Panama‘s Copa Airlines is moving closer towards full membership in the Star Alliance; they’ve got a plane painted now:
(Image from Joe Walker/Aviation Week)
The carrier has previously announced a target of April 2012 for their join date and with the aircraft painted they seem to be progressing nicely towards that target.
Copa’s membership in Star Alliance will open up a number of additional routes and destinations for the group, They operate a fleet of 737s and E190s and don’t have a "real" premium cabin product but the majority of the routes they fly are also reasonably short, so the "domestic" first experience generally isn’t too bad.
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Great airline. Have flown them on a number of their routes (PTY-LAX/MEX/MCO/MIA), and would not hesitate to fly them again. As a (then) CO Platinum, I was upgraded 90+% of my flights, and the service up front was on par with (then) CO transcon service in domestic first.
As a United frequent flyer, their joining Star Alliance really doesn’t change much for me (have already enjoyed elite benefits on Copa for years). However, this should be a nice additional option for flyers in other Star Alliance programs. I’m wondering if Lufthansa will look into a PTY flight, to feed through Copa’s hub there. Iberia and KLM are already there.
Not sure if this has already been posted anywhere on Boarding Area, but noticed it on the Copa website and wanted to share:
2000 miles promotion
Buy now and register from March 19, 2012.
Register and fly between March 19 and May 19, 2012 on Copa Airlines or Copa Airlines Colombia and earn a onetime 2000 bonus miles.
Register at mileageplus.com, enter the promo code TB3M75 and your MileagePlus number.
Terms and Conditions:
Registration is required. Valid for MileagePlus members only. Valid for travel from March 19 to May 19,2012. Member will earn a onetime bonus of 2000 bonus miles for all qualifying travel. This offer is valid only on Copa Airlines and Copa Airlines Colombia (operated by Aero República) flights. Eligible classes of service are C, D, Y, B, M, H, Q, K, V, U, S, W, E, L , T and N. Bonus miles are not transferable and do not qualify toward Premier status. MileagePlus number must be included on each reservation. Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for bonus miles to post to your MileagePlus account. This promotion cannot be combined with other promotions. All terms and conditions of the MileagePlus program apply.