Panama's Pensionado Discounts

Summary: Panama's pensionado discounts are available to legal residents (55+ for women, 60+ for men). These generous discounts include 25% off airline tickets, 25% at restaurants, 50% off at hotels during the week, exemption on import tax for up to $10,000 household goods and much more.

Pensionado Discounts

Many people mistakenly believe that you need to have the Pensionado Visa to qualify for pensionado (aka jubilado) discounts. Fortunately, that's not the case. "The good news, if you meet the age requirements of 55 for women or 60 for men, then you still get all the pensionado discounts even if you get the Friendly Nations Visa," explained one expat.

What are the pensionado discounts?

Import tax exemption on up to $10,000 household goods
Import tax exemption on a new car every 2 years (cars subject other taxes)
25% off utility bills
25% off airline tickets, 30% other transportation
15% off of loans
20% off doctors bills, 15% off hospital services (if insurance does not apply)
10% discount medications
15% off dental exams and eye exams
1% reduced home mortgage on home used for personal residence
50% off movie, cultural and sporting event tickets
50% off at hotels (Mon-Thurs), 30% off hotels (weekends)
20% off professional and technical services

How to Get 25% Off Airlines Tickets

"To obtain the pensionado discount with Copa Airlines, first book your flight and have the reservation held for 24 hours. Then email a copy of your passport and Pensionado visa card with the flight confirmation number for your flight to [email protected]. Request that the Pensionado discount be applied. Your information will then be put into the Copa Airlines database. You do not have to provide your details again for future flights. Call Copa Airlines reservations the next day and tell them you have a reservation on hold and want the pensionado discount. Reservations will check to see if the copy of your passport and pensionado visa are in the database. If so, they will then apply the discount and ask you for a credit card to pay for the reduced airfare. The airfare is processed in Panama so make sure that your credit card can be used in Panama. One additional detail, when sending a request to the escalation department, also list the date of your flights and flight number," explained one expat.

"I have bought tickets online with both Copa Airlines and Air Panama in the last month, from here in Panama. No travel agent or going to an office required. Copa Airlines is now creating a database of Pensionado. You provide scanned details of e-cedula/ visa via email to their reservations email, book your flight but don't pay for it, call their customer support number, the agent locates your reservation number, and then they apply discount to airfare ( not taxes or fees) and you pay via credit card. Air Panama has similar effort. Email copy of passport or visa, book flight reservation, call customer service. they locate reservation number and check your visa details, then they apply discount and you pay for it. By following their rules, it works just fine. Make the reservation but don't pay for it online. Call in and they take care of you," wrote another expat.

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About the Author

Betsy Burlingame is the Founder and President of Expat Exchange and is one of the Founders of Digital Nomad Exchange. She launched Expat Exchange in 1997 as her Master's thesis project at NYU. Prior to Expat Exchange, Betsy worked at AT&T in International and Mass Market Marketing. She graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University with a BA in International Business and German.