Although I am not a happy Copa customer as they failed to ensure my wife met the immigration requirements of Panama resulting in her sleeping in the airport with not even as much as an apology or offering security for her bags (not for free, or even for a price), Copa sells the ticket this time!American came in at $795 (well, $2,317 for a ticket that could actually be purchased), but we'll use the $795 price for comparison here.
Copa came in at $646. However, the Copa flight has two overnight's in Panama City (I am thinking immigration issues again) and the American booked flight would have had one overnight in Lima, Peru and on the return an overflight flight, avoiding the need for a hotel.
Before we even talk about the cost of the hotels, Panama City will require 4 $27 taxi fares, so we might as well tack $108 onto their ticket price. There are plenty of hotels within minutes of the Lima airport avoiding expensive taxi rides.
The total cost then becomes quite close and although the American booked flight might be a few dollars more after hotel and taxi's it is more convienent and avoids immigration hassles in Panama. However, their only option for actually purchasing the ticket upped the price to $2,317! hahaha They gotta be kidding, especially after saying booking by phone is only $10 extra.
So, Copa got the sale and the hard cold cash. All American needed to do was have a reserve option on their website to give me the opportunity to go pay for the ticket at their local office.