Copa Lounge, Panama City
There are two Priority Pass lounges in the Tocumen airport in Panama City. The first is landside (pre security) and the Copa lounge right in front of gate 21. Conveniently the gate for our American flight was out of gate 20.
We entered the club and were greeted by a friendly (for being 545am) attendant who cheerfully took our Priority Pass card, scanned it, and let us in. The club was pretty empty being that it was so early, so it made it easy to take pictures.
There is a lot of seating available, most of it the standard chairs but also some tables for families to sit at and eat together.
Copa Lounge Seating Area
The bar wasn’t staffed this early, but there was a bell to ring for help. You know, in case you wanted some rum at 6am.
Copa Lounge Seating Area
Other parts of the lounge (which seems to be the norm for us this trip) were under renovation.
Copa Lounge Seating Area
In the business center there were desks with lots of phones, but no computer for shared use.
Copa Lounge Seating Area
Also, there’s a fun route map for Copa on the wall. It’s interesting to see some of the non-Panama routes they fly, like Bogota-Quito and San Jose-San Salvador.
Copa Lounge Seating Area
A longer hallway leads back to a media room running HBO, showing such throwbacks as Batman Returns with Arnold Schwarzenegger!
Copa Lounge Seating Area
The coolest room for me was the Family room. If I knew that had a Wii in there when I first arrived, you would have found me hanging out playing in here ☺
We grabbed a bagel and coffee (because that’s all there was on offer) and enjoyed that before we had to leave to go to security. I had the dreaded SSSS on my boarding pass so I wanted to make sure to give ourselves enough time to get through that extra rigmarole at the gate.
For me, a club needs a few things to be considered effective: fast Wi-Fi, coffee, plenty of area to spread out, and quiet. This lounge had all of that, and for a Priority Pass lounge, it’s pretty good. Considering you can get a PP membership through a bunch of credit cards in the USA, it’s a great value.
April 9, 2017
Sure, it’s roomy at 6am, but try it out at 5pm. With all the Star Alliance Gold passengers AND the Priority Pass ones, it’s standing-room-only. Loud as hell, and the food disappears as soon as it’s put out.