jetsetter777

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.

ConcordeBoy

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?

keitherson

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

ConcordeBoy

Didn't that arrangement end this July though?

Kacee

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.

Daoane

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?

drvannostren

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.

venomtrilogy

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.

KenInEscazu

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.

fly747first

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

KenInEscazu

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.

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.

jetsetter777

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.

todd-r

How did the bidding go?

GK1981

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.

fly747first

Were the meals of ok quality?