Copa Airlines is the national airline of Panama (part of Star Alliance) which has its own relatively unknown award program called ConnectMiles. I was looking into ConnectMiles after PointsYeah recently added it to their supported list of airline programs. Copa Airlines has a few non-alliance partners like Emirates, KLM and Aeromexico.
ConnectMiles Award Booking Basics
- International award booking with ConnectMiles incurs a fee ($30).
- Award change and cancellation fees vary between $75-150 (based on under or over 21 days before the travel date).
- A close-in-booking fee ($75) will be charged for award tickets booked within 21 days of departure.
- 1 stopover and 2 open jaws are allowed on round-trip awards.
- Children under age 2 are not charged any additional miles for award tickets.
- ConnectMiles charges no fuel surcharges on United, Turkish and Emirates.
![](https://i0.wp.com/awardcracker.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/image-99.png?resize=780%2C720&ssl=1)
Aeroplan charges 105,000 points for the same redemption.
![](https://i0.wp.com/awardcracker.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/image-100.png?resize=780%2C224&ssl=1)
ConnectMiles Economy Class Award Chart
![](https://i0.wp.com/awardcracker.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/image-96.png?resize=780%2C289&ssl=1)
ConnectMiles Business Class Award Chart
![](https://i0.wp.com/awardcracker.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/image-97.png?resize=780%2C288&ssl=1)
My Particular Award Redemption
I was looking for the cheapest way to go to Tokyo over Christmas (last minute request from a family member) and PointsYeah search showed this great United redemption via ConnectMiles.
![](https://i0.wp.com/awardcracker.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/image-93.png?resize=780%2C87&ssl=1)
Turkish Miles & Smiles is the next best Star Alliance redemption I could find for this particular search. As I mentioned earlier in another post (https://awardcracker.com/interesting-quirks-with-turkish-miles-smiles-program/), I cannot use Miles & Smiles for Star Alliance Partner redemptions when booking for someone other than myself.
![](https://i0.wp.com/awardcracker.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/image-95.png?resize=780%2C192&ssl=1)
I have created a ConnectMiles account and verified the award availability on their search page.
![](https://i0.wp.com/awardcracker.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/image-94.png?resize=780%2C341&ssl=1)
How to get ConnectMiles
Marriott Bonvoy points are the only transferable currency (3:1 ratio) at this time to ConnectMiles. Even with a bonus of 5000 miles when you transfer 60,000 Bonvoy points, you will only end up with 25000 ConnectMiles.
ConnectMiles runs promotions to purchase miles with up to 60% bonus periodically, but buying miles is not very lucrative with this program.
Summary
ConnectMiles program is a great way to book partner Star Alliance flights and Emirates business class for low miles and taxes. I only wish they collaborated with one of the US credit card mileage 1:1 transfer programs.