Review of Copa Airlines flight Panamá City → Rosario in Economy

Airline Copa Airlines
Flight CM805
Class Economy
Seat 17F
Aircraft Boeing 737-800
Flight time 06:30
Take-off 29 Mar 19, 15:50
Arrival at 30 Mar 19, 00:20
CM   #9 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 77 reviews
Fernando
By 810
Published on 18th April 2019
After arriving at Tocumén airport from Puerto Vallarta, I have to wait 20 hours for my connecting flight to my hometown Rosario.
So I reserved a hotel near the airport. There are 3 hotels and one B&B nearby. I chose the intermediate option: the Riande Aeropuerto Hotel & Casino: excellent choice.
My room on the uppper level with pool view
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Pool area with beatiful landscape
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After enjoying the pool, it´s time to take the free shuttle to the airport. In a few minutes I arrive at PTY.
I ordered a local beer to enjoy the view.
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Welcome to Copa land!
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New terminal in construction at sight.
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It´s boarding time but no calling at all; after a few minutes they make the announcement: there is a change of aircraft. The new gate is on the other side of airport, the delay is of approximately 25 minutes.
After arriving at home I received an e-mail from Copa appologizing for the inconvenience, and wanting to know how the situation was handled by the airline.
Finally on board! Again emergency exit row for me, at no extra charge.
Special livery for our neighbor: Panama´s soccer association 737-800.
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Waiting for our turn
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High above the clouds
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No personal tv in this flight, movies, games, music and the map are available via portable devices: Copa uses just one app for ticketing and entertainment purposes.
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At tea time a hot lunch is served; pasta and chicken for me, I believe the other option was meat and rice.
Before landing another hot meal was available: chicken sandwich and something with meat; I think it was a burrito, no pics of that.
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Disembarking at ROS
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Our bird from the platform
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Verdict

Copa Airlines

7.6/10
Cabin8.0
Cabin crew7.5
Entertainment/wifi7.0
Meal/catering8.0

Panamá City - PTY

8.1/10
Efficiency8.0
Access8.0
Services8.5
Cleanliness8.0

Rosario - ROS

7.3/10
Efficiency7.0
Access7.0
Services7.0
Cleanliness8.0

Conclusion

A very good service from COPA, attending a big area of Argentina and convenient connections thru the hub of the Americas. We had a change of plane but nothing to be worried about. Copa keeps adding destinations all over America and now the fares are very competitive.
Tocumen airport keeps growing beside the expansion of CM and a big new terminal is coming.
Rosario airport always gives you something new, while we eagerly await for the new international terminal.

Related

11 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 498173 by
    KL651 TEAM 4534 Comments
    Thanks for this FR.
    Wow 6 hour on a 737 doesn't sound like the best flight but Copa still brings a lot of connectivty and competition to secondary markets in South America.
    The meals look pretty good too.
  • Comment 498214 by
    airlineflyer 21 Comments
    Can you tell me a bit about the entertainment offered? Did the streaming video work on the 737 without seatback screens? Thanks!
  • Comment 498399 by
    Pilpintu TEAM 997 Comments
    Auch! Un 737 para un viaje tan largo! Lo bueno es que ibas sobre el ala, donde se mueve menos! Encuentro genial que Copa conecte ciudades más pequeñas o que no son capitales de países. Creo que tienen más visión que latam en ese aspecto. De hecho, apenas hace unos meses latam empezó a volar entre Santiago y San José de Costa Rica, por ejemplo. Two thumbs up para Copa. Ahora sólo falta que arreglen un poco el menú. Jajjja

    Gracias por compartir!
    • Comment 498402 by
      Fernando AUTHOR 70 Comments
      Hola Nelson, años atrás volé la ruta EZE_PTY así que no me sorprende hacerlo en un 737. También volé la ruta EZE_PUJ via CCS en 737-800 de AR. Respecto al servicio es bastante decente, a juzgar por el catering que dan la mayoriá de las líneas aéreas al día de hoy.
      Saludos
  • Comment 498981 by
    KévinDC TEAM SILVER 6731 Comments
    Hola Fernando, gracias por compartir este reporte interesante.

    Antes de nada, felicidades por sobrevivir este vuelo tan largo en 737! Jajajaja.

    Granted, it's the same fuselage cross-section as a 757 and those do 7h+ runs regularly, so I guess it's not so bad. I'm not a huge fan of the pre-merger Continental blue-checkered seat covers...they feel very 90's, and look out of place with the modern look of the Boeing Sky Interior and mood lighting.

    As we're now seeing this trend in the industry of not installing PTVs, or ripping them out (grrr), in favor of streaming IFE on PEDs, it would be nice to see more carriers installing seats with tablet/smartphone holders on seatbacks. Streaming IFE is definitely better than no IFE, but I still much prefer PTVs...I guess I'm old school.

    It's nice that COPA serves Rosario nonstop from PTY...certainly convenient for you to be able to avoid going through EZE or another larger airport.

    Saludos
  • Comment 499381 by
    viajero90 106 Comments
    Hola! Gracias por este reporte, me encanta que cada vez haya mas reportes desde/hacia ROS!
    Que tal estaba la app de entretenimiento? Siempre pense que los 737 que mandaban a ROS venian con pantallas...
    Saludos!
    • Comment 499526 by
      Fernando AUTHOR 70 Comments
      Hola Viajero, in the page they warned that the flight ROS-PTY doesn`t offer PTV. The app is quite good, but no a lot of music as LATAM offeris. They offered a special section with movies of Panama City cinema Festival and it was very good.
      Saludos!
  • Comment 499530 by
    Fernando AUTHOR 70 Comments
    Hi again, please don`t forget to read my other fr: the PVR-PTY leg.
    Bye

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