Copa Airlines Reviews 

I’m on a 6 hours flight and I even being 5’4” I’m having trouble placing my legs. There is NO entertainment and no place to put the phone to watch a movie. Seats are incredibly tight. It’s annoying, uncompromising and obviously a very old plane, not traveling agains with this airline. And one more thing, the food is disgusting.

I changed my flight, from Monday January 26th to January28th, because of an email that said my flight was canceled and a customer support rep that confirmed this. Two of my friends, who I am traveling with, were told by two other reps that the flight wasn't canceled. I asked my rep to change my ticket back and she wants me to pay fees. Why would I pay fees because Copa airlines employees are not on the same page. The flight is either canceled or it's not. Ive been on hold for over a half hour now.

I had an extremely unprofessional and uncomfortable experience with a Copa customer service agent named Kevin at the international check-in area in Terminal 2 at Tocumen International Airport (PTY) at approximately 5:00 PM.

I went to the airport in person to avoid issues because the Copa app would not allow online check-in. I was traveling with a large surfboard on an EVA Air itinerary booked through trip.com, with the Panama–Los Angeles leg operated by Copa. Since Copa was handling the first leg, I wanted to confirm the check-in and baggage process face-to-face.

Kevin was stationed at the entrance to the check-in desks. When I attempted to explain that I had checked baggage, special equipment, and a partner airline ticket, he repeatedly cut me off, raised his voice, and aggressively insisted that I use the kiosk. He did not allow me to finish a single sentence and became increasingly confrontational. The interaction was hostile, dismissive, and completely inappropriate for a customer-facing role.

I disengaged and went directly to the counter agents.

In contrast, the counter staff were professional, patient, and competent. They spent about 30 minutes resolving the connecting flight issues and clearly explained the surfboard check-in process. The problem was manageable once I reached someone willing to listen.

What made the situation worse was that Kevin later approached the counter multiple times and whispered to the agents while they were assisting me—after having refused to help earlier. The behavior was unnecessary and uncomfortable.

I later spoke with a manager, Roger, who implied this was not the first complaint involving this employee and advised me to document the experience formally.

I am a business owner, and I’ll say this plainly:
A company’s reputation is defined by its frontline employees. Kevin’s behavior reflected poorly on Copa and turned what should have been a routine check-in into a negative experience.

I hope Copa takes this feedback seriously and addresses the issue to prevent similar incidents in the future.

lack of accountability,very poor answers and discrimination regarding flight cancelations matters, some people gets accommodations and expenses covered and others don't, claims are poorly answered without any customer's satisfaction.

Payment get dejected, for whatever card you use. The invite to fill out a form with the promise the helpdesk will solve on 3 hours gives no response. Offering to pay at the airport desk, with reservations in hand. Airport desk can not accept payment. Calling helpdesk for solution is no use. They cannot resolve the payment in time. Missed flight.

We were involuntarily bumped from an overbooked flight and then incorrectly marked as “no-shows.” Because of this error, Copa’s system automatically canceled our return flights, leaving us stranded in Brazil for 20 days with no way home.

Copa then demanded nearly $3,000 to reinstate tickets that were canceled due to their own mistake. No compensation was offered. Even after everything that happened, they assigned us to separate seats unless we paid extra for seat selection.

It took 20 days of back-and-forth emails just to get our tickets reinstated. The only reason our return flights were ultimately reinstated was because we filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Department of Transportation. Without that intervention, Copa appeared prepared to keep the money we had already paid—despite the fact that we had used the outbound portion of our round-trip tickets—and leave us stranded in a foreign country unless we gave in to their demands.

On top of that, we were later stranded in Los Angeles for an additional two days due to oversold flights.

This experience showed a complete lack of accountability and concern for passengers. The company had no issue leaving people stranded or demanding excessive payments to fix problems they created. Extremely disappointing.

Horrible takes money from credit cards, gets deducted then cancelled. Over and over and over. Garbage primitive tech, an airline in 2026 as advanced as 2006z Shame on you wasting checkout time . Garbage primitive thought idiology

I want to sincerely thank Julio and Angelina at the Copa Airlines check-in desk at Miami International Airport for their exceptional service. I had an issue that resulted from something I didn’t plan well on my end, and they went completely out of their way to help me fix it.
They were patient, kind, and genuinely cared about finding a solution. If it weren’t for their help, I would have been stuck in a different state and unable to go on my trip. Thanks to them, everything worked out.
I will truly never forget this kind gesture. Julio and Angelina are a credit to Copa Airlines, and I hope they receive the recognition they deserve.

I purchased Business Class tickets with refundable fare conditions. The tickets were properly canceled, yet only part of the refund has been issued. The remaining tickets have not been refunded, with no clear explanation or timeline. As per the fare rules and contract of carriage, I am entitled to a full refund to the original form of payment. I request immediate processing of the pending refunds and direct communication from a resolution or supervisory team.

Copa airlines, Gloria de costumer service, la primera persona que uno ve al llegar a counter para sacar los pases de abordar brinda muy mala atención en el aeropuerto de MÍA, no sirve para estar ahí genera mucho caos y no sabe explicar o lo hace de mala forma.

Gloria is the first person that you see at the customer service counter. She is supposed to be a useful and attentive person. She is the complete opposite of that. She pays little attention to the people that she is attending to. She generates tremendous amounts of chaos and is entirely unable to explain correctly or answer any questions.

Horrible, went through the whole process of booking the flight, paid, the payment went through. Then they sent an email five minutes later saying they canceled my ticket because they couldn’t validate my card?? Even though the payment WORKED! I saw the payment was simply refunded, and the email said I could try booking again, or go to a nearby office (which is only open limited weekday hours) I looked to try and rebook and the same flight was now almost twice the price. Clearly a money scam. Tried calling but after 45 minutes of waiting and no one picking up I gave up. Will never try booking again. Wasted a whole day during my travels trying to sort this

I paid $67 for two seats, but seat 19A was completely filthy, covered in what looked like chocolate.
The seatbelt was also dirty and unusable.

I reported this to the flight attendants, but no one took responsibility or offered a real solution.
I was forced to change seats on my own, risking taking another passenger’s seat.

Because nothing was done, I had to sit apart from my family, which made the flight stressful.
Paying for a service and receiving this level of neglect and indifference is unacceptable.

Wrong communication and very poor customer service.
I had my flight delayed and they provided the options of refund. I booked another ticket with a different carrier that would work better for me.
When calling their customer service, I was advised that they would not offer the reimbursement and that I would have to file a claim with their refund team and wait 15 days.
Very unfriendly customer service during the 2 interactions I had with them.

Complete mess of an airline! They overbooked our flight from Mexico City to Panama by 10 people! Then they told us we could get on the next flight at 1am… oh wait, they overbooked that one also! Never again!!!!

They merged my brother's 2 last names on the E ticket. I called their call center multiple times. First they blamed me for it, and wanted to charge me USD 150 extra for it, but I found proof that it wasn't me, but it's their system that does that. After multiple calls they started giving false phone numbers saying to call there. They wouldn't fix anything. Nor reassure that nothing will happen because of the systems way of printing E tickets. I am very frustrated. No fix no reassurance, offered to cancel but no refund. I am very upset I have the recordings of the calls. If I had known that Copa is this bad I would have never bought a ticket with them

Booked my flight to Rio de Janeiro and we had a stop in Panama City and we were in the air the pilot announced he had to rush the flight because he was running out of fuel. So we had to stay in Panama City overnight and fly to Rio de Janeiro because they didn’t have any flights going to Rio only in the next day by the afternoon. The flight was leaving late and we only got on Rio de Janeiro the next night around 1:30/ 2:00pm so we have loose 2 days of our trip and I had special doctor appointment for my son and couldn’t make it to the appointment. It was very stressful because we also did not have any clothes they were all ready to Rio. Fair enough refund.

I booked business class for a 6 hour overnight flight and got a defective seat and defective movie system. I get it, things happen. I asked customer service for a partial refund from the business class fare to the economy fare. They offered me a $100 flight credit. Totally unacceptable.

If I could give less than one star, I would.

The staff was rude and completely unprepared, both in terms of communication and information. They didn’t let me board the flight, claiming I was missing a vaccine that, according to the official government website of my destination, is NOT REQUIRED.

I tried to explain the situation, but they suddenly said they didn’t speak English and cut off the conversation, asking me to move aside. A few minutes later, with some excuse, they made me leave the area, and I found out my luggage had already been removed from the plane.

The flight itself was heavily delayed and would have made me miss my connection, also with the same airline.

No explanations, no help. Every person kept sending me to someone else. In the end, I asked for a written statement of what happened so I could file a complaint, but of course, they refused to cooperate.

The worst airline ever.

One of the worst airlines I’ve ever flown with. Honestly, even Ryanair and EasyJet (both low-cost carriers) are way better than Copa Airlines.

I flew from DC to Panama on November 4th. Before the flight, I received an email outlining what to expect, and it explicitly claimed that every economy passenger would have an individual screen. That was a complete lie. Not only was there no screen, but the seat itself was ridiculously tiny, honestly one of the smallest I’ve ever sat in. The plane felt ancient, uncomfortable, and unbearably hot for a five-hour flight.

And for a supposedly “non–low-cost” airline, the meal was laughable. On a five-hour journey, all they served was a bowl of fruit and a sad omelette. The tray was miniature, probably because there was barely anything on it to begin with. To make things worse, they actually charge you just to pick a standard seat. I’ve never had to pay for a basic seat with any real airline (AA, BA, United, etc) unless upgrading.

At this point, Copa Airlines shouldn’t pretend to be anything other than a low-cost carrier, because that’s exactly the level of service they offer. I will absolutely never fly with them again. Truly one of the worst airlines out there.

If I could give this airline zero stars, I would.

Their customer service isn’t just unhelpful. They’re dismissive and outright rude. I spoke with two different agents about changing my flight: one before departure, one mid-journey. Both gave me contradictory answers. Worse, after I had already begun traveling, they tried to charge me more than what I was originally told.

I now hold not one but two flight credits with this airline each deliberately devalued to the point of worthlessness. By the time you try to use them, you’re lucky if they’re worth $10. That’s not a credit. That’s a bait-and-switch.

To make matters worse, they claimed they had modified my trip when they hadn’t, then had the audacity to demand another payment to “fix” their own mistake.

This airline operates with an astonishing lack of integrity. If you value honesty, consistency, or even the bare minimum of customer care, avoid them at all costs. Flying with them doesn’t just feel inconvenient, it feels like being scammed under the guise of service.