Recently flew SJO-PTY-HAV (just last week in fact) and I made a rookie error of putting down the wrong passport expiry date when checking in online (hand luggage only). Went to the check in desk to rectify it and was then asked:

- if I had a tourist card for Cuba
- if I lived in Cuba
- if I had a flight out of Cuba
- something else which I seem to have forgotten

all this was part of "document checks" they need to do...now had I not messed up check in and had only hand luggage, how exactly do they plan on doing such checks before immigration/security? I was frankly surprised about the flight out of Cuba question...

maybe I have missed something here?

Its standard for airlines to ask such questions regarding an outbound flight from a country that you do not reside in - as if you get rejected at immigration of the country you are flying into for not having an outbound flight, the airline might get fined and might have to return you to where you came from.

They might ask you at the gate for these items. I had a similar thing happen from MVD-PTY a couple of years back. I was able to check in online and get my boarding pass on my phone. Went through security and immigration without issue (as it doesn't matter to either of them). But at the gate I was questioned why I didn't check in and they didn't seem pleased when I told them I did it online and here is my boarding pass. They told me that I needed to check in at the check-in desk, which I let them know was not true. As this was within 1 hour before the flight departed, they had unloaded me for not checking in but then put me back on it - I guess I was lucky to not have lost my J seat on this 7 hour flight

Huh, weird. It just felt like to me that the implication is that online check-in is essentially redundant. Maybe I'm overthinking it. I kind of expected to get grilled about this kind of thing ENTERING Costa Rica (by bus from Nicaragua), but, whatever. Useful to know anyway.

In my experience, Copa is a stickler when it comes to such checks. Even if you hadn’t made an error during online check-in, they probably would have verified those documents before you boarded.

I concur. I'm a foreign national with residency in Panama, and someone always asks for my residency card before I fly back to Panama to complete my round trip with PTY as my final destination. I always check in on-line and print out the boarding pass, just to make sure everything's OK, then stop at the check-in desk so they can stamp my boarding pass with the "DOCS OK" stamp. Never takes long with the *A Gold check-in line.

And for the record, while this document checking may seem redundant, I would say it's far superior to United's system. At least on CM, you can check in on line at T-24 without proving anything. At UA, they kick you out and force a check-in at the ticketing counter.

On departures out of PTY, I do go straight to the gate, but the only issue there is on flights to Brasil they always verify my brasilian visa while boarding.

Carriers which are not sticklers tend to wind up paying huge fines, having their aircraft delayed until the passenger is returned to them, and being required to fly the passenger back.

Copa is a stickler for this, even for final destination of countries that do not require return or onward ticket proof. Such as Uruguay, where I've lived for several years and have legal residency. I often buy either a one-way US-to-Uruguay or a round-trip originating and thus returning to Uruguay, and Copa always wants to see my Uruguayan c�dula - including reading the back to verify it says "residente legal".

Uruguay doesn't require any such thing, according to both Timatic and their immigrations website. In fact, you can only apply for Uruguay legal residency from within Uruguay (unlike most countries.) Which means for anybody from countries that don't need visas to visit Uruguay, you would arrive on a 1-way flight, getting a 90-day once-renewable tourist permit stamp in your passport, then within 180 days of arrival, applying for change of status from tourist to resident, to start the process.

Nonetheless, Copa always demands the return/onward ticket or proof of residency.