I started my day at 5am in Curitiba, where I had been the last few days travelling with my family. I took a flight to Brasilia and went home for a shower, lunch and repacking my luggage. Then my wife dropped me at the airport.
I had two separate tickets flying BSB-GRU on Gol and GRU-DTW on Delta. The first one was bought and the second one booked using Gol mileage program. Delta also has a 10% share of Gol. I thought it would naturally be easy to check-in on both flights and send my luggage straight to DTW, but the agent said it wasn’t possible, I would have to pick up my luggage on GRU and check-in again. That was odd, but ok.
Brasilia International Airport saw a recent expansion and it was a great improvement. The facilities are much better. I waited for my flight on VIP Club lounge, which is great for a domestic lounge.
The space and furniture are all well laid out.
The food is also very good for a domestic lounge. There were finger sandwiches, cheese, some Japanese food and Brazilian snacks, yogurts, fruits and some sweeties.
I was just a bit peckish, so I just grabbed a few samples along a guarana.
The lounge was totally empty, for such a big space there were no more than five people inside. This was also partially the reason the food wasn’t great, as it was too dry for having sitting there all day.
The lounge also has a kids room and business center, along other features.
After enjoying some time there, I went to the gate for boarding.
Boarding was schedule to 16.25, but only started at 17.00. That wasn’t a big problem as where I was seated there were great views of the tarmac, with the runway on the back and Brasilia skyline on the background.
The flight was uneventful and there is nothing worth mentioning flying Gol. After landing, I waited a bit for my luggage then went to check-in on Delta. Guarulhos Airport has also been improved with a new Terminal 3, where there are very good lounge options and architecture is a major step up from Terminals 1 and 2. Unfortunately, Delta operates all its flights on Terminal 2.
There was something strange on the airport as there was no line on immigration and you didn’t need to dodge from people. If anyone has been to GRU, this is pretty rare.
After spending a good time on Brasilia domestic lounge and knowing that on Terminal 3 there are good new lounges, it was a disappointment going to Smiles lounge on Terminal 2. The food spread is bad, the space is small and the design is lackluster.
Nothing looked appetizing, but the white carrot soup with garlic and the brigadeiro were reasonably tasty. I spent one hour there before boarding Delta’s GRU-DTW flight.