I booked 2 flights on Copa as part of an open jaw United award, IAD -> PTY -> GIG. The entire award except IAD -> PTY is in J; IAD -> PTY is Y. A few days ago ExpertFlyer alerted me J availability in IAD -> PTY. Also saw it on United's website. Called United and they made the change. On my United itinerary, it shows all segments in business (booking class I).

However, if I go to Copa's website and use my Copa booking code, I'm still in "economy" for that segment and can't select a business seat. I called Copa, and the agent told me, "I can see your upgrade request, however no seats are available. What do I do? Never encountered this before.

This is not a definitive answer, and maybe somebody else has more experience with this particular issue. However, I will tell you what I think based on my experience with COPA:

First, I would not sweat it immediately, and I would give the system a couple of days to sort it out. Not everything happens instantaneously in the COPA system. They seem to fix things with a batch process every so often. If they have you on the upgrade list, then it is very likely that you will have a seat in clase ejecutiva when you fly.

Lately, COPA seems to be making only "C" (full fare business) available in their system until just a few days before flight time (I look at a lot of IAD-PTY for my routes). They seem to only open up "D" (discount) and "I" (upgrade) 48 hours or less before flight time. I think your worst case situation is that the itinerary won't change in the COPA system until a day or two before the flight.

If you want to push the issue, I would call UA and ask for the Star Alliance desk. This will send you to a Customer Service Rep who specializes in working with other *A airlines. It is my understanding that they often resolve issues that regular CSR's do not know how to solve.

Very useful, thanks!

Update:

I ended up calling United after a week or so of waiting. UA rep seemed confused, "you have been ticketed and are in business," tried to explain that from Copa's side, I was still in Y. She offered to call Copa and did, confirmed I'm in business... I noted I can't reserve a biz seat online (can only reserve Y), she said when I check in/get to the airport I should be assigned a correct seat. This trip isn't in several months. Sounds like I'll be fine but it's just unsettling that I have a seat reserved in Y...

This one is not feeling right to me. I know I said that I think it will probably sort itself out, but as you are still a long way from the flight date and have time to make sure it's squared away, I would do that.

I would call COPA again (painful, I know) and ask them again what they are seeing. If you get the same response that you are in Y waiting an upgrade, I would go back to UA, ask for the *A desk and not hang up until they talk to COPA and get you a seat assignment. Then, I would go back on the COPA site and double check that it took.

WOW.

After 15 min. of holding, got a Copa agent who told me my seat was in economy in their system, and that I would have to speak with United, as there was a "technical" problem and there's nothing they could do.

Called United, asked for *A desk, explained the problem. Rep was very confused (because it was clearly ticketed in I), and after several minutes, transferred me to a UA internet supervisor. She called Copa, and found the root of the problem, when I re-booked by seat with UA, the new ticket number never transferred to Copa's system. It then took 1.5 hours (I kid you not), for the United agent, who was very nice and patient, to get ahold of a Copa supervisor, to update the ticket number and reserve me a seat.

Thanks for the tips, glad I was persistent.

Great result. This could have been one of those nightmare "I showed up at the airport and wasn't ticketed right" stories. Glad you got it all sorted out in advance. Great lesson about persistence, too.

You didn't mention if you did the last part, which is double-checking on the COPA website . Though, it sounds like things are squared away.

I have run into a similar issue with upgrades on purchased tickets on UA that included COPA legs. I found out there was a problem when I was not able to check in for the UA flight on line. The first time it happened, I stood at the check in desk for 20 minutes while the UA agent talked to a support person to fix it. The second time, I called UA before I went to the airport, and they said there was a problem on the COPA end. I called COPA, and they told me that when UA upgraded their leg, they reissued the ticket but on the COPA leg changed what was originally a COPA flight number to a UA codeshare number, and that screwed up the ticket. However, in that case, the COPA agent said he would take care of it and would call me back. 40 minutes later, he called back and all was good.

One thing that gives you a warning on line about this particular issue is that the last leg was listed first on the reservation. That is, instead of showing leg 1, then 2, then 3, my flights were listed as 3, 1, 2.

I don't know if this is a related issue, but it is something to watch for when you get UG'd by UA and there are COPA legs downline.

You're right, didn't mention but we indeed have confirmed biz seats on Copa's website.

Copa has a great on line chat function from the web site. I use this to assign business seats. Very simple. No waiting. Agents are helpful and quick.

Thanks for the tip! I'll give that a try next time I can't get to my reservation on the website.