Copa Airlines is a member of Star Alliance and a very good member to know if you are headed to Central or South America for your eco-tourism adventure. Copa is a member of United’s Mileage Plus program and can be easily booked online using United miles and Avianca-Tava Lifemiles.
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Some gateway cities I’d like you to take note of are Las Vegas (LAS), Toronto (YYZ), Mexico City (MEX) and Bogota (BOG). If you are either originating or transiting the USA to/from Central/South America, Las Vegas’ airport is a much less painful place to go through the formalities. We were on a full 737 in economy so no special privileges but we were through Customs and out to the car rental shuttles in less than 10 minutes (we didn’t check bags). People who are originating in Europe and don’t want to bother with a ESTA for the USA might want to fly to Toronto, Mexico City or Bogota to hook up with other Copa flights to their final destination.
This is a list of all their destinations.
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SERVICE ON THE GROUND & ON BOARD
Seats in economy are in a 3 x 3 configuration, not my favourite. When I made the booking, I reserved an A & C seat for us and luckily no one took the middle seat. Entertainment is the old-fashioned over-head viewers, no AVOD at individual seats so you may want to bring your own entertainment. Business class seats are like US domestic first class seats.
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The service was very good, I found the flight attendants friendly and competent. The flight was right on time. Although we were in economy, we had access to the Copa Club in Panama City (PTY) airport via a United Club pass from the Chase credit card; so got a free continental breakfast (cereal, toast, fruit, yogurt, coffee, juice, tea). They wouldn’t let me take photos inside.
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The airport has a nice variety of gift shops if you have time to spend in transit here. The lines at immigration are extremely long, it took us almost an hour to clear as we were staying a few days. Think twice if you are in transit as the time to get out of the airport, then braving the traffic to get downtown to sightsee might take longer than you expect causing you to miss your flight. I wouldn’t try it unless I had at least 6 hours between flights.
BOOKING AWARD SEATS
Use United Airlines’ tool for best display options.
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Getting award space is pretty easy, especially if you book in advance. United charges 17,500 miles in economy, Avianca Lifemiles charges 15,000 miles for the same.
Lima to Las Vegas is a very reasonable 20,000 miles in economy. A round trip at 40,000 miles would be an excellent use of either Ultimate Rewards points or United miles if you have gotten in on any of the credit card deals. Not quite a free trip, taxes add $50 each way but quite a bargain! You could also take a stop-over in Panama to extend your trip for the same price, well worth it for the superb birding!
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