Avianca is currently offering some incredible Business class fares from Sydney to Bogota, Colombia via the United States from just $3,777 return. What makes these fares even more amazing is that you can add a free stopover in San Francisco or Los Angeles in both directions.
If you’re planning to visit Colombia, this fare offers a great way to get there in style. But if you’re just looking for a good Business class deal from Australia to Los Angeles or San Francisco, you would pay considerably less to book this fare to Bogota than you would for a simple return ticket from Australia to the US west coast. Not only is this Avianca fare almost $2,000 cheaper than a return Business class ticket from Sydney to San Francisco or LA on United, Delta or Virgin Australia, but you also get to add on a side-trip to Bogota that you can use at the start, middle or end of your trip to the United States!
The flights between Australia and the USA will be on Avianca codeshares operated by United Airlines. United uses Boeing 777s with new Polaris Business seats on the Sydney-San Francisco route during the southern hemisphere summer. Boeing 787s are used during winter, and year-round on the Los Angeles-Sydney route.
The flights between Los Angeles and Bogota will be on Avianca Airbus A330 aircraft.
With United Business class fares from Sydney to San Francisco or Los Angeles retailing from $5,599 return, booking this fare instead is a no-brainer if you have the time and inclination to visit Bogota! Although this fare comes with a minimum stay requirement of 3 days, this is only from the date of the first international flight departure. Theoretically, if you stop over in the USA en-route to Colombia, you could even book a same-day turnaround in Bogota.
This is not a limited-time sale fare, but a regular published airfare which can be used year-round – subject to availability, of course. The only exceptions are that you cannot depart Sydney between 1-24 December; and you cannot return to Sydney between 1-23 January. Note that if you miss any flight in your booking, all subsequent sectors will be cancelled.
Naturally, you can earn miles with any Star Alliance frequent flyer program for these flights.
How to book this Avianca/United Business class deal to Bogota via San Francisco/Los Angeles
To score Business class tickets at this price, the basic routing that you have to book is Sydney-San Francisco-Los Angeles-Bogota on the outbound, and Bogota-Los Angeles-Sydney on the way home.
Here’s an example of a possible itinerary that includes a stopover in Los Angeles on the return journey:
Although stopping over in the United States is not required, you do have the option to stop over either in San Francisco on the outbound trip; in Los Angeles on the way back to Sydney; or both. Stopovers are available at no extra cost, other than a small difference in taxes payable (around $55 per stopover).
If you don’t wish to stop over in the United States, you can easily book this fare on the Avianca website. Simply search for round-trip flights from Sydney to Bogota on your preferred dates. The flights will appear in your search results as “Business Promo” fares:
If you would like to add a stopover/s in San Francisco and/or Los Angeles, you can still book on Avianca’s website. However, it will be a little more complicated. Before booking, we recommend that you find available flights using the multi-city feature on ITA Matrix or Google Flights. Here’s an example of an itinerary we found using ITA Matrix with stopovers in both directions:
Once you’ve found the flights you want, head over to the Avianca website. Select the “Multi-city” flight booking option and enter your itinerary:
Then, select the flights that you found in your ITA Matrix search:
The final price will be in U.S. Dollars, but should roughly match what you found on ITA Matrix.
If you experience problems booking online, one option could be to call Avianca’s call centre. This may not sound like a fun experience, but one AFF member did this recently and was pleasantly surprised with the service received.
