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En route again house from Colombia, I flew on a brief three-hour flight from Panama Metropolis to Cancún with Copa Airways onboard their new Boeing 737 MAX 9 plane, which is Copa’s first plane to characteristic lie-flat beds in enterprise class.
Copa Airways 737 MAX 9 Enterprise Class – Reserving
The Copa Airways fleet consists of comparatively younger and trendy plane, with 26 Boeing 737-800s and 13 Boeing 737 MAX 9s.
Together with onboarding the newer-generation MAX plane, Copa Airways additionally launched a brand new lie-flat enterprise class seat on this aircraft, which notably superior to the recliner seats on the Boeing 737-800.
I had flown Copa Airways enterprise class on the previous Boeing 737s just a few years in the past, and I used to be trying ahead to experiencing the lie-flat MAX seats, as these will certainly present travellers with a lot larger consolation when flying to, from, and thru the airline’s Panama Metropolis hub going ahead.
I booked the general journey utilizing 50,000 Aeroplan factors as a one-way itinerary in enterprise class from South America to North America: Cartagena–Panama Metropolis–Cancún–Vancouver.
My first flight to Panama Metropolis was on a narrowbody turboprop jet, after which I took this flight from Panama Metropolis to Cancún on the Boeing 737 MAX 9. Lastly, Cancún to Vancouver was on Air Canada’s Signature Class.
There definitely aren’t many nice choices for flying from South America as much as the West Coast, and this was one of many solely itineraries that labored for my wants, regardless of having a number of stops alongside the way in which.
Copa Airways 737 MAX 9 Enterprise Class – Cabin
Boarding happened in Terminal 2, the newer a part of Panama Metropolis’s Tocumen Worldwide Airport, which started development in 2013 and has seen the primary of the three phases of renovations accomplished.
Renovations will proceed and finally improve the airport’s capability from 5.8 million to fifteen million passengers by 2022.
I used to be amongst the primary to board, and I discovered myself on this visually spectacular 16-seat enterprise class cabin that seemed fairly snug for a narrowbody jet.
The enterprise class cabin has a modern look, with gray seat shells and the blue Copa Airways model colors integrated into the seats and particulars.
The enterprise class seats are forward-facing and unfold throughout 4 rows in a 2–2 configuration. Not each seat has direct aisle entry; nevertheless, in the event you’re travelling as a pair, this seating association works fairly effectively as you possibly can choose two seats aspect by aspect.
For solo travellers, as there isn’t any direct aisle entry from the window seats, it’s a matter of whether or not you’d want a window or aisle seat, in addition to strategically selecting a seat that seems to haven’t any different passenger subsequent to you if potential.
That’s precisely what I did, assigning myself Seat 4A within the fourth row with a vacant neighbouring seat.
Copa Airways 737 MAX 9 Enterprise Class – Seat
The seat sort chosen for Copa’s 737 MAX 9 is fairly commonplace, and also you’ll discover it on many different enterprise class merchandise world wide. Actually, it’s nearly similar to the Air China enterprise class seat I had flown just a few years in the past.
There’s an leisure display screen in entrance of you and a skinny storage rack simply beneath the display screen.
One other small, open-air storage nook could be discovered close to your shoulders behind the seat with a drink holder. The facility outlet, USB outlet, and headphone jack are additionally within the space.
The armrest on the aspect by the window will also be lowered for added consolation.
The seat console between the 2 seats is the place you’ll discover a floor house and the seat controls.
Slightly below on the aspect of the console are the leisure controller and a small literature pocket.
The tray desk pops out of its holder and folds over into its full measurement.
Total, the seat is sort of snug; the one gripe I’ve is with the tiny and really slender footwell, particularly within the seat by the home windows.
This won’t be an issue, given that you simply won’t be getting a full evening’s sleep on these planes, however it’s very slender nonetheless and limits the general consolation in lie-flat mode.
Whereas the general enterprise class seat is in the end a reasonably run-of-the-mill seat sort within the grand scheme of issues, it’s definitely a big enchancment for Copa Airways in comparison with their previous recliner seats on the Boeing 737s.
Copa Airways 737 MAX 9 Enterprise Class – Leisure
The built-in in-flight leisure (IFE) system is provided with films, TV exhibits, music, video games, shifting maps, and connecting gate data. Leisure is obtainable in Spanish, English, and Portuguese channels.
The IFE could be managed by touching the display screen straight or through a handset, and is extremely aware of your contact.
That is one other enchancment from the screens discovered within the older Boeing 737 fashions, which popped out of your seat from the console and needed to be swivelled into place. These had been clunky and gradual, so the brand new setup is a lot better.
The airline additionally has a Copa Showpass characteristic, which gives streaming movies and music from private gadgets, however no Wi-Fi on board.
Nonetheless, the film and TV choice remains to be fairly restricted, with fewer than 30 films accessible within the leisure system. That’s definitely one thing to pay attention to in the event you’re somebody who prefers to have a big collection of titles to select from to maintain you
Copa Airways 737 MAX 9 Enterprise Class – Snack Service
Solely a light-weight snack service was offered on this flight, provided that the flight time was solely three hours.
A meal would’ve solely been offered on longer flights, akin to these to North America. Certainly, on the way in which right down to Colombia, I flew Copa Airways enterprise class from Chicago, and there was a good full meal onboard that flight.
I definitely want that Copa had supplied one thing extra fulsome on this flight to Cancún, however there have been solely packaged snacks accessible, like pretzels and biscuits. I used to be additionally supplied my selection of beverage, and I opted for a black tea.
Moreover, Copa Airways solely gives amenity kits in enterprise class on flights over six hours, so one wasn’t offered on this flight.
Copa Airways 737 MAX 9 Enterprise Class – Mattress
The primary attraction of this product is the 180-degree seat recline. The mattress will not be the widest, however it’s higher to have a lie-flat possibility than not, particularly on longer-haul flights from North America to South America through Panama Metropolis.
As talked about, the footwell is comparatively slender, however it shouldn’t be an excessive amount of of an issue given that you simply’re extra prone to be napping than sleeping onboard these flights.
Copa Airways does function just a few in a single day routes that depart at evening and arrive within the morning, through which case the slender footwell might make issues a bit uncomfortable – however once more, definitely extra snug than not having a lie-flat mattress.
An additional set of buttons was revealed after placing the seat into the lie-flat mode, permitting you to extra simply entry the seat controls whereas mendacity down.
After a really temporary interval of relaxation onboard this three-hour journey throughout the Caribbean Sea, we made a clean touchdown in Cancún, and I continued onward to my connecting flight again to Vancouver.
Conclusion
This brief flight with Copa Airways was a extra nice expertise than my earlier flights with the Panamanian flag service, largely because of the introduction of lie-flat enterprise class seats on the Boeing 737 MAX 9, which marks an enormous enchancment over the airline’s older 737-800 enterprise class seat.
Whereas nowhere close to cutting-edge, Copa’s new seats present sufficient consolation for the short- and medium-haul routes that it operates. The one slight downsides can be in the event you had been on an in a single day flight and wanted some relaxation, because the slender footwells could also be bothersome.
As Copa is a well-liked airline for flying to and from varied locations in Latin America, I’m happy to see that these lie-flat enterprise class seats are actually accessible, and I stay up for sitting on this cabin once more on future hops across the area.
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