In Terminal A at SJO, the old Avianca Sala VIP you’re looking for doesn’t really exist anymore.
The space that carried the Avianca Sala VIP name in Terminal A was renovated and rebranded into the American Express lounge, which also takes Priority Pass. Regulars talking about SJO lounges in 2019 threads point straight to that Amex/PP setup and the BAC Credomatic lounge, not to any standalone Avianca-branded club.
If you’re flying Avianca or another Star Alliance carrier from Terminal A today, expect to be sent to one of the shared lounges instead. Flyers with Amex Platinum, Priority Pass, or bank lounge cards report using the Amex lounge in the old Avianca footprint, then walking 3–5 minutes back to gates in the A concourse when boarding starts.
Historic posts around 2004–2005 describe a “Salón VIP” near the food court in a basement level, with an entry fee around $35 and an under-$20 USD walk-up option mentioned in another report. That setup included basic snacks, computers, and paid cocktails at the bar, but these same reports flag that the Wi‑Fi often didn’t work at all.
Those older fees and rules also show this wasn’t run like a modern branded airline lounge: one FlyerTalk poster in the mid‑2000s notes that no first or business boarding pass got automatic entry. It functioned more like an airport-operated pay-per-use room than a dedicated Avianca elite space.
By 2019, SalsaWorldTraveller calls out that the room once labeled Avianca has been “recently renovated” into the American Express lounge, with Amex Platinum and Priority Pass holders walking straight in. In practice, that means Avianca elites at SJO now follow the same lounge pattern as most other carriers: shared contract lounges in Terminal A instead of a door marked “Avianca Sala VIP.”
What regulars do now: they skip hunting for an Avianca sign and head directly to the Amex/PP lounge or the VIP BAC Credomatic lounge, then watch the screens for boarding about 45–60 minutes before departure. The smart move: confirm at check-in which lounge your Avianca or Star Alliance ticket actually codes to, so you don’t burn time searching for a brand that’s already been painted over.
How to get in
- 01 Main
- 02 airline lounge