U.S. adds mucho tax onto tix San Jose, CR to Panama City....$470 RT...Does anyone have experience buying tix in San Jose and eliminateing those taxes? I called COPA and they entered it into their U.S.system and it came up with the same number. Probably can't quote w.o.taxes in the U.S.

If you buy in Costa Rica you will find that typically both the base fare and the taxes could differ from a US purchase. And both of those can be either lower or higher or the same as in the US.

And if you wait until you are in CR they may change fare availability based on advanced purchase, cabin loads, and so on.

You roll the dice.

I'm looking at Copa's website from here in Costa Rica. The price all in is $487 for every day and every flight in November. I don't think you're going to save anything by buying the ticket here. Those are the fares. It's expensive to fly within Central America.

There is no US Taxes in the ~US$487.33 fare. Here's the breakdown:

SJO-PTY $208 ($138 base fare + $70 YQ fuel surcharge)
PTY-SJO $208 (same)
Costa Rica Transportation sales tax $20.8
Costa Rica security fees $1.42 x 2 = $2.84
Costa Rica common area user fee $7.69
Panama Airport Departure Tax $40

Plus, the day you fly, you'll have to pay Costa Rica's $26 airport departure tax. That is never included in the ticket price.

It is a shame that you have to pay this much to fly to a destination that is a one-hour flight away, but it has always been an expensive flight.

... and $5 (US dollars cash only) for your Panamanian tourist card when you check in at the Copa counter here at SJO.

try despegar.com enter your country

works for me sometimes for CA/SA

also have done ticabus.com way cheaper nice ride...