I have been flying Copa for years, but I just last week learned something that I had never discovered. Try switching to the Panama site if the fare you want is too high.

I was trying to book a flight on the Colombia site, but it was over $1100. Bought it from UA for $440ish. Later learned that it was about the same on Copa's Panama site. That will be important going forward from 7/1/15.

No indication on whether tickets purchased on copaair.com carry more weight for status launch than tickets purchased elsewhere. Hoping not. My only two RTs this year prior to July 1 have been purchased from UA for the reason noted above.

Also unsure about how much history will be reviewed to determine status at launch. They had originally stated that flights in the first half of 2015 would be used as the measure, but today's announcement doesn't make that distinction.

I flew a lot of Copa flights between the USA and Latin America last year, but only two since jumping from UA to AA on an EXP offer. Need the credit for those flights on AA to keep my EXP after 2015 unless I travel more in the 2nd half than I have in the first.

Copa's my favorite in their region, though. Flew AV last week, and the connection at BOG can stink if the flight arrives or departs from a pod. Even more so in the rain. Hate how AV boards Clase Ejecutiva onto the bus first, then lets everyone make a mad dash for the stairs regardless of cabin. Really, I just don't like cramped bus rides period.