So yeah Copa....it's stuck in this weird hybrid middle of domestic first and international business class. Even if/when the new seats arrive and Maxy returns (if ever), the food still leaves a lot to be desired for sure. Have you flown Copa before? Of Copa/Avianca/LATAM, what's the best way to get to Latin America? Let me know down below! Context 0:42 Chicago O'Hare Terminal 5 and lounges 2:49 Chicago-Panama 5:07 Seats: 5:48 Pannama Toccumen Airport and Copa Club 6:49 Panama-Quito 8:19 Beverages 8:35 Sala VIP lounge in Quito 9:31 Quito-Panama 10:09 Food 10:57 Panama-Washington 13:06 Service 14:06 Conclusion 15:17
If there was a better way, then THERE would've been the hub of the Americas, and not PTY. IDK, just saying 🤷 Unfortunately, it seems you traveled via Copa, when the airline attached itself to United Airlines. It was not working and it went back to be Panama's flagship on its own again. Maybe the best way, for you to go to LATAM is by Delta or AA, where business class food is not better either.
OMG!!! I thought there was no way I would watch a 17-minute video! But this was the most entertaining and informative video I have ever seen on CZcams! You are awesome! I am researching to see what airline I will use this summer when I travel to 5 South American countries and this was a lot of help. I still don't know if I'll go with Latam, Avianca, or Copa. But at least I have some food for thought LOL
Glad it was helpful! I've tried to make my videos much shorter since this one (and up the quality). I can't speak to Latam (and with them and Avianca bankrupt who knows!), but it's fine if you don't mind or prefer a connecting flight.
I flew Business Class on Copa from Orlando to Cali. Service was excellent, food was surprisingly good, inflight entertainment (inside the arm rest) was decent. Seems like your experience is contingent upon the type of plane you fly on. Ours was a 737-800 with the foot rest configuration. Very comfortable and spacious. Connection in Panama was short, so no lounge visit. One thing that stood out was the lack of an amenity kit. I know it's a short international flight, but an amenity kit would have made Copa seem like a competitive world class airline. Everything else was good to excellent and I would fly them again. Their Business Class product is priced significantly less than other airlines, but it's almost as good as the rest.
You’re right about the pricing, I think what makes it hard is what to compare it against. It’s better than domestic US business class, or European business class for sure! Exceptional short haul business class is very rare. Turkish is known for it, and two days ago I just flew Sri Lankan’s A320 and was completely blown away on a 3 hour flight. I’ll make the comparison with Copa when that video comes out!
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! Most of my content this year (and moving forward) will have a similar snarky tone (to varying degrees). Hopefully you'll get the B configuration, but you may want to eat ahead of time...
Have you tried eco? Because I’m thinking does it worth to fly their business or is the economy so much worse that it’s really necessary to get business
I have not, this trip in 2019 was the first and only time I’ve flown Copa. In general I don’t think anyone “needs” business, and I’d say that it’s a marginal improvement. If you end up on the 737 max it should be a significant improvement over economy, but it’s quite frequent that the plane is changed last minute, so I wouldn’t bank on it.
@@alexlagoa9084 that's a great point, they fly to denver, in fact, i'll be flying there soon in biz, i've also flown pty-sfo which is i think 7 hours, in copa if you are flying let's say orlando-pty and if it departs in the night there will be no need for a amenity kit, you shouldn't be even sleeping in those flights. but in some like sfo-pty which i flew in economy you will be landing morning in panama
I think you sorta got the “bad flights” with a mix of the other crappy parts. But I think that other Copa flights would be better than what you experienced
Nice video review! The pronunciation for Tocumen airport in Panama is To-Coo-Men. I rarely fly but, I am going flying soon on Copa. I got an e-mail notice to upgrade to business class going to Panama for like an extra $120 but, I see it's like a bidding system offering me to lower it to $70 to $270. Do you think that is for round trip or one way? If it's round trip then I may consider putting in a bid. The photos they show for the Panama Lounge look like a regular terminal. It didn't look impressive. I was laughing when you showed the celery. I flew to Panama a couple of years ago and there was only one runway to take off and land and that day we landed in a strong crosswind. I knew the wind was bad before we landed and I was worried before we landed. I thought the plane was going to flip and I believe it almost did. We were weaving back and forth on the landing. It was probably more noticeable in the back seat of the plane. The Ron Abuelo Rum and coke that I got was super strong. It made me want to stick to drinking Cerveza in Panama. The Copa planes since the old day have improved a lot. I remember in the old days we had to prop our leg up to hold the trays level or the dinner tray would fall off. Then they got a new fleet of planes and became a better airline.
Thanks on the pronunciation, I've gotten better since this older video but I still make plenty of mistakes. In general a bid offer is for a single direction, or even a single leg (as what happened on Sri Lankan).
@@Travelog thanks for letting me know what that bidding system was. It seems buying a ticket these days for a great price is a gamble. I saw my upcoming flight go up $20 and then $70 lower than mine last Saturday and Sunday and then $150 less yesterday. Today on Tuesday it's $160 more than what I paid. That's crazy!
Ha glad you liked it! I mean you can for sure...but if you can get a "real" business class with a lie flat seat I'd take that over Copa. Perhaps Latam or American out of New York? I'm limited here in Chicago, one of the reasons I didn't really bother with it.
@@Travelog I'm in Montreal so not many options left. And yeah, Copa Business Class is like 2 or 3 times cheaper than competitors. But I understand why ;)
I think they Send the superior configurations to flights in which they have competition, therefore needing to give the superior product in order to retain their clientele
That may be the case, but there's also frequent swaping of aircraft. Lucky from One Mile at A Time recently tried to review the Max and specifically picked the aircraft type, but every flight on Copa he was on it was downgraded to either the A or B older configuration.
@@Travelog I find that quite weird, which routes did he fly? Apart from just sending any aircraft according to their operating needs they too have some signature max routes such as PTY-LAX and SFO and EZE and GRU, most of their long flights, In most of them they send their max aircraft but some end up having equipment swaps, I'll soon be flying to SFO and it just got changed for a -800 in their B config.
@@Travelog copa is notoriously famous for their equipment swaps, and they don't tell you much on the variant, whether it's the A or B, you have to look closely on the seatmap to know which one is it, and they end up sending you on the one that suits their needs
I flew in Copa Airlines Business class on October /2021 It’s disgusting!!! The TV screens with fingerprints all over, The flight attendant with nasty attitude!!! They do not clean or disinfect the airplane cabin, I did record it in case you want to see the videos are nasty inside the cabin 🤢
I flew Copa airline pre-pandemic and was excellent. A flew again a couple of months ago and was a disaster. Business class seats were dirty, the food atrocious and the attention to passengers was way below what it used to be.
I'm sorry to hear that but am hardly surprised. A lot is going to be changing for a lot of airlines in the next few years with staff turnover and cost-cutting. I hope it's an opportunity for airlines to understand that they need to compete on quality. I'm afraid it will just be a rush to the bottom.
So you can tell if it's a 737-700 vs 800 based on the number of business class seats. Unfortunately both the "A" and "B" 737's have the same number and configuration of seats, so I don't think you can tell beforehand, which is unfortunate. The 737 Max 9 still has 4 rows of business class, but 35 rows of economy (not 33). As for the priority line...there wasn't anything seperate, hence I missed it entirely. Apparently if you just went up to the agent at the front of the line they would let you cut. But nothing was marked or announced at all. And glad you enjoyed it! Hopefully I've gotten a lot better and succinct since this review, but still had a great time on the trip for sure.
I wouldn’t fly on a 737 Max even if I had a lie-flat bed. I’m not gonna change my mind and I feel sorry for those affected from the incidents earlier this year.
Yeah I'm quite dubious about it as well. Even if you get past MCAS and the other structural issues, the 737 Max is at its core an old aircraft. The flight control systems date back to the 1960's, and the computers are from the 1990's. If they updated them, they'd have to re-certify. I'm guessing they won't fly till 2020 again, and even after that am not sure about their future or how I'd feel being on them. I did fly on a Southwest Max before everything and it was actually a nice cabin experience. We'll see.
Copa is... interesting. But for my Asiana Diamond/Star Alliance Gold status, most of the fares Copa offers, Asiana credits at 100%. So I'll suffer if I get a decent time in South America.
Indeed, it’s potentially a good way of earning. Copa’s program itself is also a fairly easy way of getting status on Star Alliance (much like Aegean was)
Honestly American premium economy (the real stuff, like on the 787) is similar to Copa business. With the 737 Max grounded you won't get the newer seats. Though right now service is so curtailed the only real determining factor is the seat. If you get a real American PE experience, then they are about equal (see my review on a flight to Madrid). But if you're looking at an Oasis interior on a narrowbody, I'd take Copa over that any day.
Yes I'd say that, but it's an odd product of circumstance. Given the total travel distance (say New York to Bogata with a connection), the could be competing against a premium long-haul service. But because US airlines treat Latin America like a backwater, there's little competition based on quality so they can get away with it. It's similar with Avianca as well (already filmed and edited, coming soon).
COPA is an expensive airline, tickets are one of the most expensive in latin america...for example panama orlando 800 USD on couch... second the COPA lounge as Sam Chui said in his review, its pretty ordinary..I was in mexico city and the aeromexico lounge thats shares with COPA with priority pass is better than COPA lounge in panama.
For sure...I only flew Avianca Ecuador and yes the food was really pitiful. Copa was...edible. Perhaps on the level of US airlines, but really not a competitive product globaly.
So yeah Copa....it's stuck in this weird hybrid middle of domestic first and international business class. Even if/when the new seats arrive and Maxy returns (if ever), the food still leaves a lot to be desired for sure. Have you flown Copa before? Of Copa/Avianca/LATAM, what's the best way to get to Latin America? Let me know down below!
Context 0:42
Chicago O'Hare Terminal 5 and lounges 2:49
Chicago-Panama 5:07
Seats: 5:48
Pannama Toccumen Airport and Copa Club 6:49
Panama-Quito 8:19
Beverages 8:35
Sala VIP lounge in Quito 9:31
Quito-Panama 10:09
Food 10:57
Panama-Washington 13:06
Service 14:06
Conclusion 15:17
Maxy is BACK!
Indeed he is, have yet to have the pleasure. Not going out of my way to fly it, but it is inevitable.
avianca is for sure the best way
If there was a better way, then THERE would've been the hub of the Americas, and not PTY. IDK, just saying 🤷 Unfortunately, it seems you traveled via Copa, when the airline attached itself to United Airlines. It was not working and it went back to be Panama's flagship on its own again. Maybe the best way, for you to go to LATAM is by Delta or AA, where business class food is not better either.
OMG!!! I thought there was no way I would watch a 17-minute video! But this was the most entertaining and informative video I have ever seen on CZcams! You are awesome! I am researching to see what airline I will use this summer when I travel to 5 South American countries and this was a lot of help. I still don't know if I'll go with Latam, Avianca, or Copa. But at least I have some food for thought LOL
Glad it was helpful! I've tried to make my videos much shorter since this one (and up the quality). I can't speak to Latam (and with them and Avianca bankrupt who knows!), but it's fine if you don't mind or prefer a connecting flight.
I flew Business Class on Copa from Orlando to Cali. Service was excellent, food was surprisingly good, inflight entertainment (inside the arm rest) was decent. Seems like your experience is contingent upon the type of plane you fly on. Ours was a 737-800 with the foot rest configuration. Very comfortable and spacious. Connection in Panama was short, so no lounge visit. One thing that stood out was the lack of an amenity kit. I know it's a short international flight, but an amenity kit would have made Copa seem like a competitive world class airline. Everything else was good to excellent and I would fly them again. Their Business Class product is priced significantly less than other airlines, but it's almost as good as the rest.
You’re right about the pricing, I think what makes it hard is what to compare it against. It’s better than domestic US business class, or European business class for sure! Exceptional short haul business class is very rare. Turkish is known for it, and two days ago I just flew Sri Lankan’s A320 and was completely blown away on a 3 hour flight. I’ll make the comparison with Copa when that video comes out!
Dude that was hilarious. Subscribed. Flying copa business in a few months
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! Most of my content this year (and moving forward) will have a similar snarky tone (to varying degrees). Hopefully you'll get the B configuration, but you may want to eat ahead of time...
I really love COPA AIRLINES
Lol. No sign to the lounge !? Lol No leg rest !? It looks real nice ,though ! Especially the lounge ! 👍💜🥁🐉🎤🎶✈️💞
LAMAS !!! SO~CUTE !! 😍
I love Copa Airlines. Excellent service everytime i fly
I found as much...75% of the time. Which is a lot better than many other airlines!
Have you tried eco? Because I’m thinking does it worth to fly their business or is the economy so much worse that it’s really necessary to get business
I have not, this trip in 2019 was the first and only time I’ve flown Copa. In general I don’t think anyone “needs” business, and I’d say that it’s a marginal improvement. If you end up on the 737 max it should be a significant improvement over economy, but it’s quite frequent that the plane is changed last minute, so I wouldn’t bank on it.
LMFAOOO I just love your commentary, keep it up!
Thanks, I’m trying here!
Great report! do they provide you an amenity kit the flight UIO-PTY?
No, I didn’t receive an amenity kit on that or any flight. No idea what the cutoff/policy is!
@@Travelog 6 hours plus
@@LucaMelillo I don't think Copa does flights more than 6 hours
@@alexlagoa9084 that's a great point, they fly to denver, in fact, i'll be flying there soon in biz, i've also flown pty-sfo which is i think 7 hours, in copa if you are flying let's say orlando-pty and if it departs in the night there will be no need for a amenity kit, you shouldn't be even sleeping in those flights. but in some like sfo-pty which i flew in economy you will be landing morning in panama
Craps I have a business class flight on the 3rd of May....hope things improve since this video
I think you sorta got the “bad flights” with a mix of the other crappy parts. But I think that other Copa flights would be better than what you experienced
Oh I totally think that's possible, and tried to caveat that in the beginning. With the new 737 max interior, I can see it being really nice.
Nice video review! The pronunciation for Tocumen airport in Panama is To-Coo-Men. I rarely fly but, I am going flying soon on Copa. I got an e-mail notice to upgrade to business class going to Panama for like an extra $120 but, I see it's like a bidding system offering me to lower it to $70 to $270. Do you think that is for round trip or one way? If it's round trip then I may consider putting in a bid. The photos they show for the Panama Lounge look like a regular terminal. It didn't look impressive. I was laughing when you showed the celery.
I flew to Panama a couple of years ago and there was only one runway to take off and land and that day we landed in a strong crosswind. I knew the wind was bad before we landed and I was worried before we landed. I thought the plane was going to flip and I believe it almost did. We were weaving back and forth on the landing. It was probably more noticeable in the back seat of the plane.
The Ron Abuelo Rum and coke that I got was super strong. It made me want to stick to drinking Cerveza in Panama.
The Copa planes since the old day have improved a lot. I remember in the old days we had to prop our leg up to hold the trays level or the dinner tray would fall off. Then they got a new fleet of planes and became a better airline.
Thanks on the pronunciation, I've gotten better since this older video but I still make plenty of mistakes. In general a bid offer is for a single direction, or even a single leg (as what happened on Sri Lankan).
@@Travelog thanks for letting me know what that bidding system was.
It seems buying a ticket these days for a great price is a gamble. I saw my upcoming flight go up $20 and then $70 lower than mine last Saturday and Sunday and then $150 less yesterday. Today on Tuesday it's $160 more than what I paid. That's crazy!
Shit i needed this video so bad. I wanted to book business class to go to Argentina... but um ... 🤔. Loved the funny comments.
Ha glad you liked it! I mean you can for sure...but if you can get a "real" business class with a lie flat seat I'd take that over Copa. Perhaps Latam or American out of New York? I'm limited here in Chicago, one of the reasons I didn't really bother with it.
@@Travelog I'm in Montreal so not many options left. And yeah, Copa Business Class is like 2 or 3 times cheaper than competitors. But I understand why ;)
I think they Send the superior configurations to flights in which they have competition, therefore needing to give the superior product in order to retain their clientele
That may be the case, but there's also frequent swaping of aircraft. Lucky from One Mile at A Time recently tried to review the Max and specifically picked the aircraft type, but every flight on Copa he was on it was downgraded to either the A or B older configuration.
@@Travelog I find that quite weird, which routes did he fly? Apart from just sending any aircraft according to their operating needs they too have some signature max routes such as PTY-LAX and SFO and EZE and GRU, most of their long flights, In most of them they send their max aircraft but some end up having equipment swaps, I'll soon be flying to SFO and it just got changed for a -800 in their B config.
He was flying MIA-PTY. there were two flights, one on the 800 and the other the MAX. He picked the MAX and they got swapped.
@@Travelog copa is notoriously famous for their equipment swaps, and they don't tell you much on the variant, whether it's the A or B, you have to look closely on the seatmap to know which one is it, and they end up sending you on the one that suits their needs
I flew in Copa Airlines Business class on October /2021
It’s disgusting!!! The TV screens with fingerprints all over, The flight attendant with nasty attitude!!!
They do not clean or disinfect the airplane cabin, I did record it in case you want to see the videos are nasty inside the cabin 🤢
I flew Copa airline pre-pandemic and was excellent. A flew again a couple of months ago and was a disaster. Business class seats were dirty, the food atrocious and the attention to passengers was way below what it used to be.
I'm sorry to hear that but am hardly surprised. A lot is going to be changing for a lot of airlines in the next few years with staff turnover and cost-cutting. I hope it's an opportunity for airlines to understand that they need to compete on quality. I'm afraid it will just be a rush to the bottom.
nice video! Andy
Thanks, glad you liked it!
How to know which copa plane you're flying? it all just says 737... also, where is the priority security to skip that panama line? Thx. great report
So you can tell if it's a 737-700 vs 800 based on the number of business class seats. Unfortunately both the "A" and "B" 737's have the same number and configuration of seats, so I don't think you can tell beforehand, which is unfortunate. The 737 Max 9 still has 4 rows of business class, but 35 rows of economy (not 33). As for the priority line...there wasn't anything seperate, hence I missed it entirely. Apparently if you just went up to the agent at the front of the line they would let you cut. But nothing was marked or announced at all.
And glad you enjoyed it! Hopefully I've gotten a lot better and succinct since this review, but still had a great time on the trip for sure.
I wouldn’t fly on a 737 Max even if I had a lie-flat bed.
I’m not gonna change my mind and I feel sorry for those affected from the incidents earlier this year.
Yeah I'm quite dubious about it as well. Even if you get past MCAS and the other structural issues, the 737 Max is at its core an old aircraft. The flight control systems date back to the 1960's, and the computers are from the 1990's. If they updated them, they'd have to re-certify. I'm guessing they won't fly till 2020 again, and even after that am not sure about their future or how I'd feel being on them. I did fly on a Southwest Max before everything and it was actually a nice cabin experience. We'll see.
My thought ! Exactly ! I watched a documentary film,too.👍👍💜🥁🐉🎤🎶✈️💞
Copa’s B seats look a lot like the old Continental BusinessFirst seats.
They likely are indeed the same!
Do you know if all their 737-800s have Sky Interior? Because I know that all of their 737-700s don't
No they don’t! My last flight (PTY-IAD) has an older interior with smaller bins. I didn’t really show it as I didn’t want to belabor the point!
@@Travelog that's a -800? I thought that was a -700 given that I only saw 3 rows
That’s what the ticket and FlightAware had it as, though it’s possible there was a swap and I was too tired to notice!
@@Travelog 13:44 Oh wait, now I see the 4th row
Copa is... interesting. But for my Asiana Diamond/Star Alliance Gold status, most of the fares Copa offers, Asiana credits at 100%. So I'll suffer if I get a decent time in South America.
Indeed, it’s potentially a good way of earning. Copa’s program itself is also a fairly easy way of getting status on Star Alliance (much like Aegean was)
Hummm, Curacao, Panama , fammm mwen yo🙂🙂👌
I usws coper airlune from trinidad to barranquillia santo domingo lovely always on time ok
Copa is like united airlines but different name
Why does Copa have a Continental or United livery?
Continental owned 49% of them. Basically everything (including the loyalty program) was the same!
So should I wait and get AA premium or fly copa premium class
Honestly American premium economy (the real stuff, like on the 787) is similar to Copa business. With the 737 Max grounded you won't get the newer seats. Though right now service is so curtailed the only real determining factor is the seat. If you get a real American PE experience, then they are about equal (see my review on a flight to Madrid). But if you're looking at an Oasis interior on a narrowbody, I'd take Copa over that any day.
So long story short, they're a fairly standard narrow body operating airline?
Yes I'd say that, but it's an odd product of circumstance. Given the total travel distance (say New York to Bogata with a connection), the could be competing against a premium long-haul service. But because US airlines treat Latin America like a backwater, there's little competition based on quality so they can get away with it. It's similar with Avianca as well (already filmed and edited, coming soon).
Hummm, Commercante yooo
COPA is an expensive airline, tickets are one of the most expensive in latin america...for example panama orlando 800 USD on couch... second the COPA lounge as Sam Chui said in his review, its pretty ordinary..I was in mexico city and the aeromexico lounge thats shares with COPA with priority pass is better than COPA lounge in panama.
🤔🤔🤔🤗🙂👌👌👌👌
I’d take American rather than Copa
AA long haul with a lie flat seat? Sure. 737 Max with oasis for that long? I’m leaning towards Copa then.
Avianca is OK but its food is not as good as COPA
For sure...I only flew Avianca Ecuador and yes the food was really pitiful. Copa was...edible. Perhaps on the level of US airlines, but really not a competitive product globaly.
LATAM was pretty good. Excellent food and service on my flight from SCL-LAX via LIM. Avianca in business, even that, the food was just doable.
One of the worse airlines in the world. I remember one of the flight attendants pretending to be bowling while giving the security demonstration
Ha that's something for sure.