You know the value of your own dollar. More than ANY other airline, I would imagine so, but Copa is continually at the top for the best on time performance in Latin America - obviously any individual flights can be affected

I would imagine that if there was a problem with the AUA flights (and so long that it was all on 1 ticket) that you would be taken care of when getting to PTY - may get you a "free" day to spend some time in Panama to visit the city or the canal etc