Originally Posted by
RustingInSeattle
I thought I was a genius and booked a much cheaper flight from the US to Bahamas via Panama (24 hour layover). In reality we planned on skipping the second leg (Panama to Bahamas) and instead fly to another destination.
Unfortunately the Bahamas requires a YF card even for transitting Panama, which a couple members of my party don’t have. Does anyone have experience with Copa checking the Yellow Fever card in the US? Or because travel is solely to Panama the first day, would Copa not check the first leg and only do it in Panama the next day (assuming they check at all)? Would web check in be blocked for this destination?
Thanks!
As others have pointed out, it is NOT Copas responsibility to check YF certificates. It is down to immigration or public health officers at your destination, and I have quite a horror story from Kingston back in June 2016, where myself and several other passengers (including people only transitting in PTY) were held back for hours. It was very sketchy and somewhat evident that the officers were trying to financially benefit from the situation. I believe a few individuals actually paid their way through the YF check. When I returned back to PTY a few days later, a lot of passengers on the flight had been denied entry to Jamaica and had to go back to Panama.
I did have a certificate but did not carry it with me on that occasion. Nowadays I just bring it along, you never know what can happen.