Thank you for traveling with...

No, not with Deutsche Bahn but with COPA, the Panamanian airline that has been awarded the most punctual airline in Latin America – we will congratulate them later. Because the 'thank you' for COPA, like for DB, seems to refer to the fact that despite everything, you still travel with them.

You really couldn't accuse the airline, which proudly pointed out at every corner that it was a member of the Star Alliance (alongside, for example, Lufthansa and United Airlines), of being late – quite the opposite for many other things.

It started with the online check-in, which was almost impossible due to the almost never available website, making it take a long time until eventually at least one of us got the e-tickets into the wallet on their phone.

At the airport, as shown on the boarding pass, we found ourselves at Terminal 1 – where the display directed us to Terminal 2, which we then reached by shuttle bus. However, there was no way to check in our luggage here – or get help in any other way. Finally, we intercepted a flight attendant with another desperate couple, who kindly explained to us that COPA never got the terminal display right. One always had to go to Terminal 1 first, as luggage could only be checked in there. Then one had to go to Terminal 2 for security. (By the way, the gate was additionally displayed incorrectly on the monitors…) So back to the shuttle bus.

Checking in the bags turned out to be a bit more difficult than expected. The machine informed us that we should go to the counter. After a long wait, we finally got our turn after letting a desperate lady in front of us who would have missed her connecting flight otherwise.

The very friendly employee who then served us had his chair stolen by a colleague while he was processing us, without any comment. Tough luck – he was still young and could work standing up, as we suggested – which he had to do.

Then we wanted to go back to Terminal 2 – but the young standing man correctly informed us that COPA was mistaken again. Terminal 1 was indeed the right one.

Since we still had time to kill before boarding, we wanted to grab something to eat. We then tried three times to get a word from the menu explained. However, the waitress joined the strategy of other airport and COPA staff, repeating everything slowly in Spanish instead of responding in English at an international airport. Then Ms. Waas got the wrong food, then the right one, but three days past the expiration date and spoiled. She then received an alternative (a dry croissant for 6 dollars), but the price of the initially even more expensive order was still reflected on the bill that was brought to us while Ms. Waas had just started to eat something. The bill was corrected upon our protest. In the meantime, another waiter attempted to clear away/take the food that Ms. Waas had only eaten two-thirds of. She pulled her plate closer. This did not discourage him, and he made a brave second attempt before Mr. Ärmel half-shouted at him. In the end, one still saw the dirty fingers of the waitress who returned our change in Balboa instead of dollars, as those could be used so well outside of Panama.

At least there was one good thing about all this: Once you are on the plane, you feel happy, and flight anxiety is hardly an issue for anyone anymore.