Flew COPA for the first time - and it was GREAT!!!
 

I flew COPA out of JFK to Cartagena on Saturday, 11/20 and returned this Saturday 11/27. What a great flight! I was upgraded on all four segments and the service upfront was superb. (It was half empty in the back on the long segments)

It was empty upfront for the JFK-Panama, Panama-JFK segments and almost full for the short Panama-Cartagena-Panama segments - but there were at least 2 empty seats upfront. Meaning, even as a Silver Elite you would have gotten the upgrade. On the way back, one of the cabin crew introduced herself to me, shook my hand and said that she wanted to especially welcome me as a Platinum OnePass member and that OnePass appreciated my business. I've read about this happening, but it's never happened to me.

Now I know the layovers can be long for some connecting flights, but for me it was 2 hours going out and 3 hours coming back. Going out I spent the time in the President's Club and coming back I took the shuttle bus to a shopping mall for 90 minutes to kill some time. Panama is a great airport to connect through - fast and easy.

The only thing I could do without was the 5:00am departure time on Saturday morning. Really don't like setting my alarm for 2:30am - but there's no traffic that time of the morning and I was checking in at 3:20am (I live in Brooklyn).

Coming back got in 30 minutes early at 12:15am, breezed through immigtration/customs and was home just before 1:00am - not bad.

I know that OnePass doesn't work for everyone, but if you fly to Central/South America you should really look into COPA. Not the cheapest airline, but it's a great product and you will get upgraded - I have a friend who had flown them 3 times to Colombia from LA this year and he was upgraded on every segment. Hope this info helps someone out there.

Thanks for the report
 

Thanks for the report. I was considering using Copa to South America (or Lan Chile on Aadvantage). Maybe I will give CO a chance this year over AA and NW.

Is OnePass as bad as everyone says?

I am glad to hear about the good experiences. I think everyone will start to get more opportunities to fly on COPA as CAL continues to cut costs by using the cheaper labor at COPA, express, & sky west to fly our routes. COPA could easily replace all of our latin flights out Houston.=(

LAN operates a 767-300 ER
Copa operates a 737 on must of their flights.

Good point.

I've always heard great things about LAN Chile, but do they upgrade you for free - with no miles - including companion if you're Gold/Platinum?

If they don't, I'd rather sit in front of a 737 than the back of a 767-300.

My thoughts exactly. I'm flying JFK-PTW-EZE next month on Copa after considering AA/DL (both 767). I got a cheaper fare, and bacause it's a Y-fare basis, I managed to upgrade 3 out of 4 segments at the time of ticketing (fingers crossed for EUA on the last segment). DL wanted about $800 more plus miles plus a layover in ATL for me to fly up front.

The 13 hour itin to EZE on 737s is making me a bit nervous, but I figure it still beats coach on a 767.