What’s the definition of “luxurious” while 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 completely different listing of things than it would while 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 because the afternoon earlier than and had arrived on an in a single day flight. So there was one amenity right here that basically bought me excited: a sizzling bathe. You inform the entrance desk you wish to use the lads’s or ladies’s bathe they usually open it up for you.
As soon as inside, you’ve bought an area to your self that’s like a lodge room lavatory, with a bathroom, sink, and bathe crammed 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 bought a great breakfast and a few espresso and sat in a cushty area 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 in addition the handy hub location in Panama Metropolis. For those who’re flying to South America, a cease in Panama breaks the journey up properly they usually have a stopover program if you wish to add on one other vacation spot.
For those who’re flying enterprise class on Copa Airways, have Gold standing with them or through a Star Alliance companion, or have already got entry to United Membership lounges by means of a premium bank card, it received’t value 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 in a position to enter with him as a companion. See the total listing of who’s certified to enter right here.
In the event that they’re not full, that is now a part of the Precedence Go program, together with the opposite Copa lounge in a unique terminal. The Copa Lounge in Terminal 2 holds 420 individuals, so that you often received’t get turned away. If all else fails although, there are two extra choices within the two terminals by means of Precedence Go: 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 an enormous enchancment. The terminal doesn’t really feel like two parallel hallways of duty-free outlets and nothing else. It has much more pure mild and excessive ceilings, with higher locations to eat. Maybe the most important enchancment although is a Copa Membership Lounge that’s nearly twice as giant because the previous one.
When you’re in, you get a spot to chill out, quick Wi-Fi, and snacks. There’s an precise bar to sit down at and lounge chairs the place you may 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 might want to refresh and lockable storage lockers in the event you don’t wish to carry your suitcase round, together with open cabinets.
As you may see from the photograph on the prime, it’s fairly spacious and none of it feels cramped. It has actually taken the expertise of ready in 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 as if sufficient or not will depend on while you arrive. After 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 issue discovering an empty chair anyplace.
The foods 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 range.
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 in the event you’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 area crammed with good leather-based furnishings and actual crops. Some areas are meant for stress-free 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 might want to nap and 4 non-public workplace areas if you might want to do video calls.
Total it is a nice retreat to chill out in, supplied 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 healthier for purchasing than anything, it is a good retreat from the unrelenting consumerism.
The Unique Terminal 1 Copa Lounge in Panama
After 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 many of the worldwide flights are actually going out and in of there. In case you 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 world vacationers’ hub. When you’ve explored the restricted choices within the quick meals courtroom and appeared on the identical 5 responsibility free outlets that preserve showing in numerous components of the terminal, there’s not a lot that’s going to carry your curiosity. You may as nicely hit the lounge and get some work carried out or learn a e book in consolation.
This older one will really feel acquainted in the event you’ve hung out 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 no less than gotten extra environmentally aware since then, although the meals within the newer lounge doesn’t make me assume 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 with no 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 possibility, purchase your means in with a Precedence Go membership.
This put up in regards to the Copa Membership lounges in Panama Metropolis, in terminals 1 and a pair of, was up to date in 2025.
