On a recent trip via Panama City, I flew with Star Alliance member Copa Airlines. I’ve separately reviewed my flight to Panama City in Copa Airlines Economy Class.

For my onward flight from Panama City to Aruba, I successfully bid for an upgrade to Business Class using Copa’s FlyUp platform, powered by Plusgrade. This review covers my experience in Copa Airlines Boeing 737-800 Business Class.

Flight Details

Flight number	CM348
Route	Panama City (PTY) to Aruba (AUA)
Aircraft type	Boeing 737-800
Class of travel	Business Class (“Clase Ejecutiva”)
Seat number	4F
On-time performance	We arrived 15 minutes early
Star rating

The route

Flight Cost

I had paid USD281.20 (~AU$438) for a one-way Economy Class ticket from Paramaribo to Aruba via Panama City. I bid an extra USD55 (~AU$85) to upgrade to Business Class on the Panama-Aruba leg. Copa Airlines accepted this bid 48 hours before departure.

Airport Experience

Tocumen International Airport is large but efficient. Holding a Copa Airlines Business Class ticket (or Star Alliance Gold status) makes it even better because you can use the priority lanes.

Checking in, clearing immigration and passing through security through the “Gold Track” lanes was an absolute breeze.

Unfortunately, the Copa Club lounges in Panama City let the airline down a bit. I found them to be serviceable but unremarkable.

I had a bit of time before my flight departed, so I first visited the Copa Club in Terminal 2 where I’d checked in. Like the rest of Terminal 2, this was a modern and aesthetically pleasing lounge, having opened only two years ago. It did have high-speed Wi-Fi and lots of seating, but not much else in the way of amenities.

During my visit in the morning, there was a basic breakfast buffet but the food options were limited to cereals, fruit, yoghurt, bagels and cream cheese. You wouldn’t go hungry, but I’m glad I’d already eaten breakfast at my hotel. There was also coffee and water, with other drinks available from the manned bar with a prominent tip jar on the counter.

The Copa Club did have showers, but I couldn’t use them as the duration of my flight was less than 4.5 hours. (I don’t recall coming across a rule like this on other airlines?)

As my flight was departing from Terminal 1, I then walked for about 15 minutes over to the other Copa Club in that terminal. This one felt much older and reminded me of a United Club lounge. It had the same food and drink options, as well as a business centre. Although both lounges were busy, I could find a seat in both.

Boarding began 40 minutes before departure with “Prefer Access” boarding through a dedicated and completely separate lane. This worked really well and I was one of the first on board.

The Hard Product

This flight was operated by a seven-year-old Boeing 737-800, featuring four rows of reclining leather Business Class seats in a standard 2-2 layout.

The Copa Airlines Business Class seats are wider, more spacious and definitely more comfortable than Economy, with lots more legroom and a more generous recline. In fact, I found the legroom to be better than in Qantas’ Boeing 737-800 Business Class. Most people would be able to get out of the window seat without the person in the aisle seat needing to stand up.

I thought that the back of the seat could have used a bit more padding, but it wasn’t really a problem for this relatively short flight.

There was no Wi-Fi on board and the only in-flight entertainment came from drop-down TV screens airing episodes of Just for Laughs.

The Copa Airlines safety video showed a completely different type of Business Class seat which appeared to recline into a lie-flat bed. Those seats are only found on Copa’s Boeing 737 MAX-9 fleet, which are used on some of the longer flights in the network. If you have a choice of aircraft type, the Business Class hard product is definitely much better on the MAX!

The Soft Product

Once boarding was almost complete, the purser introduced herself and offered a welcome drink of water or orange juice. This came in a paper cup with ice. (I thought the paper cup seemed a bit cheap, but it was probably a good thing in the end because the crew didn’t collect the cup before take-off.)

As the flight boarded, I observed the ground crew loading a lot of cargo onto the flight including fresh fruit and car parts. I guess this is to be expected when flying to an island!

The seat beside me remained empty. I was surprised by this because Copa Airlines gives US-style free upgrades to its top-tier Connect Miles members. Perhaps there just weren’t that many Copa elite flyers going to Aruba on a Tuesday morning? 😉

In fact, when my minimum upgrade bid cleared 48 hours before departure, none of the Business Class seats had been allocated yet. The flight ended up going out with 11/16 Business seats filled. I suspect most of the other passengers had also upgraded.

The friendly flight attendant took my breakfast and drink orders before take-off. There were two light breakfast choices – an egg sandwich with chicken or French toast with dulce de leche.

I opted for the French toast, which was served on a tray with fresh grapes. The meal came with proper crockery, metal cutlery and glassware, as you would expect.

That was pretty much the extent of the service on this flight – which was totally fine given the length of the flight.

At the top of descent, the captain made a long announcement advising of the expected arrival time and weather for Curaçao. He repeatedly said Curaçao in both Spanish and English, even though we were flying to the neighbouring island of Aruba! A few minutes later, he clarified that we are in fact going to land in Aruba.

Before landing, one of the flight attendants personally thanked each of the passengers in Business Class for flying Copa.

We landed in sunny Aruba 15 minutes ahead of schedule. “Welcome to Curaçao”, the purser announced – prompting the cabin to erupt into laughter. It seems the crew was a bit confused, but the airport signage did at least say “Aruba”.

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include aviation, economics & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.