AA767Lover

I see on my itinerary from GUA-SJO-LIM that it is food for purchase. It is incredible!!! Oh well!! We pay that much and we still have to pay for food?!!!!
How can this monstrosity be?
Oh well . . .
But aside from this, can anyone share their experiences on TACA. How is the seat pitch? How is the comfort of the seats? It's a long flight from Guate to Lima via SJO. Kinda like flying Vancouver-Calgary to get to Toronto. That's actually quite long! I'm going the day before my 30th birthday too!.

Rojo

Flew TA EZE-LIM in J and did not have to pay for my food. Seats are comfortable and service is good. I like TA, they have a good product and their fares are most of the time lower than its main compatitors on some routes.

ricktoronto

The service in J is pretty utilitarian vs. other airlines. I flew SAL-YYZ on the "no liquids weekend" vs. connecting in MIA on American and while the plane was nice and the seats big the food was terrible and the service , i.e. one drink, was stingy to say the least.

By comparison, on my 45 minute COPA flight to SAL from MGA they managed a complete drinks service in J and a bowl of nuts which is some doing in under an hour.

American even on the barely 2 hour MIA-MGA route has complete, better meal and drinks service. The SAL-YYZ flight is 5 hours and they can do a lot better. The all plastic service items for example and the you cannot have an other rum drink if you are having wine nonsense. Paid J travellers are not 12 years old.

The price was not that much lower than competing airlines, however I did enjoy the SAL connection which didn't involve customs or security and the free lounge which was empty.

Justanother1k

COPA by far has the better J class, but TACA service and seats are fine. I was a little put off by everything being plastic on a recent Costa Rica-MEX flight, but my plastic cup was kept filled with wine and the food on the plastic plate was not bad...and they didn't charge for it.

AA767Lover

Thanks guys for your responses!
I've flown COPA J quite a few times and I really love it, no doubt.
But since i will not fly through the US that much for convenience, I will change over to TACA for a bit until COPA REAAAALYYYYY decides to do something about their Panama-Toronto proposed service. (Proposed it for December 2005, April 2006 and now it's almost October 2006).

I love COPA, and always will. This time I decided to change the scenery a bit.
I changed my route and even got a $60 coupon to make it worth it.

GUA-SJO-UIO-LIM on the outbound and LIM-GYE-SJO-GUA on the return. For me, if i end up paying for Business and only get a couple segments, it's really not worth it. I rather fly a whole bunch of segments. A teeeeny bit disappointed I don't get to try the 321's into Lima, but that's ok, as i got a good mix of 319 and 320.

Thanks all you guys again!
Yeah, hope the food is "Ok". I'll buy my liquids and consume it all before boarding since they don't give that many drinks. That's a lot of Coke/Pepsi/Bottled water/Bailey's in 4.5 hour connection in Quito.

Hey, anybody ever been to the VIP salon in Quito? (LIMA is nice and it has napping area too, verry impressed.).

AA767Lover

ROJO, I have to agree that their prices are good. And thanks for adding some perspective. We ask for too much sometimes. Maybe it's that they are able to offer a good product (though never superior to CM) and low fares because they don't have to offer so many extra perks. Flying business on TACA ain't all so bad!

fares . . funny
I paid $1281 incl. taxes for GUA-SJO-UIO-LIM-GYE-SJO-GUA, whereas LIM-BOG RT was already $1380 all-in. What's the deal with BOG?! It's 2 segments, and it's so close to LIM. Even AVIANCA doesn't charge that high. Maybe because AV controls that market.

SFOflyer

I've flown SFO-SJC in business class probably ten times on TACA. The planes are clean and ontime. Other than that it is not comparable to other airlines business class. I would say the service is comparable to a domestic flight on United from SFO-ORD in an old first class seat.

One time they even forgot the salad course. The main courses can be horrible and the service rushed. The pitch is just like a domestic first class seat on a 737. I am not impressed and don't use them anymore unless the schedule is superior. I wouldn't get excited.

AA767Lover

SFO-SJO is longer than SFO-SJC! hahahah but I know what you're talking about because I've lived in SJO for 7 months.

Thanks for the heads up on that . . . ^
I will stick to McDonald's Might be more edible than airplane food. And it's not just TACA either . . it depends who is the caterer for that flight.

TACA maybe orders yucky food - maybe a set of tires is more appetizing, don't you think? I would imagine that there are several catering companies contracted to provide the food. If someone has a grudge against the airline, it could be that they will deliberately make bad food. Can TACA change its caterer?

AA767Lover

You know the strangest thing I found is that . . .I don't fly Business very much internationally.
I've flown Business on the following routes either by reward or revenue

AIR CANADA (mainly reward)
Calgary-Toronto-Montreal-Halifax-St.John's (767 and 320 and BAe 146 on Air Nova) - this was back in 1993 and AC's domestic J product was superior! it was great stuff. Leather seats are nice, and cool in the summer time, can be sticky!

CONTINENTAL/COPA (mainly revenue - auto-upgrades)
Toronto-Houston, Houston-Panama, Los Angeles-Houston, Guate-Panama-Lima, Lima-Sao Paulo (one way upgrade on reward), Guate-Houston-Newark-Toronto (all auto-upgrade);
Amazing inflight service until i met . . .


UNITED (special discounted business)
JFK-LAX p.s. service - Speechless and breathless.

LAX-GUA - i slept very comfortably on the normal config. 757 . . surprising! but service was not that great, but i should not be too harsh given that it was a red-eye flight. The seat pitch is incredibly bad, however.

OH, I FORGOT TO ASK YOU - WHAT'S THE SEAT PITCH FOR TACA IN C class?

bugger_not_plz

I see many of you flew TACA in business. Did you purchase a J fare? Or were you able to upgrade at the airport? I am booked in Y on TACA from ORD-GUA and return in Dec. Any advice on how to land a seat up front would be appreciated!

Jaimito Cartero

I flew Taca DFW-SAL in J last week, and was satisfied, but not impressed. I got in on one of the specials, and only paid $219 RT from Phx. I know I wouldn't pay $1000 for it. The food was just sandwiches, and a big chocolate chip cookie.

AA767Lover

Jaimito,
The sandwiches weren't too bad. I too was satisfied. The seats were more comfortable and I found that inflight service was not bad at all. I was waiting for the big chocolate chip cookie, but never got one! Anyways, having said that, I would try to go on TACA Ejecutiva again if they offer another 50% off, special.
No, it's certainly not worth paying $1000 for it, but originating from Central America, you really don't have ANY SAY in price structure and random pricing.

sierranevada

I am wondering if TACA business class seats have empower? I could not find the info on their website.

Thanks.

AA767Lover

Nah, don't expect too much amenity like that. But one thing is for sure is that i found it more comfortable than a leather seat .. . I slept better on the flight . . .

Donk93953

I have flown 100's of thousands of miles with TACA over the years. Living on the Caribean coast of Mexico & working in Central America...well, TACA often ends up your carrier to remote places.
In air service...ah, well, ah.....next subject. Planes are new and clean...but service is spotty at best and I fly business when available. The only advantage of business is bigger seats and more leg room...service perks...nope..oh wait free drinks! If they remember to serve you. The staff generally seems to have a good time while the passengers ...well you are JUST passengers on their airline.
Mileage program is a joke....Often never receiving credit for flights...even after booking with FF number, giving it at the counter to receive my tickets, and even doing follow up letters to the customer service center requesting credit. If you want to use your miles with one of their partners...laughable..."Sir you must go to one of our hub locations to redeem your miles.""Cant I do it with you on the phone or online?""No..."
My nearest hub city is Mexico City. Lets see... 3 hr flight to get there, 1 1/2rs drive time times 2...hotel, meals...oh yeah, its worth the trip!
Emails and letters, phone messages never returned....
If you can avoid them, do...TACA=Take Another Carrier ALways