Is Copa Reliable?

It's only been a week, but it looks like no one ever tried to get a Copa refund or use a bus ticket to Lima as a get out of jail free card.

Hasn't been the busiest of threads, has it? No threat to Nards for sure.

What's your time frame or plans Bob? Obviously if only want a 1 way then plan on spending time there, but were you planning on returning back to the U.S. for a visit or anything, or basically just staying in Ecuador if all works out? How much more is a round trip as opposed to one way? Have never flown Copa so not familiar with the pricing, but know A.A. for example the one way and round trip are pretty much the same price. Is it different with Copa, in as much that you'd be saving significantly buying a 1 way ticket?

I fly Copa on a regular basis. They are very strict on onward journey requirements. When I fly one way from the US to SA I repeatedly get asked for proof of onward/return travel. It does not need to be an airline ticket. Bus tickets work too. I have even gone as far holding another ticket (not purchasing it) and printing off the itinerary. Just have something to show. I have seen people refused boarding because of this.

If you are one-way to a country and say you are living there, they will ask for proof of residency as well.

When I flew United to Sao Paulo in August one-way I was not asked anything.


Matt-

j600rr wrote:

What's your time frame or plans Bob? Obviously if only want a 1 way then plan on spending time there, but were you planning on returning back to the U.S. for a visit or anything, or basically just staying in Ecuador if all works out?

The latter. Obviously, I will return to the US at some point, but it could be a fairly long time.

j600rr wrote:

How much more is a round trip as opposed to one way? Have never flown Copa so not familiar with the pricing, but know A.A. for example the one way and round trip are pretty much the same price. Is it different with Copa, in as much that you'd be saving significantly buying a 1 way ticket?

The difference is very substantial, probably in large part because I would be buying a refundable ticket -- since my intent would be to turn the return portion in for a refund.

The cheapest refundable RTs are about $1200, while a nonrefundable one-way is under $600.

If Matt is right about a bus ticket sufficing, I may go with that. A bus ticket from Guayaquil to Lima is only $40, which is OK for a throwaway.

I did something similar when going to the Philippines -- I bought a cheapo ticket to Hong Kong ($30 or so) that I had no intention of using. Unfortunately, flights out of Ecuador to neighboring countries are not at throwaway prices.

Bus ticket sounds the way to go. I was just thinking that if you had a general idea when you might be coming back, that you could buy a round trip for that time frame, and if needed just change the return date if the original return date needed to be changed.
Have done that several times with airlines other than Copa, and has been anything from about 70-100 dollars extra charge to change the return date. Not super cheap, but not overly extravagant either, at least in my opinion.

We just came back from the States on COPA out of Dulles.  They wanted to see our cedulas and the visa in the passports.  Once seen there were no further questions.