Copa Airlines

✅ Trip Verified | Bogota to Orlando via Panama City. Inefficient, I checked my bag, which should have had priority labeled and it did not arrive in Orlando. I had to wait in Customs for more than 20 minutes for COPA Airlines personnel, there were supposed to be 3 agents taking care of 2 flights, but they appeared 20 minutes later, after wasting my time looking for my bag, then I had to go to another place in the airport where there was supposed to be a baggage agent to do report, to my surprise agent was not in her place and I had to go out looking for her. In addition of been inconvenience with luggage that did not arrive I had to wait for COPA staff to come to their places.

✅ Trip Verified | I took a flight from Managua to Panama with Copa Airlines (CM) on 21/02/18 returning on 23/02/18. On the return i arrived at the airport nearly 3 hours before scheduled take off, but had to queue for 2 hours to get to the check in desk. At the desk the Copa operative told me i couldn't fly to Managua because i didn't have a yellow fever inoculation card. I wasn't warned about this when i booked the ticket on the website, and i wasn't warned about this when i checked in at Managua 2 days earlier. The first time that Copa decides to tell me i need a yellow fever inoculation card is when my flight is due to take off in 1 hour's time. The operative told me that it's my responsibility to ensure that i have the necessary documentation to travel. Later the same day i had a flight scheduled from Managua at 1.30pm to Houston USA and then a connecting flight to London UK. After much arguing i was issued a boarding pass as I “could be” in transit at Managua. In September the same year I had to make another journey to Panama, Tuesday 04/09/18 to Thursday 06/09/18. Aware that I needed a yellow fever inoculation card, I asked the CM check in staff at Managua Airport if this was still necessary for us to return to Managua in two days time. They said yes although for my wife, who is currently breast feeding, she is exempt from this. In Panama I paid 100 USD for a yellow fever inoculation. The following day I return to Panama airport to catch my plane to Managua and I’m told I can’t have a boarding pass because my yellow fever card isn’t 10 days old yet!! Again, no mention of this when I checked in at Managua Airport even when I specifically asked about the need for a yellow fever card. My wife and daughter flew to Managua without me and I spent a further 2 days in Panama before acquiring a letter from a doctor about my allergy to eggs thus making me exempt from the yellow fever card requirement. After returning to Managua I wrote a letter of complaint to CM demanding compensation as I believe CM are plainly negligent in this case. The reasonable person would say that the information that CMs employees used to deny me a boarding pass at Panama should have been provided to me by their employees at Managua two days earlier to prevent me from my financial loss. Especially given that I asked their employees at Managua if I would need a yellow fever inoculation card to return two days later. CM eventually acknowledged they are at fault. My claim was for 2 additional nights in a hotel and a partial loss of earnings on one day making a total of 394 USD. I believe my claim was entirely reasonable given the circumstances. However, CMs offer of compensation was for a travel certificate valid for 12 months worth 204USD. Given that I don’t intend to fly with CM any time soon this offer of compensation is virtually worthless. If you are considering flying with Copa Airlines then please read clause 9.1.2.1.1 and 9.1.2.1.2 from the contract of carriage, because it basically says that even if their employees misinform you about your travel requirements it’s your own responsibility anyway. In a recent email to me from Copa Airlines it starts:- “Thank you for choosing Copa Airlines Your opinion is very important to us and helps us provide you with world class services.” I think more appropriate and honest would be:- “Thank you for choosing Copa Airlines Your opinion is of no importance to us and we really couldn’t care less about you.”

Not Verified | Montevideo to La Habana via Panama. The service was very good, the crew was very kind and the plane was clean. the food service could be improved but is not bad. In general all the flights that I flew with Copa Airlines was good.

✅ Trip Verified | Washington to Cali via Bogota. I was looking for a ticket so my son who is 14 years old. Copa classify the adults category as 12 years or more, so minors older than 12 years can fly by themselves. My son is 14 years old, so their system allowed me to purchase a ticket for him. The flight from Raleigh to DC (one of the connexions) was Copa operated by United airlines, but Copa Airlines in any step of the transaction mentioned any restrictions and they actually just allowed me to buy the ticket knowing it was for a 14 year old boy. After 3 days I received a call from United saying that my son was not going to be allowed to fly by himself if he was not 15 years old or older according to their policies, and that they didn't understand why Copa Airlines allowed me to get this ticket knowing his age and their policies. so they suggested I called Copa Airlines, ask them to cancel the United flight and give me another option for Caleb to go to DC for the connection to Colombia. So I called Copa airlines asking for help on this matter, and I spoke with 3 different representatives plus what they call a "supervisor" and heir response was: "you should have read the "migratory requirements" that says that minors of more than 12 years old can flight ONLY in flights operated by Copa, so to cancel the flight with United that you purchased trough our website, you are not only NOT going to receive the refund but you are actually going to have to PAY 360 dollars for the penalties that will be caused by the changes you want to make"" I was like wow! not only I'm going to have to drive my son to VA, not get a refund for a ticket he is not going to use because Copa Airlines wasn't clear or said anything about this restrictions, but I'm going to have to pay them for the changes? wow! this is serious!! so I read the migratory requirements, because how dare I didn't read the little letters right? Nothing. there was nothing on those requirements that even mention anything about a minor. Then they told me.. oh, what you didn't read were the "terms and conditions". So I went and read the Terms and conditions, every single little letter in there and... nothing. So they replied: Oh no! is not the terms and conditions is the "Transportation contract" what you didn't read, so I went to find the little link, and saw a 60 pages contract, and on 1 of the clauses, on page 15, they mention this weird clause that if any of you read you will not even understand that what they are saying is that minors older than 12 years old can only flight in airplanes operated by Copa. Seriously? Copa Airlines? you guys are telling me that because I didn't read a 60 pages contract, and a clause that nobody can even understand I'm going to have to pay penalties for a ticket I bought from you guys? when YOUR system allowed me to buy this ticket, when you don't even mention in any step that if the flight wasn't operated by Copa, minors cannot fly without an adult? What really worries me, is how they treat people, and how it seems like they just train people to act like robots that are only repeating a script over and over again instead of really helping the person. They treat people like they are dumb, like "How could you not read a 60 pages contract" right? and they give you the same answer over and over again, and there's no way you can talk with a manager or someone who can actually look at the case and be flexible and care about their clients not a stupid protocol.

c✅ Trip Verified | Washington to Panama City. We made 3 different phone calls and spoke to 3 different staff members to get clarification on their unaccompanied minor policies and the staff seemed very unfamiliar and we got the impression their main concern was to force us to change our $300 tickets for new $2000 tickets. They gave us a hard time regarding the departure flight and when that didn't work they gave us a hard time regarding the return flight. The two points of contention come from their own website: https://www.copaair.com/en/web/us/minors-travelling-alone "The payment of the unaccompanied minor service can be made 48 hours before the departure of the flight through our Sales Offices and Reservation Center." According to COPA, the above means we must call 48 hours before and submit the request for unaccompanied minor. We called 24 hrs in advance. The issue here is that the kids are flying in a direct flight. They do not have a companion service. We are dropping them off at the gate and they are being picked up at the gate in their destination, calling 24 hours in advance to provide names, phone numbers, etc. has always been sufficient in the past but now they said we missed our window, we were supposed to call 48 hrs in advance and we need to change our ticket. We called again and the two other staff members did not interpret the rule like that, and said 24 hrs was fine. "For connecting flights, unaccompanied minor service is not offered if the minor's itinerary includes a flight that is the last flight of the day at the connection point, unless the flight is the only flight of the day." According to COPA if you are flying direct from Panama to Dulles, this rule applies. We pointed out that this is not a connecting flight, it is a direct flight and the rule should not apply. One of the staff members we spoke to agreed with us, the other 2 said the website was wrong. The point here is that if there is no connecting flight, there is no concern of missing a flight and the kids being stranded in a connecting city. For staff members not to know the difference between a connecting and a direct flight is appalling.

Not Verified | Panama City to Los Angeles. I checked in using the mobile boarding pass. When I arrived at Tocumen they told me that their mobile system doesn't work very well and that they will print me the paper boarding pass. I was told the flight was delayed almost 7 hours but not given any reason. I spent the next 7 hours waiting in the airport which has only one filthy restaurant with terrible food on the outside of security. After being unable to eat and told once I go through security I cannot come out I went through security to find an in a massively overcrowded terminal with no air conditioning and people covered with sweat sitting all over floors waiting 7 hours with nowhere to set with no air conditioning was awful. There were long lines even for the filthy toilets. There was never an explanation or apology from Copa staff. The captain never said a word or even addressed the issue about why the plane was 7 hours late. Many passengers were connecting from other parts of Latin America and the Caribbean to the United States and they were very frustrated having to wait an extra 7 hours for their connection to the US.

✅ Trip Verified | Guayaquil to Panama City. Overall not a bad flight however for a nearly 2 hour international flight, one would expect a meal instead of a small chicken and cheese pastry. Also they apparently had only one bottle of wine aboard for an entire almost full economy section! I realise that Latin America is not a wine culture but one bottle? On the plus side we took off and arrived on time which is a rarity these days.

✅ Trip Verified | Cancun to Sao Paulo via Panama City. I was pleasantly surprised. CUN-PTY is a short flight and lucky too. The plane was old, with no IFE, no power sockets, and little service. However the plane was punctual and the FAs attentive. I was really not looking forward to the 7 hour PTY - GRU leg on a 737. However this was a much newer plane, with a recently refurbished cabin. Again the FAs were attentive, the IFE was fine and the seats were comfortable reclining to around 150°. Not your flat bed but comfortable enough. The food was reasonable and the flight arrived early.

✅ Trip Verified | Toronto to Cuzco via Panama / Lima. Copa airlines rebooked our tickets when their partner airline we were flying with was late (we were in the check in line more than an hour before our boarding time with our 2 hour layover - our priority marked luggage also came later than anyone else on our flight). They made us wait in an airport for 24 hours without any vouchers or support and did not tell us they were giving us standby tickets the next day. So we did not have a guaranteed way to get home though we were not informed of this and ended up spending a ton of money for the 24 hours stuck in an airport which could have gone toward us rebooking our flights with another airline. When we got to the next layover, we had standby tickets again (even though we booked this flight months in advance & had assigned seats), and one of us was not allowed on the plane and had to fly with a different airline. During this flight they did not give me a meal as I had booked a vegetarian meal months ahead of time and they didn't pass the information forward when they rebooked our tickets (even though I requested it again at the check in). The entire time they put us through this the COPA representatives did not clearly communicate what was happening and they treated us like it was our fault and we were an inconvenience. They also have not been supportive at all in reimbursing us for our costs or our missed services (ie. Food) and have continued to communicate poorly and treat us with disrespect. I will recommend people against flying with this airline.

✅ Trip Verified | San Francisco to Montevideo return via Panama. Seat belt signs were left lit for the entirety of all 4 flights even though the rides were smooth. Announcements over the speakers are often unintelligible in English (they’re fine in Spanish, and Flight Attendants can communicate in English in a face-to-face conversation). I was unable to use the web check-in for the return flight at MVD (a Chat agent told me this happens at random), so I had to endure a slow check-in process at the counter; 40 minutes is a long time to wait when you are 15th in line and there are 6 agents behind the counter but only 2 of them are processing passengers. It gets cold in flight, and on some flights you get blankets, on others you get pillows, on others you get both, and sometimes you get neither (so: be prepared and bring your own). The aisle seats (C and D) have much smaller foot space than the other seats. For the PTY - SFO flight, there is a security check at the gate, and you cannot bring your bottled water on board (I like to sip water during the ascent and descent). Now, the good parts. The price was very competitive for a same-day flight I had to get for a family emergency. Check-in and boarding were very smooth at SFO and PTY. The Boeing 737-800 planes were modern, clean, with large overhead bins, and seat-back screens with a decent amount of movies and games. All flights departed and landed on time, and my suitcases arrived at the destination in good shape. The FAs were excellent, always readily available (the few times a call button was pushed, I observed that an FA responded within 1 minute --no kidding!). Seat comfort and meal size were OK for economy (meals were better quality than Avianca’s, which I also flew recently). For my return flights, I decided to pay the extra $50 per segment, to move to an emergency exit row, and it was worth it for each ~7-hour flight. Note, though, that there are 2 over-wing exit rows, and the forward one (row 17 on my plane) has seats that don’t recline, while the rear one (row 18) DOES recline and thus you get the benefit of great leg room and you can recline normally. I’d like to reiterate: the FA's seemed eager to provide professional service, and they are the most memorable face of the airline, so in recognition of their efforts I would recommend Copa to my family and friends.