Just boarded, and the SFO-PTY flight is indeed the MAX 9! Yeah!

Chris

According to this Copa has only grounded 21 of their 29 MAX 9s. Presumably the other 8 frames don't have the plug door since the grounding only applies to the ones with the plug door.

Pretty sure my flight was one of the MAX 9's with a plug. The plane was out of service yesterday, so I think they completed the inspection and put it back in service.

Copa refund request?
 

I have a reservation to fly LIM-PTY-LAX in a few hours. The LIM-PTY leg was not scheduled on a MAX bird but it was nonetheless cancelled. Their email says I can request a refund but i can't find a way to do it online. I bought directly from the Copa website as a guest and no I even created an account with them. But still no luck. Does anybody know? I'm currently on hold with their call center.

ETA: They eventually answered and walked mw through the long and convoluted online refund request. I bought a nonstop LIM-LAX through Latam.

Wow, Copa is really fast! Glad i was wrong

(It looks like all 21 of the birds will need to be inspected again)

I keep seeing news about Max groundings, and I also keep seeing Copa flying Maxs into LAX and SFO on FlightRadar24.com (saw two yesterday). Not sure what to make of that. I’ve got some Copa flights on this plane later this month, so I have some skin in this game.

Yup, I'm noticing the same things. And I have a MAX9 booking in a few days... definitely skin in the game!

There's gotta be some disconnect here.

Either the systems you're looking at are not reflecting accurate info for the aircraft type (meaning COPA's MAX9s are actually sitting on the ground and a different aircraft type has been swapped in), or COPA is asking for a serious smackdown from the FAA (or potentially worse). Imagine how things would go for any airline if a 737 MAX9 they're now flying (in clear violation of the emergency AD now in effect) had an explosive decompression event after they ignored the clear, well-publicized mandates from the FAA to ground the planes...

As someone who is scheduled to fly on a COPA MAX9 in about 6 weeks and again in the future, I hope (and would assume) COPA is following the mandates and playing by the rules. If they're not, I'll have second thoughts about ever setting foot on one ANY of their planes.

Edited to add: If COPA's website is to be believed, their 737MAX9s are grounded, and will remain so, until the FAA and Boeing get things sorted out with the required inspection details, and then they perform the required inspections. The ball seems to be in Boeing and the FAA's court right now (and has not moved in 24 hours...). Hmm.

The latest updates from COPA are here:
Impact on Copa Airlines flights following Boeing and the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recommendation
(Last update was Tuesday January 9)

Did they mention anything about the 737 max 9 or did you ask the crew?

Flying CM409 on 01/11/24
 

I will be flying on flight 409 Jan 11, 24 from SFO —> PTY at 7:19pm which is a 737max9.

I called COPA yesterday asked the rep if my flight was affected. After a few minutes on hold he came back and said it wasn’t affected. I then followed up with him and asked if it was one of the 8 of 29 flights that didn’t need inspection, and he followed quickly and confidently without putting me on hold and saying yes that it was one of the planes that did not need to be inspected. At the time I felt reassured.


I then inspected the seat maps that you all found and have made all the same observations and I have the same concerns as everyone else. It would appear that the plane is a plug panel plane so I am also confused why the same plane is flying.

I noted that the same flight 409 for tonight January 10 is now cancelled when it was not yesterday. So I am wondering if COPA is waiting until the last minute to cancel.

At this time, I have a backup United flight booked to my final destination (Lima) and if COPA cancels then I will take that. Since I booked the United flight today, I have 24 hours to cancel for full refund in the case the COPA flight actually takes off.

Anyone in the CM409 flight that was cancelled today (Jan 10) have any insights?

The cynic in me says: "Of course that's what the CS agent told you. It's the quickest and easiest way to get you off the call so they can move on." But maybe I'm too cynical?

Hopefully it's not because COPA has already inspected their 737 MAX9s and they figure they checked out OK.

I'm unclear on the "8 of 29" planes that they're saying don't need to be inspected. Exactly why don't they need to be inspected? I ask that because looking at the seat layout maps for COPA's 737 MAX9s, I see two slightly different configurations, but both of them sure look like they have the plugged-door there, and no sign whatsoever of having a real, functional emergency exit door there. My understanding (again, could be wrong) was that the only MAX9s that are not subject to the mandated inspections are those with ultra-dense seating (looking at you, Ryanair...) and therefore so many passengers that they are required to put in the additional (functional) emergency exit aft of the over-wing exits. I'm pretty sure COPA isn't flying any of those ultra-dense MAX9s, no?

So what makes COPA's 8 airplanes exempt from the mandated inspection?

For what it’s worth, the customer rep seemed genuine to help me. He has no incentive to lie to me especially when COPA is cancelling affected flights and offering full refunds.

I also agree and had the same questions exactly. It’s odd that they would inspect 21 of the 29 when they all seem to be using the plugin door.

if I ended boarding the flight and landing I’ll let you all know what I found out.

any insights from the previous poster who was able to fly the 737m9 this week would be greatly appreciated.

Alternate explanation: Initially, more than one airline figured all they had to do was inspect things, and the plane could go back into service. Alaska Airlines did exactly that: just hours after the incident (early Saturday evening), they started inspecting their planes, gave some the thumbs-up, and off they went the next day, carrying passengers (Sunday morning). Then the FAA stepped in and said oh-no-you-don't, the inspections must follow approved procedures, etc. etc. Alaska re-grounded their MAX9s, and now they're all sitting on the ground with pieces removed for inspection access...and the planes are still grounded waiting on the FAA (who is waiting on Boeing, or vice-versa)...and still (as of Wednesday evening) there's no approved inspection procedure from FAA/Boeing for the airlines to follow.

FWIW today Alaska announced all their MAX9s would be grounded through Saturday (which I think may still be very optimistic).

Maybe in the immediate wake of the incident, COPA did what Alaska did: a quick inspection, gave a shrug, buttoned up the access panels, and started boarding passengers again. Maybe they started flying and continued flying those planes for a while. But now, they seem to be cancelling flights (though not very far in advance). Maybe the CS agents working the phones just haven't got the updated talking points yet. Beats me. But if my COPA flight was scheduled tomorrow, I would want to have a Plan B in my back pocket. Good luck with yours.

That actually sounds like the most plausible explanation. I’ve got my refundable United itinerary booked in case the COPA flight is cancelled.

I’ll post what ends up happening with my COPA flight tomorrow.

COPA has two different plug door types on its MAX 9s, which explains why some are flying and some aren't. The differences in plug door types do not correspond to the two different seatmaps inside the planes.

The first type looks more like an exit door from the exterior and is fitted on the first eight MAX 9s to be delivered. For now, these eight planes are not subject to inspection and are thus still actively flying.

The second type is the one that blew out on the AS plane. It looks like a window from the exterior and is fitted on the 21 later-delivery MAX 9s. These planes are currently grounded with an unknown return-to-service date.

Look up images of frames HP-9901CMP through HP-9908CMP, versus frames HP-9909CMP onwards, to see the difference for yourselves.