Copa Airlines ConnectMiles Status Match
Copa Airlines is based in Panama and is a member of the Star Alliance. The airline previously used United’s MilagePlus loyalty program, however they recently launched their own called ConnectMiles. You can even get 3,000 free miles for signing up and completing your profile.
A couple of weeks ago I heard reports from various people that Copa was matching United MileagePlus elites to an equal status in the ConnectMiles program. This makes perfect sense since they were previously part of that program.
Status Match to Non-Alliance Carrier
After hearing those reports, I headed over to Status Matcher and noticed that people from other airlines were receiving a match as well. Currently there are only five data points, however people have reported being matched from American Airlines, TAM, Avianca and LANPass. My question is would they match an elite from a non-alliance carrier?
To test this, I decided to send my Alaska MVP Gold loyalty card over to ConnectMiles to request a match. I was hoping they would match my mid-tier Alaska MVP Gold to their mid-tier Gold or Platinum levels. Both of those levels are considered Star Alliance Gold which comes with preferred benefits on partner airlines including lounge access.
It took about two weeks for me to hear back, but I finally received the following email:
Congratulations, you have reach a
new status PreferMember!
ConnectMilesSHAWN COOMER,
Your new ConnectMiles status is SILVER.
Your ConnectMiles SILVER is attached.
Silver? Silver?!? 🙁 It is nice that they matched me to ConnectMiles Silver, however that only gets me Star Alliance Silver status which isn’t nearly as good. I have asked them to reconsider giving me a higher tier, however that is most likely a longshot. I figured it couldn’t hurt to ask, but I’m not expecting much.
How to Status Match to ConnectMiles
To receive my ConnectMiles status match, I simply sent a copy of my elite card to qal@copaair.com. Unfortunately that email address has now been deactivated. If you send an email to the “Qal” address, you will receive the following auto-reply:
Dear customer,
The email qal@copaair.com<mailto:qal@copaair.com> has been deactivated.
For more information about ConnectMiles, please visit our website www.connectmiles.com<http://www.connectmiles.com> or contact our Service Center https://connectmiles.copaair.com/en/contact-our-service-center
For the following request:
· Name correction on your ConnectMiles account
· Name change on your ConnectMiles account
· To correct Date of birth
· Merge accounts (ConnectMiles to ConnectMiles)
· To cancel your ConnectMiles accountPlease send your request to accounts@connectmiles.com
Request the Match
While I can’t guarantee that this will work or even that they are still matching status, you could do one of two things to request a status match:
- Email: Send an email to accounts@connectmiles.com and request a match. Status matches are not listed under the reasons to email this address, however hopefully someone will forward the request off.
- Call: Contact the Copa Service Center at 1-844-287-0304 between 7am and 11pm CST Monday-Saturday to ask for a match via the telephone.
Again, I want to stress that I can’t guarantee success via either of those methods. Hopefully the deactivation of the “Qal” email address doesn’t mark the end of status matches.
Conclusion
As I have shared many times, I am a fan of status matches. Thanks to my recent match to Alitalia and this one, I now have elite status with Star Alliance and SkyTeam. Hopefully the American Airlines elite fast track will go through and I can obtain status with them once again to complete a trifecta of alliances.
As for the Copa Airlines ConnectMiles status match, I do wish they hadn’t deactivated the email address, however my status match was granted less than a week ago, so I do have reason to believe it is still possible. While I can’t guarantee that Copa will match your status or what elite level they will give you, some people may want to pursue this for the potential of Star Alliance Gold and perhaps even the generous benefits of the ConnectMiles program as well.
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[…] will be most useful for those who followed Shawn’s advice and requested a status match to Copa’s new ConnectMiles program last September. I sent Copa a […]
Any update on reconsideration from silver to gold?
They simply never responded. Considering that they have tightened their program and I have heard from a couple of people who are MVP Gold 75K who were matched to Silver, I have given up hope.
shawn, any word from them on getting bumped up to Copa Gold after contacting them again?
A follow up: today (ONE day later) I got an email noting that I’m now Copa Platinum! Please renew my subscription to your blog (little joke there).
Robert
Awesome!
I called the number listed in your post, gave them my Copa number, then my United number. They said it would take three days, no paperwork needed! Apparently they need a scanned card for airlines other than United.
Thanks Shawn!
[…] Miles to Memories also reports recently being status matched to Star Alliance Silver this month from Alaska MVP Gold, and has been matched until February 2017 – read on to see how they did this. […]
How long is the status for?
Through February 2017. You can see the expiration date on the card.
Ok, n00b question on this but I do get confusered. Does Copa’s tie in here vis a vis status matches also mean that I can use AA points to buy tickets on Copa without going through the AA site or do I have to use AA points through AA and try to buy Copa tix? Hope this even makes sense, I am only on my first cuppa coffee.
Copa and American are not partners unfortunately. American is in the OneWorld alliance while Copa is in the Star Alliance.
Ok. I did not understand. Status matches can be between airlines not in the same alliance. Now I know and thanks very much for the explanation.
[…] which used to use United MileagePlus as a frequent flyer program but recently launched its own, is status matching both United elites and elite members of other alliances. Per Miles to […]