What Avianca owes you on a Colombia-departing flight when it's their fault
Colombia's civil-aviation consumer rules, in plain English. Confirm current terms at avianca.com.
On a flight leaving Colombia where the cause is Avianca's own, a mechanical problem, maintenance or crew, Colombian rules require a snack once the wait passes 1 hour, a meal past 3 hours, and a hotel with ground transport past 5 hours. The longer you sit, the more the airline owes.
For any schedule change of 15 minutes or more, Avianca notifies you and offers to move you at no charge. You don't have to accept the first option it shows you, which is exactly where a person working alternates for you earns their keep.
When a cancellation or a long delay crosses the Colombian thresholds, or when you're bumped from an oversold flight, you may also be owed 30% of the affected segment's fare on top of the rebooking or refund. See the section below for exactly when.
If the new schedule doesn't work for you, you can decline the alternative and ask for your money back rather than travel. Whether the full fare or only taxes come back depends on your fare and the rules covering the flight, so let us check your ticket before you decide.
These care and compensation rules come from Colombia's civil-aviation regulation for flights departing Colombia. They do not automatically carry over to a flight to or from the United States, which follows US DOT instead. Confirm what applies to your route at avianca.com.
Two rulebooks: which one actually covers your flight
The thing that decides everything, and the part no airline page lays out for you.
Most delay advice online quietly assumes one country's rules. Avianca doesn't get that luxury, because its network straddles two very different systems and your specific route decides which one you're standing under. Get this wrong and you'll either miss compensation you were owed, or expect a hotel that the rules never promised.
Flights departing Colombia and staying outside the US fall under Colombia's civil-aviation authority, the Aerocivil, whose passenger rules (RAC 3, section 3.10) set the care ladder above, the free rebooking, and the 30% compensation. That's a genuinely generous floor: meals, a hotel, and cash-value compensation are written into the regulation, not left to the airline's goodwill.
Flights to or from the United States fall under the US Department of Transportation instead, and DOT works differently. It requires an automatic refund of the ticket price when the airline significantly changes or cancels a flight and you decline the alternative, with thresholds of 3 hours domestic and 6 hours international. But DOT does not require meals, hotels or lost-time compensation, those come only from Avianca's own customer commitments. So a Colombia-departing passenger and a US-departing passenger, same airline, same delay, can be owed completely different things. Tell us your exact route and we'll tell you which rulebook you're under.
DOT refund rules apply to flights to and from the US and are in flux (open "Refund III" rulemaking); Colombia's Aerocivil rules and Avianca's own terms can change too. Confirm current entitlements at avianca.com, the DOT at flightrights.gov, and Colombian rules with the Aerocivil.
The 30% compensation, and exactly when it applies
A Colombian rule with specific triggers. It's a rule, not a figure we quote.
On flights departing Colombia, Colombian aviation rules add compensation of 30% of the affected segment's fare, on top of rebooking or a refund, in three clearly defined situations:
- A cancellation that lands you at your destination 6 or more hours later than planned
- A delay that lands you at your destination 5 or more hours later than planned
- An involuntary denied boarding because the flight was oversold and you were bumped
This is separate from the meals and hotel above, and separate from getting you rebooked. Because the amount is tied to the segment's fare rather than a flat number, we won't quote you a dollar figure, but we can tell you whether your situation qualifies and help you claim it. On a US-touching itinerary this Colombian rule doesn't apply; DOT's denied-boarding compensation rules do instead.
Bumped from an oversold flight?
Denied boarding is its own category, with its own entitlements.
If Avianca oversells a flight and denies you boarding even though you met the check-in deadline and procedures, that's involuntary denied boarding, and it carries more than just a seat on a later flight. On a Colombia-departing flight it triggers the 30% compensation above, plus rebooking or a refund. On a flight to or from the US, DOT's own denied-boarding compensation rules apply. Either way, if you're told the flight is full and you did everything right, say the words "denied boarding" out loud, and call us so both the compensation and the re-accommodation actually happen.
Missed your connection in Bogotá?
Whether you're protected depends on how the trip was ticketed.
If a late inbound makes you miss an onward flight and everything is on one Avianca ticket, Avianca generally protects you and rebooks you on the next available flight. The trap is a self-transfer or two separate tickets: there, the missed connection is treated as your risk, not the airline's, and you can be left buying a new ticket. A Bogotá connection from an international arrival onto a domestic flight also takes real time, you clear immigration and customs, collect and recheck your bag, and pass security again at El Dorado, so a tight layover is where people come undone. Get to an Avianca agent and get us on the line together, and always confirm your connection time on the call before you book.
Before you call, have this ready
Thirty seconds of prep gets you rebooked faster.
- Your reservation code and the flight that's affected
- Where the flight departs and lands, that's what decides Colombia's rules or US DOT
- The reason given, mechanical, weather or crew changes what you're owed
- Your real deadline, a cruise, an onward flight, an event we should rebook around
The schedule-change email is a starting gun, not a summary. Avianca will tell you a flight moved and offer a rebooking, but the option it shows first isn't always the best seat left. Get in the Avianca line and get us on the phone at the same time, two queues, double the chance of the next good seat. Don't pick just one.
Frequently asked
Can I get compensation if my Avianca flight is delayed?+
Does Avianca owe me a hotel if my flight is cancelled?+
What is the 30% compensation on Avianca?+
What happens if Avianca cancels my flight or I miss a connection?+
Contact options
Reach Avianca directly, or let us work the rebooking or refund.
Contact Avianca directly
The airline's own official channels, free.
These are Avianca's own channels; confirm current delay and refund terms at avianca.com.
More Avianca help
Related guides.