JFK-Panama City (PTY)-Mexico City (MEX) and Back in 2 Days

A few weeks ago I headed to NYC for a party (sponsored by the great people at Conde Nast Traveler) to, in part, celebrate the CNT article about the *A DO last year. Of course in the middle of the event, a “mistake” fare on Copa Airlines (CM) was announced. The fare? $225 USD from JFK to Mexico City (MEX) via Panama City (PTY) including all taxes and fees. I quickly pulled out my credit card, handed it to my friend Scott…and in no time had a reservation for a trip departing Saturday (yesterday) at 5am from JFK returning at 1:30pm local time from MEX on Sunday. A 10 hour layover in Panama City would allow for some sightseeing and an overnight + morning in MEX would allow for some sleep! So let the journey begin…

245am Sat. Feb. 20th
Beep beep beep. What the hell? Oh…it’s time to wake up. The Copa flight from JFK-PTY leaves at the obscene hour of 5am. Worse still…Copa boards a full hour before the flight. Technically that was 407am. Crazy. Knowing very well that there was no way I was going to wake up at 1145pm Friday night (I probably would still be up) to drive to JFK, I booked a room at the halfway decent JFK Hampton Inn. In reality I went to sleep about this time so amen for going to JFK the night before! Nothing special, but it was clean and had a decent rate.

So off to the airport. I parked in JFK’s long term parking lot which is about 469 miles from the terminal. After a long walk across the parking lot and an equally long AirTrain ride, we arrived at Terminal 4. I think for 2-3 day trips from now on I will be parking at the terminal instead of long term. The extra 10-15 or whatever per day is worth it to avoid that mess.

Check-in in Terminal 4 for Copa was also a mess. There was one business class check-in counter, one web check-in counter, and several economy class counters. Note to self (and the others doing this trip): check in online! There was 1 person in the web check-in line and about 50 in the regular check-in line! Copa Airlines participates in Continental Airline’s OnePass program. Thanks to my comped gold status (ends at the end of this month)…I scored business class upgrades on both outbound segments. I was excited for the experience. Upgrades cleared Thursday night for both Saturday segments. Based on what I had read, I was most definitely planning on waiting until the gate for the upgrade…so I was happy.

After about a 10 minute wait for the overly-needy couple in front of us to check-in…it was our turn. We were on separate records but checked in together. Let’s just say that they put the trainee on the business class desk today. In a word…slow. Ridiculously slow. After checking us in I got a good laugh when she gave us a questionnaire to answer about our check-in experience. I was nice about it and only faulted the 10 minute wait in line. Scott was more honest and put that both the in-line wait and the agent’s speed was unacceptable. Maybe I should “grow some balls”…but I have a hard time telling someone they suck. Haha.

Boarding passes in hand around 355am, we were told we could use the Oasis lounge at JFK but that boarding was starting soon so we should head to the gate. Lesson #1 regarding travel: don’t listen to inexperienced agents. At about 410am, the agent working the gate picked up the microphone to announce that an announcement would be made in the entire terminal that we were boarding…but we wouldn’t be boarding for another 15 minutes. I thought that was odd…but ok no big deal. Sure enough we heard a boarding announcement on the PA so we stood at the gate laughing. About 10 minutes later the gate agent again reached for the microphone. Without a second to spare, the entire plane jumped up and rushed to the gate. Chaos. That’s the only word I can use to describe the scene. Self-important people shouting to get out of their way…others blocking the EliteAccess carpet with no clue what was going on. The entire time I announce as loud as I can (amidst my frustration) that the plane wouldn’t leave without them. I still do not understand the “first on the plane” mentality. The plane is leaving this place and going to another. Everyone has seat assignments (this isn’t Southwest after all!) After the madness at the gate we were onboard a Copa 737-800 aircraft destined to Panama City (PTY). Copa’s hub is PTY so pretty much every flight is from or to Panama.

Predeparture drinks were served in business. The tray had OJ and water…but Scott asked what we could get and the answer was anything. We both had sparkling wine (which was absolutely disgusting) and attempted to keep our eyes open. The crew was fluent in English, the plane was clean, and we got our drinks. So far so good (minus boarding).

Takeoff was uneventful and soon we were on our way to Panama City. Service on this flight consisted of breakfast in both business and economy. Business breakfast consisted of a 2-course service starting with a fruit plate and breads…followed by eggs or something else (I can’t remember). I selected the eggs which were interesting in preparation. Some sort of scrambled eggs that were in tiny pieces with green pepper and onion. It was very tasty! I hate United’s breakfasts so this was a nice change. The flight crew was very friendly but did disappear for significant periods of time throughout the flight (this would become a common theme in business). After breakfast I slept quite a bit and only woke up 4 or 5 times only to find no flight attendant (I wanted water).

The landing in PTY was interesting as it seemed as if there was no attempt at a soft landing (another theme)…more of a “put er down now” type attitude. Not one of my hardest landings, but certainly made me think to myself that the pilot-in-charge could have tried harder. There was essentially no wind and plenty of runway.

Deplaning was another temper-tester as no one seemed to follow the front-to-back unwritten rule that we tend to follow in the US. It was more of a push your way out or be marched past attitude. Needless to say I didn’t have the warm and fuzzies. Given Copa’s close relationship with Continental, there is a President’s Club at PTY. It was fairly modern with the same crapo food, but did have a complementary bar (even for champagne which most PC’s charge for). One thing I should have asked but didn’t is whether or not my United Red Carpet Club membership would get me in. Scott has a PC membership so he got me in…but I can get into PCs in the US so I’m assuming that would work there too. Anyways…we made it in and stored our bags in the luggage room. Typically this is a small room with shelves, but this lounge had 5 keyed lockers for small things. We fit 2 backpacks and my coat in 1. There is a $20 deposit for the locker but that is well worth it to insure valuables are still there when you return. The deposit can be in cash (Panama uses the US Dollar or on a credit card). After storing our luggage we met up with Ray…another FlyerTalker who was on his way from MEX-PTY-LAX on the same fare. Scott and I got changed (coming from 32 degrees in NY to 90 in Panama) and off we went into town.

Note to self: review the 4 years of Spanish you took in high school because you suck at speaking it. My professors certainly would not be proud.

Luckily I did explain to the cab driver that we simply wanted to be dropped off in town so instead of $80 for 3 of us it was only $33. He thought we wanted a driving tour. Second note to self: negotiate with the cab drivers in Panama!

Anyways…we made it into town to the bank/commercial area. Without a map or information on Panama City we really had no idea where we were or where we were going (note 3: do research prior to showing up in a foreign city!) So we eventually found a Crowne Plaza and asked for a map and asked what we should do for lunch. The friendly front desk lady was nice enough to call for a map. We got 2 and were informed where we should head for a traditional Panamanian lunch. I still can’t tell you if we made it to the suggested restaurant, but we found a great local place and enjoyed a variety of different dishes. We also enjoyed a few local cervezas (beers). Unfortunately I decided to only take pictures of beer and drinks on my phone so those are the pictures that are attached at the moment. I will upload plenty more though once I get home (I’m writing this on my BlackBerry at 30+k feet headed to JFK at the moment – started on the MEX-PTY segment).

After a very cool lunch we decided to head over to “old town” (I can’t remember what the proper name is but it is something similar to cosco beach). Ray was familiar with the location (from reading about it I presume) so off we went. What an awesome place. We met an english-speaking lady at the restaurant who told us the area was similar to Habana (Havana) Cuba and I think she was pretty accurate from the pictures and stories I’ve seen. Nice shops, old town feel, neat restaurants with primarily outdoor seating, and rather friendly people. We went past several outdoor markets and I’m still kicking myself for not buying anything (no gifts for me or anyone else this trip). Then it was time to venture back to the airport for our connecting flight to Mexico City (MEX)…

Note for anyone doing a sightseeing trip to PTY: The cab ride from the airport to the city center was $33 for 3 people (30 mins). The cab ride to old town was $3 for 3 people (10 mins). The cab ride back to the airport was $25 for 3 (40 mins). So negotiate!

Back at the airport we went through security. What a mess! I had a lighter taken away from me. Scott got through with 3 beers (gifts from the restaurant we ate lunch at). Neither lighters or liquids are permitted through security. Go figure they caught the lighter but not the beers (2 bottles + 1 can).

Another 30-some minutes in the lounge and it was time to head to the gate. We went to the assigned gate and of course they changed it to a gate at the opposite side of the terminal. Note way too many: reconfirm the gate before leaving the lounge. Boarding was almost complete by the time we arrived at the gate (maybe 20 pax left), but they really do stop the regular line when anyone is on the EliteAccess carpet so we zipped in front of the line and were on the plane without delay. I’m used to United where they let 5 people from the regular line through before they stop to let red carpet folks through. Not at Copa.