What’s the definition of “luxurious” once you’ve been touring for 8, 12, 16 hours already and also you’re going through an extended layover at an airport? Your hierarchy of wants in all probability has an entire totally different record of things than it’ll once you’ve lastly gotten to the place you’re going. The Copa Membership Lounge on the Panama Metropolis airport goes to appear like heaven.
The primary time I went to a Copa Membership Lounge within the Panama Metropolis Airport, I had been on the transfer for the reason that afternoon earlier than and had arrived on an in a single day flight. So there was one amenity right here that basically obtained me excited: a sizzling bathe. You inform the entrance desk you wish to use the lads’s or ladies’s bathe and so they open it up for you.
As soon as inside, you’ve obtained an area to your self that’s like a lodge room toilet, with a bathroom, sink, and bathe stuffed with toiletries. I went in feeling like a sweaty unshaven bum. I got here out feeling like a person able to tackle the world. Then I obtained a great breakfast and a few espresso and sat in a cushty house with charging shops.
How a lot would that be price to you?
Copa Airways is our best choice for many flights within the Americas, partly due to the airline itself, partly due to the Star Alliance affiliation, and likewise the handy hub location in Panama Metropolis. In the event you’re flying to South America, a cease in Panama breaks the journey up properly and so they have a stopover program if you wish to add on one other vacation spot.
In the event you’re flying enterprise class on Copa Airways, have Gold standing with them or by way of a Star Alliance companion, or have already got entry to United Membership lounges by means of a premium bank card, it received’t price you something. I used to be lucky sufficient to be touring with a visitor who had excessive Star Alliance standing on my most up-to-date go to, so I used to be capable of enter with him as a companion. See the total record of who’s certified to enter right here.
In the event that they’re not full, that is now a part of the Precedence Move program, together with the opposite Copa lounge in a special terminal. The Copa Lounge in Terminal 2 holds 420 individuals, so that you normally received’t get turned away. If all else fails although, there are two extra choices within the two terminals by means of Precedence Move: The Lounge Panama and Tocumen Royal Saloon.
The Newer Copa Lounge in Terminal 2
Earlier this decade, a brand new terminal opened in Panama Metropolis and it’s a giant enchancment. The terminal doesn’t really feel like two parallel hallways of duty-free outlets and nothing else. It has much more pure gentle and excessive ceilings, with higher locations to eat. Maybe the largest enchancment although is a Copa Membership Lounge that’s virtually twice as giant because the previous one.
When you’re in, you get a spot to loosen up, quick Wi-Fi, and snacks. There’s an precise bar to sit down at and lounge chairs the place you possibly can look out on the runways. There are magazines to learn, computer systems to make use of, and a quite sparse household room that appears primarily designed to maintain the smallest ones out of the hair of enterprise vacationers. There are bathe services right here if you’ll want to refresh and lockable storage lockers for those who don’t wish to carry your suitcase round, together with open cabinets.
As you possibly can see from the photograph on the high, it’s fairly spacious and none of it feels cramped. It has actually taken the expertise of ready on your outbound flight up a number of notches.
That is now Copa’s largest lounge, with greater than 20,000 sq. ft and a capability of round 420 individuals. Whether or not that looks like sufficient or not depends upon once you arrive. Once I was there within the morning the place was half full. However different worldwide guests have reported that the lounge was packed to capability after they visited, with problem discovering an empty chair wherever.
The food and drinks are simply so-so. I used to be anticipating extra from a brand new lounge like this that’s catering to enterprise class vacationers, however like Panamanian delicacies itself, it was uninspiring total. Typical native beer, typical native meals, and never a lot of a variety.
It felt just like the previous United lounges in Houston earlier than they began getting extra beneficiant. However perhaps there’s some good rum on the bar for those who’re into that; it was too early and I didn’t test. All I noticed had been espresso machines, soda machines, low-cost tea, and water.
They spent most of their cash on the decor and furnishings it appears, with the gorgeous house stuffed with good leather-based furnishings and actual vegetation. Some areas are meant for enjoyable and socializing, whereas others have shops at each seat for plugging in a laptop computer or recharging the telephone/pill. There’s a “Quiet Room” with prolonged lounge chairs if you’ll want to nap and 4 personal workplace areas if you’ll want to do video calls.
Total this can be a nice retreat to loosen up in, offered you’re not a foodie anticipating “flagship lounge” delicacies such as you would get within the Center East, Asia, or Europe. Since even Terminal 2 in Tocumen Airport is best for buying than the rest, this can be a good retreat from the unrelenting consumerism.
The Authentic Terminal 1 Copa Lounge in Panama
Once I first visited the Copa Lounge at Panama Metropolis’s airport, it was the one one. A couple of years in the past they opened up the brighter and newer second terminal profiled above and a lot of the worldwide flights at the moment are going out and in of there. You probably have a flight from Terminal 1 although, home or close by, you may be checking into the T1 Copa lounge as a substitute.
Terminal 1 of this airport is extra like an outlet mall than a global vacationers’ hub. When you’ve explored the restricted choices within the quick meals court docket and appeared on the identical 5 responsibility free outlets that hold showing in numerous components of the terminal, there’s not a lot that’s going to carry your curiosity. You may as effectively hit the lounge and get some work accomplished or learn a e-book in consolation.
This older one will really feel acquainted for those who’ve frolicked within the lounges of United, their sister airline. Wen I used to be there this Copa Membership lounge even had the identical wasteful piles of plastic from shrink-wrapped processed cheese and little particular person cracker packets. I’m hoping they’ve a minimum of gotten extra environmentally aware since then, although the meals within the newer lounge doesn’t make me suppose the eating choices are going to be any higher right here.
See extra on all of the Copa Membership airline lounges right here, together with ones in Colombia, Guatemala, and Costa Rica. Enterprise class flights are sometimes accessible and not using a large premium, so test charges earlier than touring on the Copa web site. Or on Skyscanner. With a enterprise class ticket you’re all set for the lounge. If none of these are an choice, purchase your approach in with a Precedence Move membership.
This put up concerning the Copa Membership lounges in Panama Metropolis, in terminals 1 and a pair of, was up to date in 2025.