Colombia a long time, yet you seem to take everything from internet , accountants, lawyers, and other "experts" as gospel. You have a lot to learn, my friend. A good friend of mine in Bogotá flew to Cartagena on the 12th on vacation and he called me asking for a restaurant recommendation. He also told me about the two cancellations as his flight was one that was cancelled and he was booked on a later flight. I also validated the cancellations on the flightstats website and Avianca's website. With www.flightstats.com/go/Home/home.do you can see all the cancellations and delays for a particular route. Avianca also posts flight status on their website that is accurate in my experience as I have been flying Avianca for over 10 years and I have taken over 100 Avianca flights. I have taken over a 100 as well.And my experience is the Airlines Lie. Espescially the case in the last 2 weeks with Avianca.The ticket agents,the flight attendants,all of them. Also, this is the second vacation thats been almost ruined by airport closures in Colombia in October and early November. 2 years ago it really screwed up my flights to Nepal when Pereira was closed due to a storm. Mind you the Linea and Las Letras were both shut doen for traffic during that storm, so I couldnt even have taken a bus. No different with air Canada mind you-just worse. Flying out of the eje Cafetero is even worse than Bogota. No more flying in October, November,April and May if I can avoid it,and also avoid Pereira, Manizales, Armenia and Bogota airports. The first 2 like the plague. And another thing, if anyone believes Eldorado with its two terminals separated by a 20 minute bus ride is more efficient than Panamas Tocumen, they are nuts.
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Post by livinginmedellin on Nov 16, 2016 12:01:19 GMT -5
I guess that's a downside of living in Eje Cafetero - the airports closing or restricting flights frequently due to the weather resulting in cancelled flights.
This almost never happens in Medellín, which is where I normally fly out of. So I have had a different experience with Avianca.
I only go to Bogotá if I have to for a connection or for business. And I have learned from experience to leave 3 hours for connections in Bogotá as you never know what's going to happen at that busy airport. Especially now with the recent problems at the Bogotá airport.
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Post by ozgringo on Nov 19, 2016 18:48:29 GMT -5
We landed in Bogota at around 12:30 pm yesterday and went straight to Avianca to be told our flight to Cartagena at 4:30 pm was cancelled. We were lucky to get on an early flight at no expense to us. Avianca were great. They also didn't charge us for excess baggage.
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Post by livinginmedellin on Nov 19, 2016 20:10:29 GMT -5
I had absolutely no problem on my flight from Medellín to Bogotá on Thursday. It was on time, so I'm happy I didn't take a bus as my wife tried to talk me into doing. On the day I flew only one out of 18 of Avianca's flights from Medellín to Bogotá was cancelled.
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Post by wildstubby on Nov 20, 2016 8:21:42 GMT -5
I left Bogota at about 5AM yesterday. Late Friday afternoon there was a helluva rainstorm! I was worried about the fog rolling in as was predicted by WeatherBug. Needless to say, we actually left early because the plane was filled and there wasn't any need to wait for anyone else. I left Panama City on time also landed in Washington, DC about an hour ahead of schedule! On another note, Global Entry is nothing short of AWESOME! Spent a total of 2 minutes in US CBP. Most of that time was used to figure out the machines!
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