CopaCargo Mascota check in counter | Pet Services

Conseils aux propriétaires de chien pour faire Panama - Carthagène:

Nous sommes un couple de français avec un chien de 16Kg, et on parcourt en voiture la route Panaméricaine.

Arrivés à Panama City, nous avons dû mettre la voiture dans le container et trouver des billets d'avion pour notre chien. Nous voulions respecter les règles et mettre notre chien dans une cage, et cette cage serait dans la soute d'un avion.

On a donc fait toutes les démarches administratives (voir le point rouge Ioverlander "exit visa for dog", où j'ai décrit le processus pour obtenir un certificat de bonne santé et un permis d'exportation au MIDA).

On voulait voyager avec ma compagnie lowcost Wingo, mais en allant au guichet de l'aéroport, on nous a dit qu'ils ne prenaient pas les chiens en soute dans l'avion.

On s'est renseigné sur Avianca, mais c'est compliqué et il y a forcément une escale en plus et le vol dure plus de 5 heures.

Enfin, on a pris contact avec Copa Airlines. Mais on a eu affaire à des gens totalement incompétents, méchants, qui ne nous ont pas du tout aidé, au contraire. Seuls les correspondances par e-mail sont possibles (pas possible de réserver ou d'avoir des informations pour le chien à un guichet ou par téléphone).
Mais les gens de Copa Cargo mettent de nombreuses heures à répondre à nos messages, et ne répondent jamais clairement à nos questions.
En gros, il fallait remplir au moins 10 formulaires, leur transmettre pour qu'ils demandent l'autorisation pour mettre le chien dans un vol bien précis tôt le matin entre le lundi et le jeudi (il faut anticiper et faire la demande au moins 1 semaine avant pour avoir la réponse, sinon impossible de réserver notre propre vol car il y a le risque qu'il n'y ait plus de place!) Et enfin faire un pré-check à la zone cargo de l'aéroport de Tocumen la veille du départ...

Pour un chien de 16 Kg et une cage de 8 Kg, on nous demandait 239$! Sans parler d'autres taxes de déchargement, du coût du taxi / Uber, etc... sans parler du fait qu'il fallait aussi payer en plus des frais de manutention côté Colombie: 55$ + 89$...

Bref, au bout de 3 jours sans avancées et sans réponses claires, on a abandonné cette option avec Copa. On avait entendu parler de voyageurs qui avaient fait passer leur chien (de plus de 10 Kg) pour un chien de support émotionnel. En gros, le voyageur a besoin de son chien en cabine avec lui pour se sentir bien et ne pas être trop stressé...
On a donc suivi cette voie pour obtenir auprès d'un psychologue (pour humains) un certificat de chien de support émotionnel. Évidemment, c'est un business pour eux car en 10mn de consultation, ils gagnent 100$ en liquide... mais ça reste un investissement rentable car la compagnie Wingo accepte gratuitement les chiens de support émotionnel en cabine! Il suffit de produire le certificat.

J'ai donc réservé sur internet mon billet, et j'ai ajouté le chien d'assistance (ça peut se faire soit lors de l'achat du billet dans les options spéciales, soit via un tchat whastapp gratuit). Il peut nous être demandé de prendre une option pour réserver un siège avec de l'espace supplémentaire pour les pieds (33 $ en plus) afin de coucher le chien, mais ce n'est pas sûr.

Il suffit alors simplement de se présenter au guichet d'enregistrement des bagages le jour du vol avec le certificat de support émotionnel, les papiers en règle du chien et c'est bon!

Pour la petite histoire, ce fut extrêmement compliqué d'acheter nos billets car par 2 fois, j'ai reçu un mail annulant automatiquement ma réservation au motif que les 2 cartes bancaires que j'avais utilisées (carte visa crédit puis carte visa débit) étaient susceptibles d'avoir été utilisées frauduleusement, ce qui n'était bien sûr pas le cas.

Pour résumer, j'ai été obligé quasiment d'utiliser une voie contestable moralement, mais quasiment nécessaire. Ça nous a coûté environ 500$ pour faire Panama - Cartagena, avec 2 adultes, 1 chien et l'obtention du papier du psychologue. Un autre couple de français a fait la même chose que nous sur le même vol, et un allemand avait fait pareil la semaine d'avant.
Nous restons sur une très mauvaise impression du Panama, dommage.

Bon courage pour les suivants, car il vous en faudra. N'hésitez pas à me faire un retour sur notre insta globtrailers 😉

Tips for dog owners to do Panama - Cartagena:

We are a French couple with a 16kg dog, and we are traveling the Pan-American Highway by car.

Arriving in Panama City, we had to put the car in the container and find plane tickets for our dog. We wanted to follow the rules and put our dog in a crate, and that crate would be in the hold of a plane.

We therefore completed all the administrative procedures (see the Ioverlander red point "exit visa for dog", where I described the process to obtain a certificate of good health and an export permit from MIDA).

We wanted to travel with my low-cost airline Wingo, but when we went to the airport counter, we were told that they did not take dogs in the hold on the plane.

We inquired about Avianca, but it's complicated and there is necessarily an extra stopover and the flight lasts more than 5 hours.

Finally, we contacted Copa Airlines. But we had to deal with totally incompetent, mean people who didn't help us at all, on the contrary. Only correspondence by e-mail is possible (it is not possible to reserve or obtain information for the dog at a counter or by telephone).
But the Copa Cargo people take many hours to respond to our messages, and never clearly answer our questions.
Basically, you had to fill out at least 10 forms and send them so that they could request authorization to put the dog on a very specific flight early in the morning between Monday and Thursday (you have to anticipate and make the request at least 1 week before to get the answer, otherwise impossible to book our own flight because there is the risk that there will be no more places!) And finally do a pre-check at the cargo area of ​​Tocumen airport the day before departure...

For a 16 kg dog and an 8 kg cage, we were asked $239! Not to mention other unloading taxes, the cost of taxi/Uber, etc... not to mention the fact that we also had to pay handling fees on the Colombian side: $55 + $89...

In short, after 3 days without progress and without clear answers, we abandoned this option with Copa. We had heard of travelers who had passed off their dog (over 10 kg) as an emotional support dog. Basically, the traveler needs his dog in the cabin with him to feel good and not be too stressed...
We therefore followed this path to obtain an emotional support dog certificate from a psychologist (for humans). Obviously, it's a business for them because in 10 minutes of consultation, they earn $100 in cash... but it remains a profitable investment because the Wingo company accepts emotional support dogs in the cabin for free! All you need to do is produce the certificate.

So I booked my ticket online, and I added the assistance dog (this can be done either when purchasing the ticket in the special options, or via a free whastapp chat). We may be asked to take an option to reserve a seat with extra foot room ($33 extra) to put the dog down, but this is not safe.

All you have to do is go to the baggage check-in counter on the day of the flight with the emotional support certificate and the dog's valid papers and you're good to go!

For the record, it was extremely complicated to buy our tickets because twice, I received an email automatically canceling my reservation on the grounds that the 2 bank cards that I had used (visa credit card then visa debit card) were likely to have been used fraudulently, which was of course not the case.

To summarize, I was almost forced to take a morally questionable, but almost necessary, path. It cost us around $500 to do Panama - Cartagena, with 2 adults, 1 dog and obtaining the psychologist's paper. Another French couple did the same thing as us on the same flight, and a German had done the same the week before.
We are left with a very bad impression of Panama, too bad.

Good luck for the next ones, because you will need some. Don’t hesitate to give me feedback on our globtrailers insta 😉

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Copa est ce qu'il y a de pire comme compagnie aérienne. Tout se fait soit-disant par e-mail, mais ils ne répondent qu'une demi-journée plus tard. Ils ont des exigences en termes de papiers que même l'Europe ou les USA ne demandent pas. Leurs personnels au téléphone, aux guichets ou par e-mail sont antipathiques et incompétents. Une vraie catastrophe pour voyager avec son chien! Ils n'en ont rein à faire que vous soyiez obligés de payer beaucoup plus cher et ne sont pas du tout arrangeants. Vraiment, une compagnie de mer**

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We went here to buy tickets to bring our pet in the cabin. We got them to check there was space first on the flight we wanted, booked them on our phone as it was cheaper for the same flight, then paid $130 per pet for their tickets. Easy.

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Definitely this lady is the one to decide if your dog is ok to fly. However she won't help you to make reservations or paperwork at all. Once you have your MIDA and Vet certificates you have to e-Mail copa cargo. They will request all documents and fill out some forms and very specific photo of the kennel with the dog (see pic). They request a huge kennel. Mine was two sizes up and couldn't get the correct photo, I did photoshop it so they would confirm the flight. But the lady at the counter did give us a hard time. She is not flexible so arrange exactly as the specifications cargo send you.
We just met a couple that flew with their big Labrador in cabin with Wingo for free. They got a ESA certificate form a Panameninan Vet for 60 usd. We paid about 400 usd kennel +flight.

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START HERE FOR PET RESERVATIONS- At this counter sits the woman with all the power. She will either admit or decline your pet on the flight of your choice. After you have done the veterinarian health certificate and the MIDA form you need to come here. Begin by looking at flights that work for you. (mornings are best so you have time for paperwork at other end, read about it in ioverlander at Cartagena airport before you go)
Once you have flight in mind, go to this counter with the kennel, the dog, copies of all paper work and patience. She will approve the kennel and the pet. Note that if the pet is aggressive, scary, old, or certain breeds she can deny it to fly! You must have food and water taped to the kennel and two dishes to dispense them in. (Kennels available at Discovery Center also marked on iOverlander)
Ask her to give you any forms that are needed. Complete them and have her review and submit them Wait for her to give you a bill of lading and confirmation number that corresponds with the flight you selected. Pay the fees and confirm that things are all set. Ask her where and when you need to check in with the pet. Ask her to email you all confirmations and documentations.
Our story- We arranged all the reservations by email with CopaCargo. We went directly to the loading dock confirm the kennel. We submitted photos of all paperwork and were send confirmations. We believed we were all set for the flight and then the night before they sent MORE papers to complete in a locked PDF format. We found a way to complete them and emailed the papers back the night before the flight. The next morning we checked in with the dog 3.5 hours before the flight. (as per the paperwork we had completed) This power-woman said that we were too late, then said that nothing was confirmed and we had no reservation, then looked for errors on the papers, problems with the kennel, etc. She ultimately reviewed all the saved emails I had screen shots of and all the photos of being at the loading dock and relented. Essentially she was trying to do everything possible to deny flying the dog on the flight we had reserved. I have never seen a company work so hard to NOT accept business. Even once we were finished and ready to walk away I was told I would get an email describing the pick up process and confirming the booking while we were in flight. It has been a week and no such email has yet been received. Please feel free to contact me for further info.
NOTE: I cannot condone illegal or immoral behavior, but there are veterinarians that will write a certificate stating that your dog needs to accompany you on the airplane. (ESA) If you and your pet are up for it, that may be simpler than this crazy process. You still need health documents, but you can avoid CopaCargo altogether.

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