Pros and Cons of Avianca’s A320 Premium Seats: A Detailed Review

There are positives and negatives for every seat in every aircraft. The trick is finding the right balance of pluses and minuses that justify the cost you paid.

My wife and I recently flew Avianca Premium, the airline’s premium economy class, between Cancún (CUN) and Bogotá (BOG) in November 2024. There were several positives, such as blocked middle seats and outlets for every passenger. However, there were also surprising negatives, like a lack of priority check-in even when this flight connected onward to an Avianca flight in business class.

Is it worth booking Avianca Premium seats? Let’s take a look at what’s included to help you make up your mind.

Avianca Premium on A320: Pros

Seats

This is intentionally broad, catching multiple positive aspects related to the Premium seats on Avianca’s Airbus A320 aircraft. I flew in economy on Avianca’s A320 previously, and the Premium seats were markedly better. For starters, there was more padding on the seats, instantly creating more comfort.

Premium seats also had adjustable headrests. They went up and down and had folding flaps to hold your head just the way you wanted.

Beyond the comfort of the seat itself, there was the comfort of having more space. There were no passengers in the middle seats here. Similar to short-haul business class on flights in Europe, the middle seats were blocked. That created a 2-2 cabin layout, despite looking like a 3-3 layout at first glance (unfortunately, the seats themselves weren’t wider than normal with this setup).

While some airlines just leave that seat empty, Avianca had something better. There was a large armrest here with a cup holder on top.

Underneath, inside a small cubby on each side of the armrest, were both universal and USB-A outlets.

And the extra comfort also included the space at your knees. There were 33 inches of pitch — the space from your seat to the one in front of you. That’s as much as 5 more inches of space at your knees than the typical pitch in an economy seat.

One oddity about the seats, however, was the miniature coat hooks. The gap between the hook and seat was so small that we couldn’t get a jacket or sweatshirt to stay on the hook. The crew didn’t have any hangers, so these seemed useless.

Seats at the Front of the Plane

The Premium seats were in rows 1 to 3. That meant sitting at the front of the plane, which obviously had its advantages. You got off the plane first without being stuck behind people struggling to get their belongings out of the overhead bin. And if you had a short connection, you were on your way quickly.

Dedicated Overhead Bins

Avianca’s Premium passengers had dedicated overhead bins. Bins at the front of the plane were labeled, noting that only Premium passengers could use them.

Once the passengers in these front rows had boarded, flight attendants closed the bins. However, when a passenger arrived at the last minute, the crew reopened these bins for him — they’d been set aside to ensure he had space for his belongings, all according to plan.

Priority Boarding

When we arrived at our boarding gate, we saw clear signs for 2 priority boarding groups: those with Star Alliance Gold status and those needing extra time to board, such as families with small children or the elderly.

There weren’t any signs for priority boarding that indicated Premium passengers would board first, despite being the most … er, premium … seat on the plane since there was no business class. Despite the lack of Premium signs, the gate agents surprised us by calling for Premium passengers to board after preboarding.

Surprisingly, we found the preboarding passengers still waiting in the jet bridge, as the crew wasn’t ready yet inside the plane. Thus, boarding first meant standing around waiting in the jet bridge rather than remaining seated in the terminal.

Avianca Premium on A320: Cons

No Preferred Check-In

When we found the Avianca counters at the far end of Cancún’s Terminal 2, we were surprised to find this preferred check-in pylon sign blocking the lane you’d normally assume customers would use if they had elite status or were flying in premium cabins. The sign mentioned “business class,” and we were connecting in Bogotá to an Avianca flight in business class, so we maneuvered around this sign and went forward.

And there we waited. Eventually, an employee came to ask us why we were standing in that spot.

“We’re flying in business class,” I responded.

“Not from here you aren’t,” she responded, pointing out that no Avianca flights from Cancún had a business cabin. Therefore, she said, we should enter the standard check-in line unless we had elite status with a Star Alliance airline.

Lack of Entertainment System

Seats on Avianca’s A320 planes don’t have entertainment systems — not even in the Premium section. Thus, passengers needed to connect to the onboard network to stream movies and TV shows from their own devices. To be clear, this network didn’t provide internet connectivity.

To compensate, the seats had a foldout tray that served dual purposes: cup holder and device support while enjoying onboard entertainment.

No Meal Service or Lounge Access

We were on an intercontinental flight lasting over 3 hours, yet there was no meal service. This always surprises me when it happens — even more so in a premium seat. However, the only way to get food on this flight was by purchasing it. There were snack boxes, but we didn’t buy any.

Another interesting item was the lack of lounge access. Since we would connect onward with Avianca in business class to São Paulo-Guarulhos (GRU) in Brazil, we asked about lounge access at check-in. The desk agent told us Avianca didn’t provide lounge access at Cancún.

If you have a Priority Pass membership, Terminal 2’s sole offering is the Lounge by Global Lounge Network. During our quick stop, it was under construction and rather poor as far as lounges go. We were happy to find something better after a short stay here.

Those with The Platinum Card^® from American Express or The Business Platinum Card^® from American Express can visit the Plaza Premium Lounge next door. While still small, there was no hammering here, and it had more food choices.

Not a Premium Cleaning Job

In general, the plane felt clean. However, we were shocked (and grossed out) when we found this gum inside the seatback pocket of my wife’s seat. Given how long it looked like it had been on there, several cleaning teams had clearly missed it.

Final Thoughts

For a 3.5-hour flight, it’s hard to decide if the extra cost to book Premium is worth it on an Avianca flight. Sure, you are guaranteed an empty seat next to you, extra legroom, and a seat at the front of the plane. You also board early.

However, you won’t get a meal, dedicated check-in lines, or lounge access.

It comes down to what you’re looking for on a flight. If you just want more space at your seat and don’t care about the food aspect — or can visit a lounge through your credit card’s perks to eat before the flight — you can find that in the front of Avianca’s A320 aircraft. If you want something that really feels “premium,” as the name implies, I’m not sure if it lived up to the name. “Good seat” feels more accurate because the name “Premium” conveys an elevated overall experience, and that wasn’t included.