Stephen and Viv Redding have been to about 60 countries and a dozen airport lounges since appearing on BBC’s Race Across the World in 2024.
They say the Avianca lounge in San Jose was comfortably the worst of the lot.
The couple paid nearly £50 to access the lounge after discovering their business class tickets did not qualify for entry.
They had more than two hours to kill before a long-haul flight to Bogotá, the final leg before returning to London Heathrow after six weeks in South America.
They expected somewhere to rest. They got cold spaghetti bolognese and a single glass of wine each.
‘The pasta was cold, the sauce was not very nice’
Stephen, 64, from Uppingham in Rutland, laid out the problems methodically.
“There was only one meal available, tasteless and watery spaghetti bolognese,” he told CreatorZine.
“The pasta was cold, the sauce was not very nice. There was a little side bread thing that was dried and tasteless.”
Drinks were rationed by token. One glass of wine per person. The furniture did not help.
“The seats weren’t comfy, the tables were shabby,” Stephen said.
“It was not what we’d experienced from any other airport lounge that we’ve been to.”
His wife Viv, 68, shared his assessment. After six weeks of travel, the couple had been hoping for a quiet place to decompress before the flight home. The lounge did not deliver.
Complaint rejected
The Reddings raised the issue with lounge staff at the time and say they received little response.
After returning to the UK, they contacted Avianca directly to request a refund. The airline rejected the claim.
“They basically said that’s just the way it is,” Stephen said.
He was careful to separate the lounge from the airline. “I must also say that the flight with Avianca was absolutely spot on. I have no complaints at all.”
Why it matters
Airport lounge content performs well because nearly everyone who has ever flown has an opinion about the gap between expectation and reality.
The Reddings’ complaint is specific, detailed and comes with the credibility of a couple who have genuinely been to enough lounges to make a comparison.
For travel creators, that kind of authority matters. A bad lounge review from someone who has visited a dozen carries more weight than one from a first-time visitor.
Avianca’s refusal to refund adds a second layer to the story: it is not just about cold pasta, it is about what happens when a paying customer pushes back and gets nowhere.
The Reddings will not be the last people to pay £50 for a disappointing room with a single drink token.
They might be the ones who make others think twice before doing so.
