Copa Airlines

✅ Trip Verified | I am a frequent traveler, but I have never dealt with an airline as frustrating as this one. At the start of my flight I had to surrender my carry on, and I never saw it again. I filed a lost baggage claim in Manaus, and I did not even receive a copy of the claim. The agent told me to photograph the report, which was hand written. Three passengers on the half filled flight lost luggage, including some expensive fishing equipment. When I arrived in Panama City for my layover the baggage wasn't there, and employees brushed me off for two hours. Since the loss of the bag I have sent two emails to Copa, and I phoned them today. The emails have been unanswered, and the call was futile, I was simply told to send another email for them to ignore. This airline is staffed by incompetent people who are totally unconcerned about their service.

Not Verified |  Flight was 2 1/2 hours delayed, so Copa knew well in advance there were tons of missed connections in Panama City. They didn't have any employee at the gate to help passengers, not even a sign telling passengers where to rebook. They have TWO customer "service" people rebooking a huge line of people. Stood in line for 4 hours after being told on 3 different phone calls that Copa couldn't rebook us over the phone, and we had to stand in line. Waited for 4 hours with no food or water only to be told to go to a hotel for 4 days until we could take the next flight out. What a nightmare and I've never seen such an incompetent airline.

✅ Trip Verified | Never fly with Copa Airlines. Avoid this company. Copa airline took off 2 hours late on our return flight which made us miss our first connection to Santo Domingo then our last flight from Santo Domingo to Guadeloupe. Copa airline refused to put us on another available flight that would have allowed us to catch up with the next flight, the company made us arrive 15 hours late in the end with compensation of 10USD each for food!? The counter staff were completely incompetent and in the end Copa airline left us with no possible correspondence far from home saying that they can't do anything for us anymore that it's because of their system and saying that it's because weather, but weather problems do not clear any company from taking care of its passengers! Ne volez jamais avec copa airline. Evitez cette compagnie. Notre expérience, copa airline a décoller avec 2h de retard sur notre vol retour ce qui nous a fait manquer notre première correspondance vers Saint-Domingue puis notre dernier vol de saint Domingues vers la guadeloupe. Copa air line a refusé de nous mettre sur un autre vol disponible qui nous aurait permis de rattraper le vol suivant, la compagnie nous a fait arriver avec 15h de retard au final avec un dédommagement de 10USD chacun pour manger !? Le personnel de comptoir a été complètement incompétente et au final copa air line nous laissa sans correspondance possible loin de chez nous disant qu'ils ne peuvent plus rien faire pour nous que c'est à cause de leur système et disant que c'est cause de la météo, or les problèmes météo ne dédouane aucune compagnie de prendre en charge ses passagers.

✅ Trip Verified | I will never again fly COPA airlines. When I first went to check in for my flight, they denied me boarding because I had an emotional support animal (dog) even though their policies clearly state that they allow ESAs (https://www.copaair.com/en/web/us/service-animals). I was forced to purchase a last-minute ticket with GOL to Sao Paulo for a sum of $800. I filed a complaint with COPA, but they refuse to acknowledge the problem or issue any sort of refund or compensation. In Sao Paulo they did allow me to board with my ESA. The flight leaving Sao Paulo was 4 hours late (the flight after mine ended up leaving before mine) which caused me to miss my connecting flight. Overall, COPA is unprofessional, difficult to work with, disorganized and does not adhere to their policies.

✅ Trip Verified | I've flown with Copa Airlines on a couple of occasions. The aircrafts have on both occasions been modern and either new or revamped with good air circulation. Value for money trumps many latin American airlines such as Avianca for sure. The main issue to beware is the customer service. My selected window seat was reassigned without my knowledge or consent. I discovered at the gate that I was reassigned a middle seat and my prior seat given away despite holding a ticket for that seat. On the aircraft I was told that I could ask someone to switch seats (obviously I refused to do that!) and then told I had the option of getting off the aircraft! I emailed the customer service department following the flight and they responded with waffle. Terrible service at every juncture. And this for a frequent flyer with platinum status on a partner airline so who knows how much worse they perform for others.

✅ Trip Verified | Completely unprofessional staff in both Punta Cana and Panama airport. Our flight was delayed 4 hours in Punta Cana due to Hurricane Fiona which was totally acceptable. I would not want to fly in bad weather so this decision was well respected and appreciated. The real issue came with the lying staff that works at the airport. I was told in the airport that our connecting flight in Panama to Miami will also be delayed so that we can make it to Miami same day. They proceeded to say that because it is weather related Copa works well with their customers and makes arrangements to delay connecting flights if needed. We were assured that we would get home same day. I traveled with my husband and three minor children, 10 yrs old, 6 yrs old, and 4 months old. We checked in our luggage, including the infants stroller, straight to Miami. Well upon arrival in Panama we were instructed to make huge lines to speak to Copa staff at the counter. Upon seeing this and carrying my baby I walked to the front of the line and spoke to the Supervisor, and asked for assistance since I had a 4 month. Well the supervisor was clearly frustrated and in a bad mood and took that out on me and my family. She told me to look behind at the line and that I needed to make the line. Well I told her that I take priority because of the baby as it had been the entire vacation while traveling. She told me to sit down that she would be with me whenever she could. About 15 minutes went by, me standing there with my 4 month old baby, and she never once looked my way nor did she assist. Finally the other staff member next to her called me over. We then were hit with the surprise that their were no other flights leaving that night and that we would be leaving the next day. At this time I asked for a hotel stay and she responded "Copa doesn't cover hotel stay due to weather delays". At this point I was livid. After paying $1800 for our flights, checking in our bags and stroller to Miami because of incompetent staff, standing at 11pm in the Panama airport with no clothes, no baby food, no diapers, nothing, and being told "we needed to figure it out on our own" is plain disrespectful. I then wrote a complaint to Copa via email and spoke to Customer Service, which did absolutely nothing despite the awful experience and treatment that I received with my family. I will never fly Copa again.

✅ Trip Verified | This is the worst airline ever. Their customer service is terrible. Prior to my departure they “ran out of luggage space onboard the plane” and claim even though I purchased a carryon bag I had to pay a check bag fee so they can throw my carry on under the plane. I ask them if I can place the bag under the seat because it’s small enough to fit. They of course refuse! I was force to pay the fee and throw my bag under. Upon claim my luggage at my destination I discovered my bag was damage! I took pictures and filed a claim with the airline. I even provided them with the recipe showing date of purchase and amount. This was brand new LV bag. The emailed me back a few weeks later stating the would not cover the damaged “due to the fact that the damage presented may be due to inherent use or quality of the baggage.” This was a brand new LV bag, that I purchase a month prior to the trip. I never used it as a checked bag because it’s small enough to fit in the carry on slot. Even though I have pictures, receipt, boarding pass, luggage’s tags and proof of damages they refuse to take responsibility. Their customer service is terrible! Even if they were offering free flights I’d never fly with Copa Airlines again!!

✅ Trip Verified | Leaving from San Jose to Panama City, my flight was delayed. There was much confusion and delay in updating the screens of letting the passengers know, they didn't have any satisfying or complete answers concerning any of us being able to get help in Panama with our missed layover to LAX. The flight crew in the cabin did admirably and only gave other passengers seemingly trivial problems. From Panama City to LAX, we had to wait hours after flying in to Panama before even knowing if we'd have flights or where people would be going before reaching their destination. The ground service was laughable, it was one man trying his best albeit not even close to being able to handle the situation with another service member focused on the next flight for the area & sometimes both of them were preoccupied with making announcements or just repeating details to passengers instead of helping us with our issue of being delayed, take that as you will. Others were upset that they would not even adhere to their policies and just intended to let people out to dry due to delays. They were not taking any responsibility for the situation, would not put people up in hotels anymore or give them shuttles or any similar accommodation because as I was told, this was ceased since Covid and that's part of their new restrictions (Allow people to just congest the airport due to delays while also having all over the airport you can't sit or lay down on carpet due to Covid Safety Guidelines) It was so contradicting and beyond that they charged for wifi past 30m unless you paid to stay in an overpriced lounge for 8 hours that I heard from a lady you couldn't even sleep in and they'd keep waking you up to prevent it. Those last two parts are more on the airport than airline but the entire thing was a grossly obvious shakedown. Copa is just aiding and abetting by stranding passengers there instead of helping them. All that being considered, after waiting for hours, I talked to a man that while he gave me questionable reasons for why they couldn't do much and aren't responsible nor had anything else to do than the bare minimum, I was not worried about these other issues as much, I was quite happy he was able to give me a boarding pass for the following morning for my next 2 connections ( I was going from SJO to Panama City to LAX and had my last layover there before finally one additional flight that was with another airline fortunately! ) and he checked all the other flights at my behest to see if I could find something faster or more reasonable. There wasn't but I appreciated the effort and in the SPECIFIC time frame I was talking to him, the speed of getting me what I needed and answering my questions, though I was prepared. All in all, they acted in a way that the idea of a delay was foreign to them, they didn't have any standard procedures to handle it, they had NO sufficient answers and generally no answers to your questions unless you knew what to ask. Be it about luggage, flights, where to stay or what to do. They gave no thought to our situation besides getting us on the next available flight. In my case I had been up for a very long time and was hellbent on getting to the US so I didn't have much in terms of complaints and found the bare minimum acceptable in my case but I sympathized with all the others that got completely f'd over. (Neve rmind, reviews can't contain profanity in effort to censor opinions) Avoid if you can at all reasonable costs.

✅ Trip Verified | Avoid Copa Airlines at all costs, this company takes advantage of everyone, including Panamanians. I had sent some personal effects by cargo from Canada to Panama because I had finished my studies and could not take them all with me in the flight to Panama. On its arrival, I was asked to make a list of every single thing in the suitcase and list its price (mind you that it was clothes I had worn for years and bed linens, school notes, and other personal effects). These people along with the Customs department blatantly scam people. They claimed the Tact Rate in the Air Waybill was how much I had to pay them, yet it is common knowledge for customs people that this is an arbitrary cost used by freight companies and not the actual shipment costs. For reference, the tact rate was $580, while the amount I had actually paid to send the package was CAD$360. In addition, they insisted on us having to hire a customs broker and on having to pay an arbitrary amount to get it out, basically a bribe, but a bribe you can't get away of. Don't do your business with them, as a Panamanian I'm sorry, but please take your business somewhere else where they don't have the audacity and ignorance to scam you and act like that is the law.

✅ Trip Verified | In short the worst airline I have ever travelled with and I am a frequent traveller with regular interaction with airline of varied background. There was no vegetarian option for food despite this being requested at booking time, check in staff extremely rude and unhelpful onboard staff were just doing what's required but no intention of helping extra. All I can say is avoid.