I received an interesting email today from Copa Airlines, which won’t be useful for most, but I thought it was worth mentioning here for its concept.
Copa Airlines is a member of the Star Alliance, is the flag carrier of Panama, and is headquartered in Panama City, Panama. I’ve flown them a few times, both in Economy and Business Class, and found it to be a pleasant experience. U.S. destinations include, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Orlando, San Francisco, Tampa and Washington, D.C.
Copa will let you lock in your airfare price for 1 day for free, or up to 7 days for a fee. You must book your flight on CopaAir.com or on Copa’s app, and your trip must start at least 4 days in the future.
Once you have found your flights, if Pricelock is available for your itinerary, it will show up at the bottom of the screen after. A 1 day Pricelock is free, while a 3 day lock will cost you $11, and a 7 day lock will cost you $16.
You will pay the Pricelock fee immediately, and it’s non-refundable. You should then receive an email confirmation. When you log into your reservation, before the lock has expired, you should see a countdown clock like the one below, showing you how much time is left for you to purchase the ticket at the locked-in price. Its important to note that the Pricelock fee is per person.
Good Deal or Not?
This is a pretty cool concept, and I think the prices seem very reasonable, given the potential for airfare to increase dramatically very quickly. If you use Google Flights to search for your flights, sometimes it will alert you that the price is about to change. In cases like that, this could be a real money saver.
In theory, it seems like you could do the free 1 day lock, and if the airfare hasn’t changed, let the lock expire, and just add another free 1 day lock. I could be mistaken, but I’m not aware of another airline that allows you to lock in the price of a cash ticket.
It seems to be a pretty straight forward process, but be sure to read the Terms and Conditions here before agreeing to it.