You Can Now Earn and Redeem WestJet Points on Copa Airlines

WestJet just made its loyalty program a lot more interesting. Starting April 8, 2026, you can book new interline itineraries with Copa Airlines directly on WestJet.com, and you can earn and redeem WestJet Rewards points across the entire journey, including the Copa-operated segments.

That second part is the actual story. WestJet Rewards has long been a strong domestic and Sun-destinations program, but Latin America beyond a handful of Mexican beach cities has been mostly out of reach for points redemptions. Copa changes that overnight.

WestJet Points Now Reach Latin America

The new interline partnership pairs WestJet's existing Calgary (YYC)–Panama City (PTY) service with Copa's network out of its Tocumen International Airport hub. You book the whole itinerary on WestJet.com or through the WestJet app, you earn WestJet Rewards on every leg, and you can redeem WestJet points to pay for the trip.

That's a level of integration we haven't seen on any other WestJet partnership before. Older interlines, like the agreement WestJet rolled out with Air North back in 2024, only handled the through-checked baggage and single-ticket basics. Earning and redeeming WestJet Rewards on partner-operated segments simply wasn't part of the deal.

This time it is, and it changes the calculus on whether your WestJet point balance is actually worth holding onto for international travel.

How the New Routings Work

Panama City is the connecting hub, and the Calgary–Panama City flight on WestJet is your way in. The itinerary has to begin with a WestJet flight, so a Copa-only segment like Panama City to Guatemala City isn't bookable on its own through WestJet.com. Once you're routed onto a WestJet flight to Panama City, Copa's onward network out of Tocumen International is yours to add to the booking, and the entire journey shows up as a single itinerary.

Three examples WestJet is leading with give you a sense of how the routings come together.

• Calgary to Lima (LIM): Calgary–Panama City on WestJet, then Panama City–Lima on Copa Airlines.
• Calgary to Buenos Aires (EZE): Calgary–Panama City on WestJet, then Panama City–Buenos Aires on Copa Airlines.
• Calgary to Guatemala City (GUA): Calgary–Panama City on WestJet, then Panama City–Guatemala City on Copa Airlines.

You can search any of Copa's destinations directly on WestJet.com to see the full menu of routings and pricing.

The booking flow shows the operating carrier on each leg, so you'll know upfront which segments are on WestJet and which are on Copa Airlines. In the Calgary to Guatemala City example above, the first leg is a WestJet 737 MAX 8 and the second is a Copa 737-800, and the whole thing is sold as a single fare.

Where it gets interesting is the points side of the checkout. The economy fare comes out to $640.16 (CAD), and 64,500 WestJet points cover the entire amount, taxes and fees included. That's the most direct proof yet that WestJet Rewards has made the leap to international partner-operated flights.

Where Copa Takes You from Panama City

Copa serves 37 destinations across 18 countries from its Panama City hub, with strong coverage of Central America, the Caribbean, and just about every major city in South America. That includes cities in Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Uruguay, Colombia, Brazil, and Guatemala.

For Canadian travellers, this means destinations that used to require a connection through the United States, or a more elaborate routing through Aeroplan and Star Alliance partners, are now bookable in a single transaction with WestJet. If Patagonia, the Galápagos, or Cartagena have been on your shortlist, the booking process just got considerably easier. We've also got a 24-hour Panama City layover guide for anyone planning to break the trip on the way through.

A Bigger Push to Latin America for WestJet

This Copa tie-up doesn't land in a vacuum. WestJet has been steadily reorienting its long-haul ambitions toward Latin America, and the most visible piece of that strategy is the new Calgary–São Paulo (GRU) route, which launched in January as the airline's 100th non-stop destination.

Adding Copa's network on top of that direct service knits together a more credible Latin America story than WestJet has had at any point in its history. You can fly WestJet metal to Brazil, and you can connect onto Copa for the rest of the continent without leaving the WestJet booking flow.

If you want the full picture on how Latin America fits into a Canadian points strategy, our guide to the best ways to fly business class to South America on points still has plenty of detail on the alliance partners and pricing tradeoffs.

What's Coming After Copa

WestJet has been clear that Copa is just the launch. Throughout 2026, the airline plans to add more connecting airports and more partner carriers to the WestJet.com booking flow, with the same earning and redemption rules baked in.

It's a quiet way of building a global feeder network without joining a formal alliance, and if WestJet pulls it off, the WestJet Rewards conversation in Canada is going to look very different by year-end.

Conclusion

If you're a WestJet Rewards member who's been mentally writing the program off as a domestic-only play, this is a real reason to take a second look. Earning WestJet points on Copa-operated flights, and redeeming them the same way, is the kind of structural change the program has needed for years.

For most readers, the move I'd make today is simple. If you're booking a trip to Latin America in the next few months, plug Lima, Buenos Aires, or any other Copa destination into WestJet.com and see what comes back. The pricing won't always be the best on the market, but it might be the cleanest single-ticket option you can build right now, and it's the first time using your WestJet points to fly south of Mexico has actually made sense.

What's worth watching is which airport and partner pairing WestJet adds next. If the next addition unlocks Asia or Europe with the same earning rules, the program will have moved into a different tier entirely. I'm watching the second connecting airport closely.