bid for upgrade on COPA
 

Hola. First time flier on COPA, and upon making my reservation I saw the opportunity to bid for an upgrade. Basically it seems like you name your price and then are notified if it cleared or not. Does anyone have experience with this? What kinds of bids might give me a fighting chance? I'm flying BOS-PTY-LIM if that makes a difference.

Same for me. I'll be flying Copa for the first time this Friday, and I just submitted a bid.

The little meter graphic's arrow pointed toward "good" for my bid amount ($250USD), but I'm willing to increase it if the general success experienced here has been higher amounts.

FWIW, the seat map on my flight is showing half availability (8 filled, 8 open) on a 738, five days out.... but I realize that those aren't always accurate depictions of loads.

These upgrades go toward Z inventory, as per the phone rep.
Anyone know a way to see how much is available on individual flights, with CM?

Do not forget that COPA and United can use their upgrade instruments for COPA airline routes directionally!

Didn't that arrangement end this July though?

Copa left mileage plus on July 1. Reciprocal use of upgrade instruments remains, however. In both directions - you can still use UA instruments on CM, and CM instruments on UA.

I booked a trip on Copa in Coach because I need the miles for status requilification on TK. I'd like to bid for upgrades but read that the booking class is then changed to Z, which gives no miles at M&S.
Will M&S credit the oiginally booked coach booking class or will they not credit any miles if the class changes to Z?

Here's what you do. Bid as high as you want, or as low as you want.

CM load factors are hovering around 75% IIRC from an article I read recently. There's also a lot of...maybe random flights CM has, like MSY-PTY, BOS-PTY, YUL-PTY. I'm not saying the flights aren't good or profitable, but is there that many people daily going BOS-PTY-_____ there's certainly easier ways to get to SA.

I've only bid twice and both times I bid as low as possible and got them both. Now those were PTY-MDE flights, so they're short and frequent but Copa also feeds you in economy and has free booze. I like their service in J/Y and the aircrafts either have AVOD or don't, no difference in business. So the biggest difference in business is a better meal and a bigger chair (that doesn't lie flat).

Point is, J is nice, but really not necessary. Bid as low as possible and hope you get it!

The biggest upside to the upgrade, is that you get the bonus miles (at least I did, glitch perhaps?), I checked my aeroplan account after and got credited as C class as opposed to the K or whatever I originally booked. But again, even if you're stuck in Y, there's really good odds you'll get a middle seat empty and you can pick an exit row seat for free as well in my experience.

Edit: I do recall bidding the lowest once and not getting it, but CM doesn't usually fly with empty J seats so if you bid and there's an open seat and no one else bids, they'll take yours.

Can anyone else chime in if they got the bonus miles? Copa's upgrade FAQ notes upgrades "will only accumulate the miles determined in your original ticket, but not as a passenger in Business Class." But then I read the above.

That's almost always true. There are a few E90s that have 4 rows of 4 in J. There is a bit more legroom, but they are narrow. Certainly not worthy of a dime of my hard earned money.

Fortunately, those are very rare, but I've been upgraded twice to receive that surprise. The seating charts don't warn of this odd configuration in advance. They do, however, serve the J meal on these flights.

The other thing is that while CM doesn't offer a lie flat J seat on any of their aircraft, they operate a few 737-800s with some really comfortable reclining seats with footrests and lots of leg room. It's hard to find a more comfortable seat to/from Latin America. It seems that they prefer this configuration for LAX-PTY, and I've had them with less regularity to/from other destinations.

But these are pretty much only guaranteed for the longer Southern South America flights, all other routes seem to be a gamble.

Maybe I'm just lucky, but I have enjoyed these on every flight between PTY and JFK, LAS and LAX.

I just flew LAS-PTY on the red eye las Monday, and those seats were great. Must say they ruined it for me, however, by waking us up 3 hours into the flight to serve breakfast. I had requested they not wake me, but the bright lights along with the plates and silverware clanking around woke me up. Made Tuesday one long day. :td:

My complaint may simply be a Gringo thing, however, as the rest of the J cabin was all Latino and they were all eating. I observed just to see if I was alone in my dissatisfaction. Appears I was.

gonna try it
 

I ended up not trying to bid for the upgrade, but I'm flying BOS-PTY again soon and I'm considering doing it again this time. One member in my party is having some health issues and I think they would be more comfortable in a bigger seat (that hopefully has at least a few more inches of recline).

Going to give it a shot and see.

How did the bidding go?

I bid for upgrade CUN-PTY-BOG and was successful, money taken from my card immediately.

CUN - PTY on 737-800 with the nice seating with foot rests etc, then an E190 PTY-BOG with the 4 across business seating which was a little tight, though we were the only people in the cabin anyway. Same meal on both flights.

Miles awarded were those of the original economy fare bucket.

Were the meals of ok quality?

Don't get the Egg "thing" for breakfast on any of their flights imo. Rest is fine-good

Flew them last 2 years ago I think... the sundae for dinner was yummy.

Fare class now changes to 'R' at time bid upgrade is processed.

Flight credit is based on the oiginally booked coach booking class.

Hi

What is the current minimum bid for BOS-PTY-LIM?

Still high chances with the minimum?

I have an upcoming O/W PTY-EZE, and the min. Fly Up upgrade is $370 plus taxes. Are they kidding?!

For an additional data point, I bid the minimum for IAD-PTY and back last week -- about $210 each way -- and failed to score both times.

How many seats?

I bid $70 for BOG - PTY, on a last-minute ticket that was about $250. The meter said "pobre". It's a 70 minute flight. I won a day before the flight. J had 3 empty seats. I was quite happy with the price, which also got me entry to the new Copa Lounge in BOG.

You would have gotten a comp upgrade?

should be free for you anyway?

I credited the flight to a different *A program, so no upgrade.

Interesting point on the Club access though, thanks for bringing it up, I learned something. I am *A Gold via CM, so I guess technically I could have presented my ConnectMiles digital card with an economy ticket and gained access if the computer didn't recognize it.

Bid $235 for a PTY-LAX flight coming up which is in the yellow-green thing as bueno. If successful, it would still be about $400 than actually buying the business ticket.

What date? I have been looking at SFO and LAX, and they are 0-2 business class seats left at T-48 (Gold upgrade window) for a lot of them. People are definitely targeting these planes, as the 737-800s are not as full at T-48 in general

Hi All,
Perhaps a newbie question here: I'm *A Gold on ANZ. Tomorrow I'm on CM for BGI-PTY-MSY.
I'm curious if anyone has experience with CM giving comp upgrades if there is still space in J?
I'm on a cheap Y and really don't want to shell out for an upgrade on such a short set of flights.

On a secondary note, the *A website isn't listing the lounge in PTY. Does anyone know if it is currently open for *A Gold?

You won't get a comp upgrade for just having *G on anther *A airline

You will have lounge access though:
https://www.staralliance.com/en/airp...irportCode=PTY

Thanks for the info!

Anyone know the typical bid range for MIA-PTY or the reverse? Thanks.

Anyone know if the bid range changes as the flight date draws nearer and/or as more J seats are sold, or does it remain the same? I have two Copa flights coming up, and one is still showing all 16 J seats available in the seat map. Thanks.

Not that the airline uses much logic in general, but it would make no sense for the bidding range to change, as the winning bidders will be the people who bid the most. The airline should give the option of the lowest amount of money it will potentially accept and then up to some insanely high number. This should always be the same range, whether its 2 days out with 15 seats left, or 100 days out with 1 seat left

The "Buy it Now" option would presumably change depending on actual demand

If you want to fly in business for these flights, then buy J or Instant Upgrade, if available. If you are trying to do it on a budget, then bid the minimum or min +$5. Its my guess (with 0 inside info) that hardly anyone bids on Copa flights

PTY-MIA/MIA-PTY should in theory be more business focused than FLL/MCO/TPA flights - meaning that both more people who outright pay for J and higher elites could be on it

Seatmap is never great, especially for Copa flights, as a ton of people do not select their seats before checking in at the airport. What dates/flights are you on, I will check the loads as best I can

Its not MIA, but on our flight to MCO on the 21st March, I can bid from $100-$295 for J or Instant Upgrade for $210

FLL-PTY on the 25th March = $145-$320 or $255 instant

PTY-MCO in Oct = $100-$295 - no instant option
MCO-PTY in Oct = $115-$275

There are at least 9 J seats left on each of these flights above

What are your ranges for MIA?

I only have experience on PTY/MIA-FLL and PTY-BOG. I always bid the minimum, and once I did the outright purchase. Hard to draw conclusions, but I was charged $48.15 PTY-BOG and $71.40 BOG-PTY (both minimum bids + taxes). I also did the "Buy Now" option from PTY-FLL and was charged $205. Can't remember if the actual "cost" was $205 or if it was $190+taxes. Other times it has been as low as $145 MIA-PTY. The only time I did not "win" bidding the minimum was when there were only 2 seats in business on a Friday afternoon PTY-MIA.

Hope this helps!

They are really pushing the upgrade emails for my MCO flight tomorrow morning. 4 emails* about it so far:

2x on the 13th, 6 hours apart - definitely separate emails, as the 2nd one said " Sigue interesado en un ascenso? "
1x yesterday AM
1x today just after midday

Flight is before 8am tomorrow, so figured that they would have all this finished by now. Economy is oversold, and still 8 more seats in J

*received the first 2 before my comp upgrade last Satuday, so the last 2 sent to the original PNR with my gf still on it

Is it for the month of july?

Bid the minimum of $90 for UIO-PTY (1.5 hrs), was labled "pobre". I saw on expertflyer.com J9. Received upgrade <24 hours later.

I booked the flight late, only got 1 invite email, responded, or "won". Is $90 (+PA taxes = 100.70) 'worth it' for a short flight? Depends. I know I won't have to worry about overhead storage, or the agent hassling me about the size or weight of my carry-on, boarding in group 1, using the "gold line" or whatever, etc.. A good value for this traveler.

bid for upgrade dissected
 

Another bid-for-upgrade success story. I purchased a r/t flight PTY-LIM 1 day in advance.

After ticketing, ran through the "bid for upgrade" for inbound flight, which was T-5d. Bid the lowest possible, $140 for 3.5 hr LIM-PTY, labeled poor.

At T-3d, received an email "are you sure you want to bid so low" and invited me to revise my bid. I declined.

At T-50h, my bank advised me that Copa charged my credit card.

At T-42h, got the email confirmation of the upgrade.

Copa website was showing business class sold out at this point.

At T-6h, flight status showed Capacity 16, Booked 16, Checked in 9, empty upgrade list.

At T-2h, Checked in 14, 1 person on upgrade list.

At T-45m, Checked in 16, 4 people on upgrade list, which is how the flight departed.

Moral of the story: Copa apparently will sell upgrades out from under its Elites. At least one upgradeable elite lost out to a cash bid. One would assume some of those passengers in clase ejecutivo were status holders that received upgrades before the upgrade list started. This is a prejudice on my part, but I wonder just how "serious" are the elites that don't check in until 2 hours before the flight. Then again, if they were last-minute, high dollar customers, they might be angry at missing an upgrade.

Hi all,

Looking for advice on how to bid on my itin. I have:

14 JAN
MEX-PTY ($140 min)

15 JAN
PTY-MDE ($50 min)

20 JAN
MDE-PTY ($45 min)
PTY-SFO ($235 min)

Looks like there are 3 seats left for sale up front on the PTY-SFO leg and obviously that's the one that I really want, as it is ~8h. Should I bid now at say $250? Wait til Jan?

Any informed advice would be much appreciated. I have UA Gold, in case that helps.