Kacee

Sorry, not available on Copa. Award seats can only be upgraded on UA operated flights.

If you're hight status and get a friendly Copa agent, sometimes they will give you a courtesy upgrade. But it is not an entitlement.

KevinInRI

So is the brochure that accompanies the United Explorer card wrong? It states in there: "The primary Cardmember who is also a MileagePlus Premier member traveling on a MileagePlus award ticket will be eligible for Complimentary Premier Upgrades on eligible United- and Copa-operated flights (when available). Visit united.com/awardupgrade for complete details"

Kacee

I had not seen that. The website says: Premier members who are primary cardholders for certain Chase-issued credit cards are eligible for Complimentary Premier Upgrades when traveling on award tickets on United-operated flights.

I've flown probably six or eight award tickets on Copa in the past twelve months and have never been automatically added to the upgrade list. Almost every time, F went out with empty seats.

flyingstudent

As per my Chase Mileage Plus Explorer card membership guideline, I should get upgrades on Copa operated flights even on Mileage Plus awards as a cardholder benefit.

I'm flying LAX-PTY-GIG on X class coach award. I checked in and don't see any upgrades nor am I on the upgrade waitlist on copaair.com.

Anyone else had experiences with premier upgrade on Copa coach awards?

weirdlyndon

While I don't recall upgrades on Copa award flights being a benefit of the MP Explorer card, never hurts to just try at check in to see if an agent will add you to the upgrade list.

Kacee

I've never gotten one and I've flown many awards on Copa. UA's website says that award upgrades are limited to UA operated flights (despite what the Chase materials apparently say). Another poster in a different thread reported obtaining award upgrades on Copa flights. You might try calling Copa and seeing if they will add you to the waitlist. Good luck.

(I would add that LAX-PTY is not the easiest upgrade in any event, lots of demand for those seats.)

coolcoil

Last year I flew COPA on an award. GA saw that I was 1K (at the time) and wondered why I was not UG'd. Then she saw I was on an award trip and said, "Oh, your traveling on miles, so that's why."

I interpreted that to mean no uG's for award trips on COPA.

I do have the MP card too.

TAHKUCT

I just got my Chase Explorer Business card and the brochure that came with it clearly states this as a membership benefit.

Kacee

Apparently Chase forgot to tell Copa.

TAHKUCT

I do not believe that COPA was even part of that conversation

amybd

Newly silver, flying Copa LAX to CUR this week, I was mostly wondering about the possibility of an upgrade as it seams like it might be more of a possibility on Copa than United.

I read that companions are eligible too, I am traveling with 2 others who don't have status, are all 3 of us eligible, or only 2 like on United? Do we need to split the PNR in order to be placed on the upgrade list? Will it only upgrade us if there are 3 seats available? Is there a way to let them know that we would be willing to be upgraded separately without splitting the PNR (at the airport perhaps?)

I am pretty sure we will be at the very bottom of any upgrade list as we bought our tickets only 2 weeks ago in discounted economy, but some of our flights are rather empty. I was trying to guess at how many might be ahead of us in line (still 7 seats left for Wed's flight at less that 48 hours out - so gold and above already upgraded, correct?) For general seat selection, do they set aside some seats for premier members? I noticed that after I entered my mileage plus # there seemed to be new seats available to select and was wondering if that might be a way to estimate the # of people in from of us by knowing how many are in those seats. Does anyone know which seats those typically are (I wasn't paying close enough attention at the time)?

We have an overnight connection in PTY (and are staying in a hotel), if we did get upgraded on the way there, can we access the lounge the next day with our boarding passes when we return for our connecting flight? (that flight is even emptier, but does not have a business/first cabin, so no chance of an upgrade on that leg).

Thank you!

coolcoil

Per the COPA website, you should have access to the lounge as a Silver, even if you are not travelling in F.

http://www.copaair.com/sites/cc/en/m...a-premier.aspx

"The Elite lounge is available exclusively to all our MileagePlus Premier members and is open from five in the morning (5:00 AM) until the end of the day."

You would not have access to a club in the US, but it appears COPA allows all premiere members in.

I have never tried to do companion upgrades, so I don't know how that works. If you don't get upgraded, get to the gate ASAP and ask there. LAX-PTY is one of the tougher upgrades, though.

Starman

Although opinions on this point seem to differ here, I've never found the PTY lounge that pleasant, and it's always been extremely crowded when I've been there (exacerbated by renovations, I guess) -- I've never even been able to get to the front of the entrance line to show my b.p., so I just walk in. Anyway, if it doesn't work out for you, I don't think you're missing much.

waingro

Thanks for the heads up about access to the lounge in PTY! I am transferring there on way to LIM next month. I have Priority Pass, but good to have another option.

Kacee

It's better since the renovation, but still a total zoo in the morning before about 10 a.m. Wifi is much improved.