Slightly OT, but I surmise that SAL and PTY are different because they allow incoming passengers from all flights to enter directly to the terminal and "mix" with freshly-screened passengers. As such, passengers screened in all far-flung places with possibly lax procedures now become PTY's responsibility if they aren't rescreeened at the gate. I am glad that CM's contractors are lenient; UA's are not.

Thanks everyone. 1.5 layover it is, as it turns out to be the COPA 737-900, so I do get a bed! I'll be row 1 or 2, so unless major screw up at EZE I should be ok.

As previously mentioned, Copa do change out planes. In November, we booked to fly on the 900 from FLL-PTY for the 25th March. This was later changed (sometime end of Dec / start of Jan) to the newer of the 800s. Its only a 2.5 hour flight, so nothing like it being changed on an EZE leg - hopefully all works out for you

Might get some tips from this review of the 900 business class:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/30539431-post28.html

On seatguru it shows row 1 as being green/better than all others, is this actually true across the fleet or is it standard SG pumping up the front row? thank you.

Well I went to Panama City on June 29. Drove from the airport to the canal area, and then to the San Felipe area. Background on me and several comments about Panama City:

1. I hardly EVER make wrong turns. Back when I was in college, my friends gave me a tongue-in-cheek award that they called the "human Mapquest award".
2. The most wrong turns I have ever made in a short period of time, up until June 29, 2019, was 5 over 3 days, in the Boston/Cambridge area, due to crappy signage.
3. In Panama City, I made SEVEN, yes, count them, SEVEN wrong turns in about THREE HOURS of driving. TWO of these wrong turns were literally on gore points that had screwed me over before.

I mean, seriously. You have your routes (route 1, route 3, etc) and you have the cardinal directions. PUT THAT STUFF ON THE SIGNS. I mean, on Route 1 at 8.961576, -79.536398, they've got one ramp marked "Ave. Eloy Alfaro/Ave. 3 De Novembre" and the other marked "Ave Los Martires/Ave Omar Torrijos". I mean, ...?!? ONE of these routes *is* the Pan-American Highway (Route 1), and the ramp that keeps you on the highway is not only NOT marked as such, but appears to be an exit ramp AND the exit lanes aren't even marked at any point with elephant tracks (boxes that mark lanes that exit from lanes that do not) before the split AND there is additionally NO overhead sign that tells you which way you are supposed to go to get to which roads (see below for example). And it's not just this place, it's like this all over the damn city. Interchanges aren't marked except at the last moment, and no overhead signs tell you which lane you have to be in to go where, AND the directions on the signs that do exist suck. I call for the public execution of the complete moron who designed the highway system in Panama City, and the appointment of someone from a civilized country like Chile or the United States to run the Department of Transportation to clean up the mess that he made.

Does the ramp to the left (which I missed the first time, by the way) look like it keeps you on the main highway in any way, shape or form?

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...7db860e31d.jpg

Avoid driving a car in panama imo

At least they have street names. Managua has almost none and no numeric addresses even if there is a street name. Mail is literally sent using landmarks and in lieu of the compass directions North, East and West they use al lago (towards the lake), arriba (sun coming up) and bajo (sun going down). And for less than blocks they use varas (an ancient version of more or less a yard equal to 33 1/3").

So a birthday card I once sent successfully delivered was addressed like Señorita X, Barrio Villa Venezuela, from the Lopez hardware store, two blocks towards where the sun rises, two blocks towards the lake, 30 almost yards towards where the sun sets, blue house with a metal door . Delivered in 5 days. I was lucky they lived so close to that well-known hardware store.

And some of the most popular landmarks are gone so instead of from the Lopez hardware store you might say from where the Coca-cola plant used to be. And go from there. As tourists would have difficulty with finding landmarks that are at least there, they're doomed with ones that were torn down 20 years ago. So all in all Panama City seems lux with signs and street names.

Also there are signs in both Managua and San Jose say no virar en U (no U-turn) using the nautical term for "to tack" (not 100% wrong especially if you are a sailor) vs. the Spanish more familiar word girar (to turn).

Yes, road signage is terrible. If one insists on driving, smartphone map apps have become surprisingly good around here. The pronunciations are entertaining, but the instructions are accurate.

In over a decade in Panama, I have never heard a Panamanian refer to a cardinal direction, nor to any numbered route. These concepts simply do not exist in anyone's mind. All directions are offered with local names and references to landmarks, present or past.

notahighway
 

The Panamerican Highway may be marked on some map as such, but that is for the convenience of the cartographer - there is no 'highway' through Panama City, although traffic is improving somewhat. As such, there is no legal authority to make signage indicating Ruta 1, etc. If you are going to follow signs, it makes sense that you would learn the names of the streets upon which you are driving. While parts of Calle 50 look like a highway (more than three lanes), it's a busy urban street and nothing more.

Unless you are on Corridor Norte or Corridor Sur, you're not on a highway.

Good luck executing the moron - they are probably long dead. Much of Panama City was laid out in the early days (pre-WW2) with the assistance of none other than the US Army Corps of Engineers. .Everything after that was added using what was available.

Asking anyone locally would likely result in the opinion that you should have hired a driver if you are unwilling to suffer through the (very steep) learning curve of driving in Panama. The other side of the experience is that you would have a skill level much above the average motorist, as Panamanians drive like they are inside an eTournament video game of Grand Theft Auto.

Okay then, I should be allowed to dig up his body, pee on it, then dump it into the basement of the Chernobyl reactor or have SpaceX launch it into the Sun. And I also call for public execution of the morons who continue to allow the signage to be this bad to this day. Just because it was bad in the past, doesn't excuse it being this bad to this day. Signage is pretty cheap compared to changing road configurations and can be done in a few months. All they'd have to do is put some indications of which way you go to get to common tourist locations (Aeropuerto Internacional de Tocumen, Canal de Panama, etc) and some route numbers, and put signs indicating which lane you need to be in about 100-200m before the exit/gore point. It's not that hard.

I didn't have a problem with the way other people were driving. I've driven in many countries, including Mexico and China. But the signage is way better in every other place I've driven.

Most streets in Panama City only got names after the Pope visited earlier this year. Before that they were "72nd street" or "51st street" with a few exceptions. And each "corrigimiento" (neighborhood) had its own count so you'd have multiple Calle 40's throughout Panama City. A real mess. And as mentioned above, no one ever uses the street names anyway as it all goes by landmarks, present and past. I have a friend in Via España who still lives "by the old brewery" when asked.
And yes, signage is horrible and the city at first seems like a total mess to drive in. It took me about a month to figure out how it was put together and after that it was actually surprisingly simple. Often I would plan out my route in the head before taking on the streets. It has its fair share of one way streets, even the bigger transit roads, so at times you feel you are driving in circles to get to your destinations.

After a year in my native Copenhagen - biking city par excellence and very civilized car traffic - I weirdly enough begin to miss the chaos in PTY...

Luggage not checked through in PTY COPA-UN
 

I purchased my COPA flights and United flights separately so they will not check my luggage all the way through PTY. What is clearing luggage like in PTY? I have a 2 hour layover. Will this be enough time? Do I need to clear customs and then get luggage to recheck it to the United flight? Any info would be amazing. Thank you.

Maybe policies have changed, but I thought it was, or used to be, possible to through-check bags in such situations, since Copa and United are partners. But if you can't, this will be a tight but doable connection, unless you land at the same time as multiple other planes and immigration gets backed up.

If you do need to get your bag(s), you'll clear immigration, then customs, and then just take the elevator upstairs to United's counter.

Where are you going from PTY? You'll need to be mindful of United's checked-baggage deadline, which is 60 minutes before the flight's departure. After that, they likely won't let you check in for the flight and you'll need to change to a later flight.

EDIT: One other thing: If you get upstairs and there are lines at United's counters and the 60-minute deadline is fast approaching, try going to one of the priority or business class lines and explain that you just arrived on a Copa flight.

Post your exact itin