We were told that we'd be met by a Copa Airlines representative once we arrived in Miami, and she would take us through customs and baggage, and bring us to a hotel to spend the night.
Once in Miami, we were met by an agent, however she was pretty useless and didn't help us get through customs or baggage as promised, and by the time we were through, it was 2:30am. American customs is brutal at the best of times, and at this time in the morning, they only had a couple people manning the booths. There were 2 or 3 flights worth of people waiting to get through, and it took FOREVER. We were exhausted and extremely frustrated at this point. When we finally made it to the customs agent, he first gave us a hard time why we didn't have an address to stay at in the US, and once we explained why we were there, he told us should we ever have a similar situation again, we can speed up the customs process by going through the VIP line. Thanks Copa! Sounds like a very important detail that you should have shared with us! (so angry)
That frustration was amplified when we met the next incompetent Copa Airline agent: Winston Clark. Winston waited until all 9 of us passengers who missed our Toronto flight were through customs before he began the long process of slowly hand writing out each hotel and meal voucher. He told us that he received the email from Panama nearly 4 hours prior, and therefore KNEW how many people were going to need vouchers, and yet he WAITED until 2:30am before organizing a place for us to stay overnight. Instead of sending us in a couple of shuttles to speed up the process, we had to wait for everyone to have a voucher before he even called a shuttle, and so we had to wait even longer for a shuttle big enough for all 9 passengers to arrive. At this point it was after 3am. He was really unsympathetic and quite rude, and he even mocked an elderly passenger when she asked if the hotel rooms would have a Jacuzzi. I agree that it was kind of a ridiculous request at that late hour of night, but for him as a professional representative of an airline who had ruined our travel experience with their sheer incompetence to mock her in front of the rest of the passengers was completely uncalled for.
That frustration was amplified when we met the next incompetent Copa Airline agent: Winston Clark. Winston waited until all 9 of us passengers who missed our Toronto flight were through customs before he began the long process of slowly hand writing out each hotel and meal voucher. He told us that he received the email from Panama nearly 4 hours prior, and therefore KNEW how many people were going to need vouchers, and yet he WAITED until 2:30am before organizing a place for us to stay overnight. Instead of sending us in a couple of shuttles to speed up the process, we had to wait for everyone to have a voucher before he even called a shuttle, and so we had to wait even longer for a shuttle big enough for all 9 passengers to arrive. At this point it was after 3am. He was really unsympathetic and quite rude, and he even mocked an elderly passenger when she asked if the hotel rooms would have a Jacuzzi. I agree that it was kind of a ridiculous request at that late hour of night, but for him as a professional representative of an airline who had ruined our travel experience with their sheer incompetence to mock her in front of the rest of the passengers was completely uncalled for.
Winston had decided to arrange rooms for us at a skeezy theme-roomed local motel called Miami Princess Hotel.
We were put on the shuttle and Winston left for the night without confirming that we arrived safely. At the hotel, the rude girl at the front desk refused to honour the vouchers we were given, saying that she had never seen them before and she had told Winston that rooms were $160/night each. She kissed her teeth at us and sent us back to the waiting shuttle. Back at the airport, where all Copa Airline staff, and pretty much everyone else, had already gone home for the night, the 9 of us tried to sleep on the dirty floor or hard benches until the airport reopened in several hours. There weren't even any food stations open, so we were hungry, tired, dirty, cranky and uncomfortable.
We were put on the shuttle and Winston left for the night without confirming that we arrived safely. At the hotel, the rude girl at the front desk refused to honour the vouchers we were given, saying that she had never seen them before and she had told Winston that rooms were $160/night each. She kissed her teeth at us and sent us back to the waiting shuttle. Back at the airport, where all Copa Airline staff, and pretty much everyone else, had already gone home for the night, the 9 of us tried to sleep on the dirty floor or hard benches until the airport reopened in several hours. There weren't even any food stations open, so we were hungry, tired, dirty, cranky and uncomfortable.
The next morning, we were able to meet with Jorges Eapinoza who was the first Copa employee who actually listened to our complaints and tried to help us. He gave us proper vouchers so we could have some breakfast at the airport, but at that time there was no sense in getting a hotel since we'd have to be back at the airport in a couple hours. Further more, Mr Eapinoza told us that he had no idea why Winston Clark sent us to that hotel, as he's never heard of it and Copa Airlines has agreements with several other proper hotels that regularly accept their vouchers.
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