Panama Tocumen Airport

PTY is the airport to depart and arrive from every time I travel since I'm from Panama. Renovations are showing quite an improvement compared to Tocumen's 2004 airport. PTY airport needs to add more restaurants. Since it's COPA hub it will always be crowded between 8am - 12noon and 5pm - 9pm. If you are PTY is a stop in your trip make sure you plan it between 12 to 5 and/or after 9 in the evening otherwise it will be a very crowded airport. Overall it's a small airport not to compare with European's or North American airports but user friendly and full of places to go shopping. Need a food court urgently!

The airport looks more like a shopping mall than an airport. The design is geared much more toward making money off bored travellers with long layovers (very common at this airport especially with Copa Airlines.) There is some space to walk though.

I had been traveling to Panama since 1999 when I was stationed at Ft Clayton. I noticed a lot of improvement. There are still few areas need attention but it will be fixed. I will recommend few more ATM machines.

I had a four-hour layover going to and coming from Colombia. There is only one restaurant (waitress service) for passengers. It is crowded expensive and has a limited menu. There are two hot dog carts in other parts of the airport which never seemed to be open. However there are many tax-free shops (jewellery perfume electronics candy luggage clothes.) If you don't love to shop forget it. My suggestions to passengers - avoid this layover. Next time I'll pay the extra $100. Pack a lunch.

Travelled through Tocumen for the first time in 2 years and was very impressed with the renovations. There is still a problem at certain times of day with large queues rapidly developing for departing passengers waiting to clear immigration and security and on the inbound also at Immigration. I arrived on one leg at 11am on a Sunday and had a 30 minute wait for Immigration and the queue behind me just kept getting longer. However the airside facilities are a great improvement on several years ago clean and modern and airy and much more spacious and some very good duty free shopping available.

Panama Tocumen airport is nearly finished with its renovation and is so much better looking compared to when I first flew into PTY 4 years ago. I was surprised of how fast they remodeled the airport and when I was there when it was in the middle stage of the remodeling it still was not complicated to go trough. There are many new popular stores there such as Tommy Hilfiger and many more known stores. The only problem with PTY is that the airport is begging to get to get over crowded in the morning hours. They should have made a second security/ immigration check point the line was so long for that the flight was delayed ten more minutes to wait for some passengers that were still in line at security. So if you are flying out try to leave around 12-4pm when there are not too many flights. All in all PTY is a great and easy airport to go trough.

To Dave Klassen's comment. ocumen International Airport is in its final stages of a makeover with an investment of over US$70 million this might generate some discomfort on travelers but soon it will be ready and new systems will be implemented to overcome any inconveniences passenger might have experienced . The US$20.00 exit tax to leave the country shall be included in your ticket. I would suggest you verify with your travel agent or airline to verify if this was double charged. As for weight in bags it is nothing new you will visit a country and depart with extra weight due to shopping wet clothes whatever it is it adds on weight. The airlines charge for the extra weight NOT the airport. Every space available in airports is rented and due to the traffic and volume of passengers retail space becomes expensive and this will increase every single item on airport shops (ex. can of pop) not only in Panama but also Toronto Miami New York etc.

Panama is taking shape bit by bit. It is convenient to fly through. As Andrew mentioned the $20 is already included in your ticket price so you don't need to pay again. Security checkpoints are good though grumpy sometimes. Not a serious matter. Arriving at the late hours at 9:30 and more is a headache as immigration and getting your luggage takes a long time. I've arrived in Panama before at 9:30 a.m. or so and immigration took me 5 minutes to clear! But of course bear in mind that all airlines from US and Europe have their landing slots allocated at that time! It's a zoo at night! Overall Tocumen is not all bad. Just choose the right time of the day to arrive and you'll be fine.

You very rarely need to pay the $20 departure tax anymore as it is included in most tickets now. The only exceptions may be on charter flights. The airport is under renovation and will be very nice once finished some slight inconveniences right not but nothing serious. I am sorry that one of the previous posters sees the need to equate buying a soda in a corner store as against buying one at an airport concession. (Actually sodas in the supermarket are 45 cents!!!) A $1.00 soda at a US airport will probably set you back over $3.00. All in all Panama is one of the better Central American airports and I fly regularly within the region.

This airport is very easy. Upon arrival on American Airlines it took us 20 minutes to go through customs and immigration. Once through immigration our luggage was available and out we went. The rental car companies are all right there in the airport and our experience with Hertz was first rate. They bring the car right up to the curb. Going home there are not a lot of dinning options. There are a few places down by the rental car place and one place once you are through security in the concourse. Prices are what you would expect in the US. There are several shops with liquor perfumes cloths and electronics. Getting through immigration to depart took about 10 minutes and this was at about 5 a.m. They did not charge us the $20 per person exit fee. This might have been dumb luck but we weren’t charged.