SFO-PTY business class experience
Mar 8, 2025 | 1:31 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: HAF
Posts: 531
SFO-PTY business class experience
Hi All - we are on CM409 in a couple of weeks, business class, departing SFO 8:20pm. From previous posts seems the meal service is nothing special to look forward to. However it will help with our planning if anyone has any recent experiences with meal and drinks service departing evening hours on the "longer" Copa flights.
Thank you
--HAF
Thank you
--HAF
Mar 14, 2025 | 12:48 pm
#2
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: EZE
Programs: UA Gold,Delta Gold Bonvoy Titanium Elite, HH Diamond , AA Platinum, EENational, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 1,641
Hi All - we are on CM409 in a couple of weeks, business class, departing SFO 8:20pm. From previous posts seems the meal service is nothing special to look forward to. However it will help with our planning if anyone has any recent experiences with meal and drinks service departing evening hours on the "longer" Copa flights.
Thank you
--HAF
Thank you
--HAF
Mar 19, 2025 | 12:59 pm
#3
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago
Programs: AA EXP, BA Gold, LH Senator, SAS EuroBonus Diamond, Avis Presidents Club, Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 263
I'm flying business class on Copa for the fish time.
Trinidad - Panama - So Paulo.
What can I expect for the quality of wines? Is champagne available?
Food wise on
PTY - GRU - main meal + snack box?
POS - PTY - not exactly sure what to expect
Trinidad - Panama - So Paulo.
What can I expect for the quality of wines? Is champagne available?
Food wise on
PTY - GRU - main meal + snack box?
POS - PTY - not exactly sure what to expect
Mar 23, 2025 | 1:36 pm
#4
Join Date: Dec 2020
Location: Panama City
Programs: CM Presidential, Marriot Bonvoy Titanium Elite
Posts: 150
the flight to GRU you will get dried seeds as entree and them meals like rice, pasta or etc nothing fancy or specials. The beverages include alcoholic drinks like wine, rum, beer, etc
Apr 13, 2025 | 10:59 am
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: HAF
Posts: 531
Answering my own question after experiencing COPA on SFO-PTY-UIO and UIO-PTY-SFO in business
The Good
The Not so good
Overall - especially given the duration of our flights, COPA in business was ok. And we will chose them again if the Price/Schedule is right. Once we realized the sad state of their meal service we bought our own food at UIO (there are some great restaurants at the airport) so we were self catered on the return legs which was great.
--HAF
The Good
- Plenty of space on the 737max9 with Dreams configuration - and for the duration PTY-UIO on 737 800 adequate space and comfortable seats. Due to the timing of the flights we were not able to get a full nights sleep - but especially on the SFO-PTY-SFO we were able to catch 3-4hrs of sleep which was great.
- Reasonable service from the cabin crew. But inconsistent. The SFO to PTY was bad: the single flight attendant we had servicing the whole business cabin was not attentive, for sure he looked tired and like he did not want to be there, started meal service late, forgot to pass amenity kits and headsets until people asked, messed up meal orders, and most of the time disappeared somewhere. All the other legs had above average service and especially the flight attendant - Alexandra - taking care of us from PTY-SFO was exceptional.
- Easy and painless transfer at PTY - especially T2 is new, good signage, easy to navigate and well air conditioned
- On time. All of our flights were on time. There was a 30-40min delay leaving SFO due to a luggage loading issue - but we made the time up in the air. All the other flights were on time or even early. Also we received our checked in luggage pretty quickly.
The Not so good
- Food. All I can say is that it is likely you will go hungry when flying COPA business class - so either eat before or bring food with you. The SFO-PTY meals were disgusting - I wish i had taken a picture to post here, but both my spouse and I were so disappointed we did not even care taking a picture. The "broccoli soup" they served was most like a broccoli paste / spread consistency, my SOs tortellini was half frozen and not cooked, stale and cold bread... oh and no menus so you do not know exactly what the options are especially when the crew is not proactive and capable to explain. The snack to go bag they handed upon arriving at PTY had a avocado/tomato sandwich in the bag but the avocado had gone rancid so i thew it away.
- No lounge access at SFO or UIO. We used our priority pass - but again bad for COPA not offering lounge access to outstations
- Lounge at PTY - overcrowded in the evenings - and with no food options - and bad coffee. Again you will go hungry when flying COPA - so make sure you have a plan to eat before or after the lounge especially on long trips. Early morning was ok, and shower facility was above average, but starts getting very crowded after 7am.
Overall - especially given the duration of our flights, COPA in business was ok. And we will chose them again if the Price/Schedule is right. Once we realized the sad state of their meal service we bought our own food at UIO (there are some great restaurants at the airport) so we were self catered on the return legs which was great.
--HAF
Dec 15, 2025 | 10:29 am
#6
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Edit: Whoops. I see now that the OP was going to Quito, Ecuador, so that's not included in the list of South American nations for access. I'll leave this here as it might be useful for others.
Thanks for the report. Regarding lounge access, maybe I misunderstand United's access policies, but it seems to me that you had access to the United Polaris Lounge at SFO via your business class ticket on Copa (Star Alliance):
https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/tra...ge-access.html
https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/tra...ge-access.html
Dec 15, 2025 | 11:17 am
#7
Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: Denver, CO
Programs: UA Gold, Bonvoy Titanium
Posts: 188
Dec 15, 2025 | 8:35 pm
#8
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Dec 16, 2025 | 8:42 am
#9
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Correct. There is never Polaris Lounge access based on a CM flight; they are by UA's definition all short-haul. Conversely, a CM departure from the US, which is by definition "international," will ALWAYS give United Club access (if you otherwise qualify based on cabin or status).
Dec 20, 2025 | 10:45 pm
#10
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BTW, we currently have refundable tickets in business for SFO-PTY-LIM in July. I’ve searched and failed to find that discounted anywhere. Anyone have ideas on that? Best I can tell, that’s the only flat-bed option from SFO to Lima (and only in the long flight to PTY).
Dec 22, 2025 | 4:49 am
#11
Join Date: Apr 2007
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Dec 22, 2025 | 11:21 am
#12
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If routing United through IAH you'd get IAH-LIM on a B767-300 with new Polaris beddingI believe, if routing through EWR you'd get a B757-200 with old-style BusinessFirst, which shares a lot of similarities to CM's Dreams seats.
Dec 23, 2025 | 4:29 pm
#13
Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: Denver, CO
Programs: UA Gold, Bonvoy Titanium
Posts: 188
If routing United through IAH you'd get IAH-LIM on a B767-300 with new Polaris beddingI believe, if routing through EWR you'd get a B757-200 with old-style BusinessFirst, which shares a lot of similarities to CM's Dreams seats.
Dec 28, 2025 | 4:36 pm
#14
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if routing through EWR you'd get a B757-200 with old-style BusinessFirst, which shares a lot of similarities to CM's Dreams seats.