Copa Airlines flies to 12 U.S. destinations, now including SFO (Photo: Peter Biaggi/SFO)
Last week, Panama’s Copa Airlines touched down in San Francisco, the carrier’s 12th U.S. destination.
TravelSkills was at the airport to welcome the airline to town, and grabbed a quick interview with Fernando Fondevila Leyton, Copa’s commercial regional manager for North America who was as eager to answer our questions as we were to ask them.
Here are some interesting points we picked up in that conversation.
First a little history. Does that livery look familiar? It’s because at one time, Continental owned 49% of Copa Airlines, and at that time the carrier adopted Continental’s look and its OnePass program as its own. Continental eventually divested itself of its interest in Copa, but the carrier kept the look (which now looks almost like United) and has no plans to change it.
Copa is a member of the Star Alliance and has full reciprocity with the United Mileage Plus program. Also, United Club members get access to all five Copa Clubs.
Until earlier this year, Copa used United’s MileagePlus program as its own, but launched its own program, ConnectMiles last summer. The big deal here is that ConnectMiles will match the your elite status with other airlines– all you have to do is join ConnectMiles and then send them a screenshot of your current elite statement and a copy of your card, and you are in.
And get this, once you get your status matched, Fondevila explained that it’s good all the way through February, 2017. What’s best for members of United’s MileagePlus program is that gold status on a foreign Star Alliance partner carrier means you get access to United Clubs when flying domestically– something you don’t get as a U.S. member.
To get the status match, you must first join Connect Miles, then email the screenshots of your other-airline elite card or statement to accounts@connectmiles.com. If you don’t get an answer, call them at 1-844-287-0304 to inquire about your status.
Copa Airlines big business class recliners onboard 737-800s (Photo: Copa)
Now, let’s talk about Copa’s planes. The first thing you need to know is that Copa does not offer lie flat business class seats on its flights. Instead, you get big roomy recliners with leg rests. That’s fine for the relatively short duration of most flights from the US to Central America. But it’s tougher on the 6-7 hour overnight flights from SFO or LAX to Panama City (PTY). The same goes for connecting flights deep into South America to cities such as Buenos Aires, Montevideo or Rio de Janeiro, many of which are overnight flights where competitors like United, American, Delta and LAN offer lie flat seats.
Plus, there is no premium economy class product and seat pitch is the standard 31 inches. However, there’s some good news for those flying in economy class– Copa does not charge economy class passenger for the first two checked bags. It also offers complimentary hot meals, full bar and individual in-seat in-flight entertainment on all flights. Here’s what SeatGuru says about Copa’s 737-800.
Copa Airlines economy class on a 737-800 (Image: Copa)
Copa has one Latin America’s youngest fleets– most of its 737-800s are less than four years old and have the popular “Sky” interiors with oversized luggage bins and mood lighting. There are 16 business class seats and 138 economy seats on each plane.
Fondevila says that Copa has one of the best on-time performance records in the industry, most recently at about 91% ontime.
Some other tidbits about Copa that we picked up in our chat with Fondevila:
>Copa is short for Compania Panamena de Aviacion.
>Copa is a Star Alliance partner, but it does not yet have a code share agreement with United on the SFO-Panama City (PTY) route. Fondevila said that they two airlines are working on that, though.
>Copa flies to 55 cities in Latin America, including eight in Brazil and nine in Colombia using Boeing 737 and Embraer 190 aircraft.
>Why fly to Panama City on business? Well, for one thing, the expansion of the Panama Canal is due to open in spring 2016. Also Panama City is home to the largest container port in Latin America, so shipping is big business
Panama City’s Tocumen International Airport (Photo: Joao Carlos Medau / Flickr)
>Copa’s Panama City hub at Tocumen International Airport, which it calls the “Hub of the Americas,” is a key connection point– Fondevila said that 60%-70% of its traffic is connecting, and only 30%-40% is local traffic. Transit passengers do not pass through immigration and customs at PTY, which makes connecting at the small airport fast and easy.
>PTY has a new airport terminal under construction which should open in 2018.
>The 10,000 square foot Copa Club at PTY (and elsewhere in the region) is open to United Club members as well as nonmembers with Premier Gold status.
>Copa’s San Francisco-Panama City flight is a red-eye, departing SFO at 11:19 pm and arriving in Panama City (PTY) the next day at 8:32 am- good timing for business trips. The early arrival also connects to a big bank of Copa flights headed elsewhere in the region. Returning from Panama City the flight departs in the morning at 9:41 am arriving SFO at 2:54 pm.
>Right now, fares are great, considering the distance of this flight. You can fly round trip SFO-PTY for as low as $400 in economy class or about $1,200 in business class, depending on the season.
>Copa has been flying LAX-PTY since 2000 and now offers 3-4 daily roundtrips.
NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about: SFO could get world’s longest flight + PreCheck: Fewer free rides + Plight of the tall traveler + Photos: New United first class seat + 6 secrets for snagging low fares
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Interesting article Chris. Thanks for explaining the origin of the name. I actually wondered this myself when I flew with them recently. Putting to work my recently-acquired and still very limited Spanish skills – I also wondered how much the marketing boffins were paid to come up with “Cup Airline”. Unfortunately there was no onboard wifi to satisfy my curiosity (boo!).
On the positive side, we flew one of their newer aircraft with in-seat entertainment.
It’s the 2nd time we’ve flown Copa (but fourth flight in total: SJO – PTY & PTY – MIA; CTG – PTY & PTY – JFK). Flights have always been good – much better than our alternative Spirit (after you add up bags). We took some photos and wrote about our experience here: http://coupletraveltheworld.com/review-of-copa-airlines-flight-808-cartagena-to-new-york/
The biggest downside is Panama Airport itself. We had a layover for 5 hours and there was very little to do. No free wifi. We paid $8 for a cup of coffee because that shop had wifi we could use.
Thanks, Lee! Good to hear from someone who’s taken the flight. I’m planning on flying SFO-Bogota later this year.
I just came back from GRU-JFK via Panama City with Copa in business class. It wasn’t the best trip I’ve ever taken (Delta was far more comfortable) but it was fine for two 5-6 hour flights. Very similar amenities to what I would expect on a domestic business class flight minus the wifi. There were USB chargers at the seats, and the seats were roomy. For an overnight flight, I would recommend Copa if you can sleep on a plane, and your trip isn’t 6+ hours.
Let us know how it goes… have not yet flown Copa! (But want to …)
Ok, well, I’m giving Copa a shot this coming August for a trip from San Francisco via Panana City to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. I want to get to NZ eventually, and Copa allows me to earn Air NZ Airpoints, since their both Star Alliance carriers. I can also earn non-alliance Alaska Airlines Mileage Plus (I fly them pretty frequently) miles if I choose to on Copa also. Anyway, a friend of mine recently came back from a trip to the Domincan Republic, and she flew Copa, and said they were pretty good. So, I’ll give it a shot.
Copa is almost the same but they fly 737s. No outlets in coach, but you will love the service and the food is good. Also the seat is comfortable, it’s not that great compared to business class but it’s the best coach seat flying.
I will say this for Copa, it’s a great coach airline. They treat people better, the seats have more room and frankly it’s a model that the other airlines should do. They give you great food and the service is the best.
Only problem is redeeming miles on United, since they switched to their own system, it’s hard to turn those miles into United miles.
But I would much rather fly coach on Copa and not get miles than fly United’s crappy flights and get miles.
Looking forward to trying Copa on my next flight south. I’ve previously flown Avianca, but they use a too-small A320 on the route with only overhead video screens, no Wi-fi and no outlets (though they fly a much more appropriate aircraft between San Salvador and San Jose, Costa Rica). Also, the San Salvador airport is very unpleasant.