More Flight Options to Panama for West Coast Anglers
We recently reported that anglers throughout the southeast will have more options to get from Atlanta to Panama’s Tocumen airport – as Copa supplemented the existing Delta flights with options of their own. Now, proving that turnabout is fair play, United is adding direct flights from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to PTY. Those will add to the routes that Copa already runs up to 11 times a week between those two cities.
The United flights will be daily and they will run year-round. They will begin in may, prime time for tuna popping.
The schedule is as follows:
UA1103 departs San Francisco at 10:55 a.m. and arrives in Panama City at 8:10 p.m.
UA1104 departs Panama City at 3:15 p.m. and arrives in San Francisco at 8:58 p.m.
That flight TO Panama City is acceptable but not ideal for our trips. We usually overnight in Panama City and then depart the Hilton for the flight to David before 6am. Accordingly, an arrival at 8:10 means that even if everything goes smoothly and there are no delays, you’ll have a quick turnaround and a short night of rest in the city.
The flight HOME to SFO is just about perfect for our trips. We catch a morning flight out of David that puts you at Tocumen less than an hour later. In case there are weather or mechanical delays, we typically recommend that you leave no later earlier than 1pm. The 3:15 departure is just about perfect. It’s probably not enough time to head into town, but you can grab some lunch or hit the lounge prior to your flight home.
For those connecting from elsewhere in the west, the 10:55am departure should allow for some early morning flights to SFO. The scheduled 8:58pm arrival will allow for a handful of connections to get home in one day.
The existing Copa flights are a similar tough pull. They leave around 6pm from SFO and with the time change arrive around 11 That’s an even tighter turnaround, although if you’d like to arrive an extra night earlier and spend the day exploring Panama City, that’s an option. On the flip side, depending on the day there are return trips departing PTY at around 7pm or 1pm That would give travelers time to explore the city or add onto their trip on the return. Not ideal, but that may be the price you pay for a direct flight.
Other one-stop options between SFO and PTY include flights on Avianca.
This makes United the only US-based carrier with direct flights between the two cities, which is particularly good news for those of you with status or miles on United.
If nothing else, we hope that the increased competition adds downward pressure on pricing. It also means that if your airline has mechanical issues or some other reason for delay, you can still make the trip.
Overall, we are thrilled to see the increase in flights to and from Tocumen. Panama is an amazing fishing destination – safe, fun and super-fishy – and we hope to be leading groups there for years to come.
