SkyTeam777

I have been extremely disappointed with Copa business class. No predeparture drinks out of the past 6 flights. Very indifferent, rarely smiling flight attendants. Their robotic service is hardly friendly, and they disappear after the meal for the rest of the flight. They must not be trained to walk through the cabin offering drinks.

On longer flights, the meal pattern is poorly designed. For example, 4pm departures to South America only get a cold cut plate after takeoff...the hot meal is served four hours into the flight, when most passengers have already gone to sleep. The entire cabin is awakened for it. I suppose the idea is that they are timing it to people's normal eating times in PTY, but it ignores the fact that people have been traveling all day and want to adjust to the destination time.

Meal portions are small, and the crowded PTY lounge is abysmal with cheese and crackers or granola bars.

Decent for the region, but even United crews provide better service. This has been consistent on the past six flights I have taken with Copa, very disappointed. Only good thing is Mileage Plus miles and using RPUs or free upgrades on flights.

coolcoil

^+1 to all of that (except I don't know anything about deep South America flights).

As much as I like CM for their on time performance, I am turned off by the indifferent service. Though I rarely run into an actively unfriendly crew member, the consistent pattern of a one-time sweep through the cabin for drinks and meals at the same time and then nothing more on a five-hour daylight flight really annoys me. I do occasionally get an outstanding crew member who takes customer service seriously, but it's been a while since that happened. Somehow the COPA Colombia crews manage to serve a meal and get you a second drink if you like on a 50-minute hop between MDE and PTY.

Another thing that bugs me is the typical requirement to put away electronics and sit up straight 25-30 minutes before touchdown.

Sitting in the club is not a whole lot better than in the terminal. I often leave for my gate early because I don't feel like waiting 5 minutes in line for another drink and the internet speed is slower than 3G if the club is crowded.

I used to prefer CM to other carriers. Now, especially given their tendency to be higher priced on my routes, I am flying them less and less. With the move to a separate FF program, I'm not sure that I will be on them much this year at all.

SkyTeam777

Yes! The landing preparations might as well begin after takeoff. It's absurd. Ironically, on all of my flights, the bulkhead passengers have had bags on the floor for takeoff and landing.

Also, the bartenders in the lounge are terrible. There is no order to helping people. You can stand there for 10 minutes while they watch TV or restock granola bars before they offer you a drink; even if you ask for one. And people often walk up from the sides to place an order while a line forms in the middle. The tip jar is offensive given how poor the service is (and the cheap snacks!)

Kacee

CM pricing is insane. I've pretty much stopped flying them.

I like AV so much more, even though they are less reliable.

Pryde987

I've only taken one round trip, but that was enough. Their customer service is not to standard as to what I expect, even from an airline. I find them indifferent and sloppy.

Their in-cabin staff also lied to me and the people next to me about Pamana law requiring passengers to speak Spanish in order to sit exit row. Like, the attendants are in charge and they can move us, sure. But, I feel that the part about Panama law was a lie. The people next to me were livid and kept asking why they were sat in that row by a Copa airlines employee if they were going to be forced to move. They took it too personally and shouldn't have gotten so mad about it, but I can understand their frustration.

Kacee

And yet, there are people in this forum who will deny that Copa regularly moves pax out of the exit rows based on a perceived lack of Spanish language skills.

SkyTeam777

8 flights out of 8. No PDB. I asked once and was told they ding offer them. Crazy hoe inconsistent this airline is. So disappointing.

Pryde987

It happened on both legs, LAX to PTY and PTY to LIM, and on the way back as well. We would've changed seats on our own, but the only other open seats were literally back row, so we figured we'd just roll the dice and see if we would eventually be allowed to keep our seats. The funny part is that the first leg flight attendant gave my girlfriend an impromptu quiz on her Spanish. She answered his first two questions in Spanish, then couldn't get the third and he removed her. He really, really, really wanted her out of that seat.

It wasn't so much the removal, but the lying about Panama law on the first flight. I mean, a complete lack of messaging while booking the ticket or selecting the seats is a separate conversation, but probably even more depressing. I contacted customer service specifically citing the lying as to the reason I was contacting them, and they just gave me some boilerplate response about staff being able to make safety decisions. I asked them to cite the law, and I have yet to receive a response over a month later.

I've tried thinking of the last time I met customer service staff as apathetic, disorganized, lacking empowerment, and displaying poor decision-making skills. I think Copa customer service is honestly equal to Wal-Mart in my few experiences with Copa.

lhrsfo

I recently did EZE-PTY-BOG in Copa in business. The short flight was fine - no PDB of course, but pleasant service and I don't expect much for an hour's flight. EZE-PTY, a 7 hour flight, was another story. I'm used to flying UA and coping with hostile and passive-aggressive FAs, but I've never witnessed anything like the prison warden-trained FA we had. She was hostile, rude and unbearable for the whole miserable 7 hours - allied with her extremely sturdy build, she kept the entire cabin completely under her thumb. The other Business Class FA was a sweetheart by comparison - normal sized and normal looking. Strangely, the prison warden kept the other in the galley, while she took it upon herself to minister to her charges. The only time the normal one got a look-in was when it came time to guard the cockpit. They had their duties completely back to front.

The other disgraceful thing about Copa was the food that was served. I ordered a Gluten Free Meal and was presented with a very small salad, a very small tub of hummus, some pitta bread and a bread roll. On politely pointing out that this was not gluten free, I was firmly told that it was vegetarian and I had ordered a vegetarian meal, and that I was not allowed anything else. I could not have a normal meal as I'd requested vegetarian. On the same PNR, Avianca had no problem providing a gluten free meal and that was what was in my ticket.

So in short, Copa tried to poison me and the prison warden lied straight to my face.

It is difficult to conceive of a worse airline. It's clearly taken all UA's lessons on being customer unfriendly to a whole different level.

I_Can_Fly_US_Airways

Just priced out a ticket from LAX>UIO;

UA $1,470
AA $1,780
AV $1,690
COPA $2,770...R U f'ing kidding!!!

MCOGUY

Wow - after reading this thread my expectations are really low for my upcoming trip from MCO to SCL via PTY. we're flying Biz with a Star Alliance booking. Already had a flight change, the 8:30am out of MCO to PTY no longer operates on Wed so we got pushed back to the noon flight arriving after midnight instead of 8:30pm.

That's strange about the meal service being offered 4 hours into the flight; was hoping to eat and then sleep as we are getting in so late.

FlyerGill

As someone who has never used COPA or their ff scheme before how would I book a reward flight PTY - HAV?

I'm not a member of their rewards scheme but have points that I can transfer.
This flight is showing on expert flyer as having lots of rewards seats available but the United website doesn't recognise HAV as a destination. Trying to book a rewards flight from the Copa website redirects me to United.

If anyone has access could you please let me know what the money cost and how many points are needed for a one way SJO - PTY - HAV in September.
Thanks.

DarrenChannel

For the moment, all Copa earning and awards are done through MileagePlus (and thus, United). Details of Copa's new stand-alone FF program will be announced in March; it's scheduled to go into effect in July.

But, given that your destination is HAV, I believe that you still cannot earn or redeem miles with Mileage Plus, as it's a US frequent flyer program.

FlyerGill

Yes, that makes sense - pretend that Cuba doesn't exist.
Pricing is odd though, its much more expensive to fly PTY - HAV than SJO - PTY - HAV
makes no sense to me.

BuildingMyBento

The safety video is too long, the crew has never been above mediocre and PTY reminds me of being in the US - that's not a good thing.

On the practical side, they're good for *A redemption, and you pretty much know that you'll be on a 737 or an Embraer 190. In other words, no TG-style aircraft roulette.