Posted by Seth on November 22, 2011 under frequent flyer, News, points | 
April 2012 is going to be a busy month for Star Alliance. That’s when Copa and Avianca-Taca are expected to become full members of the global alliance, culminating a process that has been ongoing for many months now. The official invitation to join was extended just earlier this month and it seems that the integration process will be completed incredibly quickly by global alliance standards. Normally the integration takes 12-18 months (or even longer if you’re Air India) but these carriers plan to do it much faster.
For Copa the process shouldn’t be too hard. They already use the same OnePass loyalty program as Continental and that will merge into the new MileagePlus program from United. There will still need to be bilateral agreements drawn up with the other alliance members and some adjustments on the inventory and computer systems side of things but they are pretty far ahead in the game.
For Avianca-Taca there is definitely some more work involved. Although the carrier has frequent flyer relationships with Star Alliance members United and Lufthansa there are still more steps required to get fully integrated. Still, Copa CEO Pedro Heilbronn confirmed that join date for both programs so it looks pretty good, at least for now.
One interesting bit about Copa joining the program is that, as of today, there are no long-haul flights into the Panama City hub from overseas. There are connection options from Dulles, O’Hare, Los Angeles, Houston and Newark, giving great integration to the United Airlines network, but not much beyond that. It will be interesting to see if joining into Star Alliance can bring some more long-haul traffic into that hub.
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Tags: Avianca, Chicago, Continental, Copa, frequent flyer, houston, Los Angeles, Lufthansa, Newark, Panama, points, Star Alliance, Taca, United, Washington DC
Posted by Seth on April 13, 2011 under frequent flyer, Mileage Run, points, Trip Reports |
There’s really nothing quick about this trip. The Pan Am Clipper could make it from New York City to Seattle faster than I will. But the itinerary sure is an entertaining one.
It all started when there was a mistake loaded in the routing rules for Continental flights between the two cities. Most fares are limited to non-stop flights only or just a couple connections in a specific sequence. This particular fare, however, had pretty much no rules. If you could dream it – and if you could get a booking engine to process it – then you could connect pretty much anywhere in the Americas en route between the two cities. It was, in Mileage Run terms, a gold mine, particularly given that multi-stop routings are harder and harder to find.
Connections in Bogota, Panama City, Panama and Florida worked. So did connections in Hawaii. And that is how I find myself passing over the Golden Gate Bridge, headed westbound to Honolulu, on my way to Seattle. Some folks managed to be even more creative than I was, with multiple trips between the mainland and Hawaii on the same ticket. Me? I’m settling for a six-segment routing that covers Hawaii, Texas, Florida, Ohio and Illinois.
The look on the ticket agent’s face when I asked her to print my boarding passes was fantastic. As she traced my itinerary segment-by-segment and counted off the connecting cities, each more the wrong direction than the next, the confusion changed to shock and then disbelief. The part where she called me crazy was pretty entertaining, too. And the fact that she’s not wrong doesn’t hurt the situation.
All told, I’m flying somewhere around 12,000 miles instead of the normal ~2,400 miles to get there. Definitely not normal, but for the price it is hard to beat. Most the segments got upgraded and I’ve got power at my seat so I’m getting some work done and relaxing. A friendly group of flight attendants, one of whom recently celebrated her 40th anniversary with the company and who is still hustling up and down the aisles, certainly helps the time pass quickly as well.
Six hours down, thirty to go, and the trip is great so far. We’ll see how I feel tomorrow after a few more hours inside the aluminum tube.
Tags: Chicago, Continental, Florida, frequent flyer, Hawaii, houston, Mileage Run, New York City, Panama, points, Seattle, Trip Report, upgrade
Posted by Seth on October 5, 2010 under Trip Reports |
I’m a pretty big fan of visiting Panama. Each of my previous three visits to the country has been spectacular. Still, the 5 hour flight from New York City and the associated time and expense can make frequent visits a bit difficult. Imagine my joy when I was visiting a friend last week and found out that I would not only get to enjoy Washington, DC, but also Panama. Woohoo!
It turns out that there was an event that evening being hosted by the Panamanian Ambassador. I was not necessarily invited, per se, but my friend was and she added me on as a guest. So there I was, in the middle of a torrential rainstorm, visiting Central America in the middle of Washington, DC.
The event was even more entertaining for me because I was the only member of our group attending who had previously met the Panamanian Ambassador to the United States. It was a meeting of chance at the Continental/Copa Presidents Club in Panama City this past March. Some friends and I were on our way back home from a fantastic day of partying in Panama and Mexico City and we were preparing for the redeye flight with a few Soberanas at the bar. It was also the middle of March Madness and they had the Duke-Baylor game on TV. It turns out that Jaime Alemán Healey, the Ambassador, is a Duke alum and a pretty big fan. He was at the bar cheering and having a blast. There were the pesky issues that with only a couple minutes to play the game was still very close and his flight back up to Dulles was getting ready to depart, but a true fan would never let that get in the way. Suffice it to say that Duke won and he made his flight.
Fast forward seven months and I got to retell that story to him and some other guests in his home. That was entertaining, particularly as he nodded along, acknowledging his rather vocal support of the Blue Devils during the game. It was quite an enjoyable moment for me.
Moral of the story? Make friends with folks in Washington, DC who have access and go to Embassy parties. They’re a lot of fun and a great way to get a bit of access to the countries without having to travel all the way there.
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Posted by Seth on April 23, 2010 under Trip Reports |
About half-way through a day of tourism, significant beer consumption and various other fun, a group of five of us were relaxing in Panama City and started talking about our frequent flier account balances and dream trips that we were looking to book. One guy said he had ~150,000 points. Another mentioned ~95,000. And then I noted that I had 206. The reply, “Well 206,000 isn’t so bad.” No. Two. Hundred. Six. Suffice it to say that the group all got very quiet.
How is it possible that someone flying as much as I am only has 206 points in their primary earning account? Quite simple, really: I burn them, too. A lot. I’ve burned somewhere in the range of 750,000 points in the past 18 months on trips all over the world. A lot of trips, most of them in the pointy end of the plane, and the miles disappear just as quickly as they show up in the account. If I had been earning more miles I’d almost certainly have burned more, too.
Moral of the story? Burn your points as you earn them. If you want to keep one ticket’s worth in an “emergency reserve” that might make sense, but with the way the airlines treat the programs it is important to remember that generally speaking the points will never have more value in the future than they do right now.
And, lest anyone be worried for me, that balance is recovering nicely and I still have more than 500,000 points socked away in various accounts, all of which are looking to be redeemed in the future.
Posted by Seth on April 2, 2010 under Trip Reports |
Of the five flights last week I managed to get decent video on takeoff for two of them: Mexico City to Panama City and Orlando to Newark. Leaving Mexico is fun because of the many random airplanes around the airport that you get to see. Their military has an Anatov An-32 prop out on the tarmac and there are a few very classic 737s (-200s) out in the charter operations area.
Take-off from Orlando isn’t all that exciting but still fun to watch.
Posted by Seth on March 31, 2010 under Trip Reports |
Although quite tempting, we ended up not chartering the helicopter while we were in Panama City this past weekend. But that didn’t stop me from grabbing a few shots from above on approach while returning from Mexico City. The weather was somewhat ridiculously hazy but in many ways that just added to the beauty of the views.
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| Looking down on the Amador Causeway and the southern entrance to the Panama Canal just before landing at Tocumen airport |
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| Casco Antico in the foreground and the rest of Panama City behind, just before turning onto final approach to Tocumen airport |
Seeing a city on final approach or during takeoff is still one of my favorite views.
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Posted by Seth on March 29, 2010 under Trip Reports |
My first trip to Panama City was almost exactly one year ago. I was rather smitten by the city then; I fell for it hard. Even with the lack of decent signage on the streets it is relatively easy to get around and the people are wonderful. So is the food. I truly didn’t think that I could enjoy the city any more than I already had. Fast forward to yesterday and it turns out I was wrong. The city is getting better as it ages without losing much of the charm or friendly feel that made it so wonderful last time around.
It probably didn’t hurt that for this trip we had a guide and driver, Blad. Sure, we had some miscommunications that resulted in him not showing up for an hour or so after we thought he would, but that just gave us an opportunity to start drinking local beers earlier in the day. And we did. A lot. Having Blad drive us around meant we had no worries about a designated driver so all five of us were able to thoroughly enjoy the various drinking opportunities, along with the other tourism bits. I’m generally not a huge fan of a guided tour but in this case it was a private guide who was willing to do pretty much whatever we wanted. We revised the itinerary several times, even after we showed up, based on the time constraints we had. He was also willing to deal with specific special requests we had, like the need for a van to carry five of us rather than cramming in to a smaller car. And the need for that van to have a cooler and the first stop after leaving the airport to involve acquiring beer for that cooler. Yeah, it was like that, and it was wonderful.
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| One of the many custom paint jobs on the buses in Panama City |
Our first stop on the day was a restaurant on the Amador Causeway. The causeway was built from landfill from the dredging of the Canal and connects three small islands off the coast of the city proper. For most of the past 100 years the Causeway was the property of the United States, serving as a CIA listening post base for the US’s operations in South America among other famed responsibilities. Now it has been developed into a series of parks, hotels, restaurants and discotheques. There is also a Smithsonian research post on one of the islands and a number of marinas, including ferry trips to some of the nearby islands. Oh, and it also still serves as the gateway to the Canal, offering magnificent views of the ships passing through and of the Bridge of the Americas, the main north-south crossing for the Canal and the Pan-American highway.
After lunch (breakfast, really, since we all slept on the redeye flights into town) we headed north, up the Canal to the visitor center at Miraflores. The operations of the Canal and the locks still leave me in awe even a year later. I could easily sit and watch the ships flow through for hours. Well, it would be easier if there were shade on the fourth floor observation deck where the views are really the best. But it is still completely worth the trip up to the locks for an hour or two. Seeing a ship descend 18 meters in mere minutes and then be moved along to the next section of the Canal with such precision is amazing, especially given the tight tolerances they are dealing with and the fact that it is pretty much the same system that they used 90+ years ago when it was originally built. The fact that the large container ships passing through pay more than a quarter million dollars each is also pretty impressive. The canal clears about $5MM daily in revenue from the fees charged to ships making the transit.
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| The old operations building at Miraflores and one of the hudredss of crew that pass the boats through every day |
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| Controlling the passage of a ship through the Canal with a locomotive and tie lines |
After visiting the locks the value of having Blad as a guide truly showed itself. I know the route on the roads between the Causeway, Miraflores and Casco Viejo (our next stop) but Blad delivered a surprise for us. We pulled off the highway and onto a series of back roads and eventually to a parking lot pretty much directly under the Ponte des Americas, the Bridge of the Americas. Even better views than are available from the Amador Causeway and the ability to walk right down to the water if you want. The area is used by fishermen, too, as a launch point and for cleaning the daily catch. That definitely adds to the aura (and smell) of the spot. But the views are phenomenal. Definitely worth adding it to the tour itinerary, assuming you can find it.
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| Looking out at the Bridge of the Americas |
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| Fishing boats on the shore serve as reminder that the Canal area is used for more than just cargo |
As the afternoon wore on we headed back down into the heart of Panama City and the Casco Viejo. This section of town was the most changed sine the visit last year. There was a lot of construction then and there is still a ton today but the effects of the regentrification efforts are clear. A number of new restaurants, cafes, shops and hotels are now open in the neighborhood while the open presence of druggies and prostitutes is diminished a bit. Don’t get me wrong – they’re still definitely still present and noticeable – but overall the neighborhood is more visit-able than just a year ago. In addition to walking along the sea-wall and enjoying the sunset views over the Pacific Ocean we also stopped in for a quick drink at one of the new restaurants, Sibaritas Club. Prices were definitely higher than other restaurants in town – more in line with what you’d pay in the USA, not in Panama – but not outrageous by any means. A meal for two with a bottle of wine would run around $75, depending on just how much you choose to eat. But the wine selections are quite nice and the menu and food looked great (we didn’t have time to eat).
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| One of many birds in the Canal area |
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| A couple using the Casco Viejo as a backdrop for a bunch of photos |
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| Another bird on the shoreline with the Bridge of the Americas in the background |
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| One of many restored facades in the Casco Viejo |
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| And a not no restored yet facade, too |
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| A couple enjoying the view of the Multicentro section of town across the flats and the bay |
And then our 7 hour sojourn in Panama City was complete. Yeah, it was a bit rushed and we were exhausted from the partying all night Friday night and then going straight to the airport and only sleeping a little bit on the plane and then diving right back into drinking again. But it was still a great time and an opportunity to see that Panama City is getting better with age. Guess I’ll have to come back, again.
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| Sunset across the bay. Time to head back to the airport! |
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Posted by Seth on February 16, 2010 under Trip Reports |
Four flights covering 7,400 miles is not really all that much for a weekend of travel. Nothing to sneer at, to be sure, but not a ton of miles covered. The fact that I’m earning 150% credit thanks to the booking class helps to justify the trip, as does the rather great sale fare that I got the tickets at. Plus, there is the fun of flying on Copa Air, a/k/a bizarro-world Continental.
Continental and Copa share a lot of similarities in their operations. That makes sense considering that Continental used to own a decent chunk of the Panamanian carrier. And even now that Continental has divested their ownership share Copa still seems to behave a lot like Continental. They share a frequent flyer program – OnePass – and the Copa flight attendant uniforms strongly represent the last generation of Continental’s, for example. And then there is the fact that their logos are significantly similar and that the two carriers operate with immunity from the United States to Panama and connections beyond. Looking around in the galley on one of the flights I noticed that a couple of the bins are labeled as Continental rather than Copa. Yeah, they are very tight.
But not everything is exactly the same. There are just enough differences to make flying on Copa a somewhat jarring experience. Sure, the upgrades still come through generally (I got all 4 this weekend) but Copa serves real meals on all their flights and serves booze from real bottles rather than minis. As it would be described in India, “Same same, but different.”
I was conscious for three of the four flights this weekend. The first – a 5:07am departure from New York City – I slept through entirely. The others, however, were rather pleasant experiences. We had printed menus on one of the three and the meals were consistent enough that I got to try one of everything that they are serving these days, I think. There were ice cream sundaes at the end of each meal, and that goes a long way towards making a flight a success. Of course, unlike Continental Copa doesn’t serve Grand Marnier on their flights. Instead they offer a “Rum of the Month” program in Classe Ejecutiva and I took full advantage of that. Sortof.
It turns out that this month the catering folks only put the good rum in the carts in the back of the plane. So the first two times I ordered the ron especial I was actually drinking Bacardi. I knew that it wasn’t that good but I just assumed I didn’t like the special rum. It was only on my last fight, flight from Panama City back to New York, that I was able to have the conversation with the flight attendant and understand what was being served and solve that problem. Thank goodness, as the special this month – Abuelo Añejo 12 year – was much, much, much better than the Bacardi. I’m no longer wondering why I have to use so much ginger ale to cut it to provide decent flavor, for example.
Beyond the rum there are a number of other nice things about the Copa experience. Full meals on all the flights, for example. It isn’t gourmet by any stretch but the food is pretty decent. I had steak, chicken and different chicken as my three meals and all were completely tolerable. Sure, there was a strange double salad first course on one of the flights but, well, it didn’t kill me.
Oh, and they serve ice cream sundaes on all the lunch and dinner flights. Yummy!
The food service was also much slower than I’m used to. On one of the flights it was 45 minutes before the flight attendant showed up to ask what we wanted and another 30 minutes before drinks showed up. Certainly not the end of the world, but less attentive than I would expect from most airlines in the forward cabin. There’s a decent enough explanation for the slow service. There is only one flight attendant working in the front cabin, expected to serve 14-16 passengers. It simply isn’t possible for that to play out well. But that’s the way they roll. Maybe they have to since they serve a full meal in coach to the 150+ folks back there and that needs the extra body but it does diminish the service up front a bit.
Beyond the food and booze the flights were a great opportunity to meet people. I was wearing my jetBlue shirt on the outbound flights and that was enough for the guy across the aisle on the JFK-Panama segment to start up a conversation. Turns out that he used to work for jetBlue and now works for Copa in their airport operations group. He commutes between Panama and New York most weekends. We had an interesting conversation about impending expansion of the terminal in Panama City, the needs of the terminal (showers in the Presidents Club!) and how incredibly convenient it is as a connection point heading to Central or South America.
I met Tony, a guy who works in the elevator business. We talked about our shared inability to speak Spanish, random visits to various Central American cities and how to better take advantage of the miles he’s been earning all these years. I truly hope he does better than he has with them because he has never redeemed any and, quite frankly, that is a shame. On the plus side, I think I’ve started the education process for him and explained some of the better options he has with all those points.
And then, sitting in the Presidents Club in Panama City, I saw a guy who was obviously from New York (the Duane Reade bags give it away) and who looked pretty familiar. I introduced myself and it turns out that we had met a while back at a FlyerTalk event. We chatted for a bit in the lounge and then ended up sitting next to each other on the flight back to New York. He was wrapping up a weekend in Buenos Aires and me from Mexico City. Similar stories and adventures though also completely different.
Such is the life of the frequent fliers.
Posted by Seth on April 2, 2009 under Uncategorized |
With its prime location sandwiched between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, Panama is full of delicious seafood to be had. I saw whole fish, filleted fish, crustaceans of many varieties and, most commonly, ceviches. Just about every place we ate had a ceviche of some sort available. Shrimp, scallops and sea bass (or some other light whitefish) were the most common options, though octopus and some more exotic choices showed up from time to time. As ridiculously simple as ceviche is – some chopped peppers and onion, lime juice and the fish – it is also ridiculously delicious. I had several servings, and they were all quite good. Another nice thing about the ceviche in Panama is that it is generally pretty cheap. Most places it is $2-3 for a serving; even at the luxury resort in the jungle where we stopped for a beer and appetizers it was only $7, and most everything else on the menu was in the $12-18 range.
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| Ceviche at one of the several places I had it |
There are also many other seafood options to be found if you like your food actually cooked with heat rather than citric acid.
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| Calamares and fried plantains |
And the meat options are pretty good, too. We had breakfast at the Azul Cafe near the Marriott and I had a couple different things, including steak and fried corn meal, as well as an empanada. All very good food and, again, rather cheap (we walked out for $10 following a decently filling breakfast).
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| Breakfast of champions; no, those are not eggs |
Dinner one night was at the Lebanese restaurant Beirut, across the street from the Marriott hotel. They served the best middle-eastern food I’ve had outside of that region. The baba ganouj was delicious, with a slight smoky flavor to it and the pita was cooked fresh and served still hot out of the oven. The meats were well seasoned and actually had good flavors to them, unlike what I have typically had in the USA. They have both indoor and outdoor seating, and for those interested in an after-dinner smoke, hookahs are available tableside for those sitting outside.
The best meal we had was at a restaurant that doesn’t serve up traditional Panamanian cuisine. It was at Bistro Ten, a French/fusion restaurant. The original branch is located off of Calle 50 near the Marriott, but we had trouble finding that one. We were pleasantly surprised to find an outpost in the Pacific Place shopping mall, adjacent to the Courtyard hotel where we were staying. The mall actually has a bunch of dining options, including a whole dining terrace, high above the shopping mayhem and filled with a few high-end dining options such as Bistro Ten, a cevicheria, a Veuve Cliquot bar, an espresso bar and a couple others. It was packed on Saturday night with folks enjoying the evening. It was less crowded on Sunday night, and that was when we settled in to eat there.
The concept of Bistro Ten is pretty interesting – high-end cuisine for $10/plate. Of course, this is somewhat misleading as there are a number of options on the menu that are much more expensive (NY Strip steak for $25 and a rack of lamb for $29), but there are plenty of options in the $10-12 range that were quite good. The shrimp spring rolls with a citrus dipping sauce were quite well done, as was the calamari stuffed with pork and potatoes. The black sesame encrusted scallops were dry – the fault of the sesame, I believe – but the sauce they came with was quite good. For the main courses we had the pasta with veggies and a light alfredo sauce and a steak “indochine.” Both were delicious. The steak was cooked just right and the sauce/glaze was a perfect combination of flavor and spice.
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| More ceviche; never enough! |
Tons of great food to be had in Panama and I know that we barely scratched the surface (even though I ordered double at several meals). If you thought the only reason to go was to see the Canal think again. The food makes it a destination all on its own.
Posted by Seth on March 30, 2009 under Uncategorized |
Casco Viejo, also known as the old city or the ancient city (Casco Ancien) is the bit of Panama City that exists out on a small peninsula at the western edge. It is the remnants of bits built 300-400 years ago, as well as the site of important buildings like the president’s residence and offices. It is also, as was recently relayed to me in a story, home to many of the “glue sniffers and prostitutes” that the city has. Yeah, it isn’t particularly glorious as far as places to visit, but if you’re in Panama City and don’t stop by you’ve done yourself a disservice. It is a combination of old and renewed, destitute and restored, degenerate and upscale. It is everything all at once. And it is a bit scary, but that is a good thing.
As you head into the area there are a few things to consider. One of them is that many of the buildings surrounding you are derelict and appear as though they might collapse at any given moment. Even the restored buildings look a bit suspect in many cases. And then there is the fact that you are out on a peninsula. That makes it easy to defend in the good old days when the attacks would only come from the sea. These days, with the maze of one way streets and dead ends it just increases the risks of getting lost, turned around and otherwise confused in a slightly sketchy part of town.
Lest my introduction to the area seem less than ideal, let me be very clear. I wouldn’t at all be intimidated into skipping it. The area itself is completely safe (lots of cops around) and has a certain sense of beauty to it, even amongst the run down buildings that make up large parts of the area.
We arrived in the area somewhere around 10am and still hadn’t had breakfast. As we drove around, hoping to find a building that resembled something historic rather than something derelict, we passed a reasonably nice looking cafe. We found a parking space around the corner, in the shadows of the Cathedral, and wandered back to grab a quick bite to eat. The Gourmet Cafe actually produced pretty good food. The menu was all in English and the contents of the store were all up-scale. Plus, they have free WiFi. It was clear that they were catering to the tourist population, not the locals. And I am only a bit saddened to admit that as we ate our breakfast I looked across the street into a local place with a very different target market, wondering if the food would be better there. That’s not to say that either of our sandwiches (bacon, egg and cheese on an english muffin and a “cajun” shrimp on ciabatta were bad – quite the opposite – but the slightly dirtier places often appeal to me and it is hard to pass them up. I did briefly consider ordering a second breakfast but passed on the opportunity as we had limited time and sights to see.
After breakfast we wandered about the neighborhood a bit. We found the president’s residence and offices (when the guard barks at you just open your bag so they can look inside) and some phenomenal views of the new Panama City off to the east. We also took in the Cathedral (impressive, but not amazing, I’d say) and a few other buildings in the area. There are nice sights to be seen and a visit is imperative on any Panama City visit itinerary lasting more that 36 hours, but do not go in expecting to see a beautifully restored old city like in many European locales else you discover great disappointment.
There is also quite a bit of construction going on these days in Casco Viejo; they are working very hard to clean up the area and rebuild the various buildings into structures that are beautiful (and inhabitable). Given a couple years I think that they can truly accomplish that and greatly regentrify the area. In the interim, I’d be a tiny bit worried about wandering around there at night. Yes, there are several hotels and restaurants and bars and a lot of armed cops in the area, too, but you do need to be VERY careful in the area. Much like the old town of Quito, Ecuador surrounding the Plaza de Independencia, there are many questionable characters that you need to be on alert for, even with the increased patrols by the local police who are trying desperately to secure the area for the tourists.
Oh, and there was that one “bum” on the streets of Casco Viejo that remembered us from two days prior on Calle Central. That was intriguing, surprising, interesting and scary, all at once. Just like the Casco Viejo area of Panama City.
Posted by Seth on March 29, 2009 under Uncategorized |
First a loud bang, followed by a bright flash out of the corner of my eye, over by the window. Then another one. Not really what I was expecting sitting in the hotel room this evening while enjoying a bit of a siesta and getting ready to head out to dinner. So the wise-assed comment slipped out. The good news is that they certainly were not. It was an impromptu fireworks show, right outside our window. So I grabbed my camera and held down the shutter button:
The five minute long flurry was actually pretty impressive. Nothing close to the Hong Kong New Year celebration or a typical NYC show, but considering the fact that they were launched by some guy standing on the median in the middle of the road outside our hotel while traffic was still flowing normally and that they didn’t get up much higher than 100 feet in the air, a pretty good show. Certainly better than anything else I was expecting to see tonight.
