Since most of the Copa's clients are privileged in other programs, the airline company is now offering status matches to Copa ConnectMiles. Seemingly, this is a good way to get free access to the United Clubs where customers would need a United Club membership since they already have the elite status with United or another program.

Copa is apparently very generous in matching other programs, but there are some customer claims that they might have changed their rules, at least for those matching from programs outside the North America region. Recently, some clients are getting platinum cards. According to One Mile At A Time, to match the programs in your card, send Copa a request for the matching process. The company will email their card holders informing them that their accounts had been upgraded within a few hours. By the time, the customers can now log in to their accounts.

However, for some clients, they haven't received an email about the details of the match immediately. For some card holders,  the matching process took about 60 days before they received their credentials. There is no definite reason given by Copa why the rest of the account can update immediately, when the card takes a week. But this is a Latin American airline, so sometimes they can't get in a hurry.

However, a card holder can always print a temporary Copa card. A lot had revealed that they could even get in United Clubs on Star Gold credentials from foreign airlines for years just printing the temporary card. And even if they have the physical card, the number still needs to be entered manually into the computer. That means there's nothing really different from reading the number off a piece of paper rather than a plastic card.

On the other hand, Copa Airlines broke away from United MileagePlus and started their own frequent flyer program back in July. The new frequent flyer program is operating most likely the same as a traditional program. The members are earning 1 mile for every mile flown and are instantly rewarding new members with 1000 free miles for signing up.

In addition,with regards to the lounge access, Star Alliance mentioned that the admittance of Star Gold members is for departing flights only. That only means that technically they don't get club access based on a Star Gold credential if they have just arrived at their destination. Put another way, the clients can access the club before their scheduled flights, or during their connection, but not at the destination airport.

To date, Copa is taking longer to process status matches these days, but the program seems to be very consistent. Once the status match has been approved it may take a few days for the temporary card to be available, and it could be a few months before you receive physical credentials.