Panama Tocumen Airport

I agree on some points that Tocumen is well organized clean etc. but if you have a 3+ hour layover you're better off taking a taxi (even share a taxi with someone and pay less) to Panama City and wait there. With only one restaurant (a diner) in Tocumen that tends to be crowded most of the time and Continental’s President's club there is no other quality food unless you consider an American hotdog from a cart vendor a meal. And how many duty-free shops do they need? Every other store is either duty-free perfume liquor clothes TVs. How about newspapers magazines travel accessories bottled water - and more choices of food! I have been traveling to Tocumen for over 5 years and nothing has changes except for more duty- free shops! Well maybe after the expansion of the airport is complete we will see some changes.

I made a connection in Panama so spent just 3 hours there. The airport is very well-organized clean and is plenty of shops. The majority of the flights depart on time and all the connections are organized so that yo don´t have to spend more than 3 hours waiting for the other flight.

I can only echo the comments of others using the airport for transit only. I came from AMS with KLM and found the connection with my COPA flight to MGA to be problem free. The same also on my return leg. Facilities shopping and eating places are excellent. A small airport with only a short walk to any of the piers. Travelling from Europe my only alternative to get to Nicaragua would have been via a US airport with all the legendary hassle. I would certainly not hesitate to use this routing again for trips to Central/South America.

I came from Amsterdam with KLM and found the connection with my COPA flight very easy and fast. It has free wireless internet connection a huge duty free and 3 restaurants (2 fast food restaurant and 1 international restaurant). Since this airport is small you dont have to walk too much. It takes you like 6 minutes to walk all the airport. For me is a pleasure to take connections on this airport.

Visited PTY (Panama Airport) again and I stand corrected. There is a souvenir shop before immigration and a Subway sandwich shop as well as small restaurant. The airport gets a better review from me this time than last!

PTY is quite modern nowadays much better than many Brazilian airports! Immigration is fast and hassle free! There are many duty frees and it's great to make conections there! Only have good things to say about this airport so far.

We just flew out of Tocumen and reiterate the comments. Nice building and plenty of seats - but absolutely no airport amenities as opposed to duty free shops. There is one restaurant no place to buy a newspaper or souvenirs and no snack bar. There are plenty of duty free shops but I doubt someone would buy a $1000 computer at airport. The authorities should take out half of the shops and put in a few more restaurants and souvenir shops. SJO Airport (San Jose Costa Rica) should be the model!

PTY looks nice is relatively clean and plenty of seating. Security checks are cramped jammed as they are under a staircase but that is often the case when new security control areas have been shoehorned into existing facilities. Gate area is bright and spacious with large windows overlooking the tarmac. What is unacceptable though is the sheer lack of amenities: as several commenters have already pointed out there is but one restaurant in the building. That is grossly insufficient. To compound the problem there is no convenience store / newsagent / bookshop in the terminal. Anywhere. If you want to buy a 42" plasma flat screen TV (because that's such a convenient piece of carry-on luggage right?) you'll find a half- dozen retailers.

I would rate PTY quite high in terms of ease of transfer availability of seating and speed of immigration. However the fact that there is only one (poor) cafe/restaurant is an absolute disgrace. Transferring there twice in the past ten days at the peak mid evening period there were long lines for a seat until about 8.30pm. When we did get one the food was miserable and the coffee virtually undrinkable. Meanwhile the duty free and other shops are virtually empty. What a waste of space.

I have been travelling through Tocumen 4-5 times per year for the past 10 years. I am impressed with the improvements made recently. I would like to see a few more restaurants - a juice bar coffee shop perhaps. The one restaurant is soo popular you may miss your flight waiting for your order.