Copa Airlines

Copa is not my first choice of carriers for flights to Central and South America for several good reasons. Ground personnel are most often rude indifferent and intolerant of individual needs. Many choose not to understand passengers who need assistance in English. I do speak Spanish which is a good thing when checking in because the agents will invariably try to charge you extra baggage fees for oversized or overweight baggage and seldom back down. The airline has a horrible record for on time departures. Onboard don't expect much in the way of amenities the cabin is more akin to a domestic first class cabin. Seats on the 738 fleet are all leather with a comfortable seat pitch and a comfortably wide width. However they are old recliner type seats with only a slight recline - but even that feature is commonly in a state of disrepair. AV equipment on board is very old with some aircraft's still featuring the overhead small TV screens every few rows. Audio choices are very limited when they function. The upside are the inflight crews who are friendly professional and very apologetic about the state of the cabin equipment. Food and drinks are reliably good and the flight deck crews are just as good as the inflight crews. Business class fares are usually a fraction of what the other carriers charge so book it only for the added bonus of extra seat space and check your high expectations at the counter along with your bags - which may or may not arrive with you at your final destination.

Few days ago I traveled Copa from BOG to PTY and SCL. I was told to depart on time on this airline is like winning a lottery ticket and indeed we were almost an hour delayed in BOG. The flight from PTY to SCL was delayed but by a few minutes. The crew are excellent they gave all they have to serve their passengers (maybe because I was flying in Business Class). In flight entertainment is awful. Overall I will give it 6/10.

MAO-PTY-SAL-PTY-ADZ-CTG-CLO-BOG January flying Embraer 190 Ejets. I notice that Copa is now a sort of low cost carrier charging legacy carrier prices! Front desk staff rude at best not welcoming customers chatting with each other having you to wait until they feel like calling you. The onboard service is now almost non-existent even on long flights you will get at most a tiny cold snack with a glass of beverage! The crew struggle to deal with non Spanish Portuguese speakers the seats are comfy though. I will start to look for alternatives.

Dulles Airport to Panama City then Panama City to Quito Ecuador. On the flight from Dulles Airport no flight attendants came out for the first 2 hours to offer drinks. I got up to use the bathroom and noticed 2 flight attendants wrapped in grey blankets sitting at the back of the airplane. No volume on the TV so we could only watch the movie no volume no explanation no apology. The pilot never introduced himself or his flight crew and never gave any updates on the weather. On the leg from Panama City to Ecuador the flight crew was fine. Return flight from Panama City to Dulles was a different experience. The service was above and beyond excellent. The plane was clean the movie was audible and the flight crew was terrific. I would fly COPA again.

SJU-PTY-RIO 12-20-2012. We have grown to expect the barely adequate Business seating as a price for the geographically convenient Panama City connection. On the flight to Rio my seat did not recline and our luggage did not arrive. It is worthy of note that our flight attendant acknowledged that the seat mechanism tended to failed frequently and promised to write up the difficulties but noted the airline tended to ignore them. At the end of the day COPA does not offer anything near a quality Business experience. If you have to fly them fly Economy.

SCL-PTY in J Class on a 737. Check-in at SCL was slow due to having to argue about having overweight bag fees waived for a medical device - this was sorted without too much trouble. One issue at SCL both with Copa and in general is the difficulty in finding English-speaking employees and the resulting miscommunications likely contributed to the problem. Boarding was quick aircraft clean and our drink and meal orders were promptly taken. Flight departed SCL and arrived PTY 10 minutes early. Service efficient and friendly. Breakfast offered before arrival at PTY wasn't great. The seating for an international business class product is somewhat lacking more like US domestic first class seat pitch and width was good and certainly better than coach. Simply not what you expect in business class on a 6 hr 40 mins flight. Ground service in PTY is where Copa shined on this trip. One member of our party has trouble walking long distances and I was concerned at the walk between our arriving gate and our onward gate for a UA flight to IAH. An employee at the Copa lounge went out of her way to make things as easy as possible for him promptly dispatching a wheelchair to our arrival gate taking him to a competitor airline's lounge because the elevator at Copa's lounge was broken and then getting him to our onward gate in time for our flight. Overall good value for the price paid.

CM 278/279 (EZE-PTY-EZE). Sep 30th - Oct 12th. 7.5 hrs flight. Seating in Economy in emergency rows (rows 18 on 738). New 737-800 Sky interiors with individual TV screen also in Economy. Plane full as always and on time as always on both legs. Emergency seats definitely have more space for a 6 ft 1 passenger like me. Decent and heated economy class food and wide availability of beverages. Nice smiley flight crew. Plane clean and new. Full lunch plus sandwich prior landing. Overall a good experience.

I traveled from Chicago to Recife-Brazil on Copa Airlines on 12-17-2012. They state on their website that passengers in economy class originating in the US can take two extra checked-in suitcases under 32 Kg for $175 each. She had one extra suitcase and Copa Airlines refused to check it in because there were not allowing this for the month of December. They never updated the on-line information about luggage limitations for the month of December.

We flew Mexico to Panama as a connection to San Juan. Check in was fast. The food was surprisingly good. The staff is very friendly. I highly recommend Copa Airlines.

Flew Mexico - Panama and back in Economy Class. Travelled with an infant and requested a front row seat. Request was denied. Online check-in was not permitted for passengers travelling with infants. At Airport check-in staff were slow and after several minutes they suggested my wife and I sit on different seats. When I strongly protested with the suggestion they reassigned us so we were seated together. In flight service was poor and comparable to budget airline standards. Food was cold and not fit for consumption the only thing was the metal cutlery which is rare these days. Flight attendants were cold and not open to requests. On the return flight I called Copa Panama to request a front row seat I was told it was assigned when I got to the airport I was told there was no request made and no seat assigned. Inflight entertainment on the way into Panama was not functioning. Overall a bad experience.