Welcome to this very short segment of my connecting trip from PTY-SJO. Below is my schedule:
SFO-LAX on AA F - will not report. LAX-PTY on CM Y - click here. PTY-SJO on CM J - you are here. SJO-PTY on CM J - click here. PTY-LAS on CM J - click here. LAS-SFO on B6 Y - click here.
After what seemed like an eternity circling the airport we finally landed at PTY with a 21 min. delay @ 20:31. Upon exiting the aircraft I checked the monitors and my connecting flight was already boarding so I hurried up to the connecting gate. It seems that CM flights tend to board about 1 hr. before dept. Originally I planned to visit the Copa lounge but now that plan was thrown out the door.
I did not find PTY airport particularly appealing. Certain areas were dark and the layout was not very straightforward. I saw the SJO sign by gate 7A and I asked the agent if I was at the right gate. She saw my boarding pass, said yes and advised me to wait nearby. I then noticed that gate 7 next to us also had a SJO flight and it corresponded to the one that I had on my boarding pass so I headed there. The flight was boarding and I presented my boarding card to the agent who scanned it and invited me to board. Good thing that I noticed this extra flight because otherwise I would have waited at the wrong gate. I was wondering why on earth the gate agent in 7A gave me the wrong information. Perhaps she just saw the destination on the boarding card and did not pay attention to the flight number. As it turned out, there were 2 flights leaving at about the same time.
I was welcomed aboard by the flight attendant and settled into my seat. A few minutes later the FA offered pre-dept. drinks consisting of water or orange juice. I tried the orange juice and it was foul - sickening sweet and artificial tasting.
Seat.
View from my seat.
The orange juice even looks artificial.
initially there was a lady that sat next to me, but she had a companion who sat at the other side so apparently they had separate seats. The companion asked his neighbor if he was willing to switch seats with the lady and he agreed, so the sat next to me. He was a friendly guy from Ecuador who was studying in San Jose and even showed me some pictures of a festival that he attended.
After everybody boarded the door was closed and we taxied out to the runway.
Take off. Bye PTY.
Service started with hot towels and these did not have any scent. Then the FA took meal orders and the choices were a crab cake or ravioli for snack. i had the crab cake and it was small and salty. The sauce tasted like Chinese oyster sauce which is usually used in small amounts for stir fry and cooking, not so much as a background sauce. The snack was served with a tiny chocolate cake.
At the end of the meal service the FA went to each passenger thanking him or her for flying CM and saying that it was a pleasure to be of service. A great customer service touch.
Soon we were ready to land in SJO.
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Verdict
Copa Airlines
6.5/10
Cabin8.0
Cabin crew9.0
Entertainment/wifi3.0
Meal/catering6.0
Panamá City - PTY
7.1/10
Efficiency6.5
Access7.5
Services7.0
Cleanliness7.5
San José - SJO
8.3/10
Efficiency8.0
Access9.0
Services7.0
Cleanliness9.0
Conclusion
This flight was sweet and short. We had a great FA serving the J cabin and his personal touch thanking us at the end was appreciated.
Catering was bad. The crab cake was too salty but I give CM credit for trying and offer a choice.
0 LIKESLIKE TO THANK THE AUTHORTHANKS ! FLIGHT-REPORT LIKED
PTY is a maze with nonsensical numbering and dark alleys, but the pro is that no transit security is present. Pick your poison on a tight connection.
The catering looks similar to what I had on my short CM sectors. I find the effort to offer 2 hot mains really good catering on a short flight, but the execution isn't very good. I find the service standards to be higher on short segments than long segments on CM (maybe your PTY-LAS report will disprove this, but that's been my experiences this calendar year).
Don't worry, you didn't miss anything in the Copa Club...
Every coin has two sides. I guess no security transit trumps anything else. PTY is not a visually appealing airport and the Copa Club is disappointing as you said.
The service depends on the crew you get. Some can be robotic and indifferent while others can't seem to do enough for you.
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77 reviews
8 Comments
Sorry, mate.
Thank U.
Good thing that this was a short flight. More sample flights coming up.
Thanks for your comments and support as always.
Catering is just okay even for such a short flight.
Having a choice of meals for such a short flight is a big plus.
Thanks for your visit.
PTY is a maze with nonsensical numbering and dark alleys, but the pro is that no transit security is present. Pick your poison on a tight connection.
The catering looks similar to what I had on my short CM sectors. I find the effort to offer 2 hot mains really good catering on a short flight, but the execution isn't very good. I find the service standards to be higher on short segments than long segments on CM (maybe your PTY-LAS report will disprove this, but that's been my experiences this calendar year).
Don't worry, you didn't miss anything in the Copa Club...
Every coin has two sides. I guess no security transit trumps anything else. PTY is not a visually appealing airport and the Copa Club is disappointing as you said.
The service depends on the crew you get. Some can be robotic and indifferent while others can't seem to do enough for you.
Thanks for commenting.
I'm glad you made it to your connecting flight.
Some definite changes could be made to the J catering on these shorter legs but at least they tried as you said.
Great night shots.
Thanks for sharing.
Have a good one, see you!
Thank you very much for your comments. There's more CM to come. ;)
Have a good one.
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