Brazil - GIG Terminal 1 exit customs a joke on July 31

Only 2 agents to handle all of the archaic Terminal 1 international departing passengers. Took forever to finally get to a customs "agent" to formally leave the country. When I got to the window, she first took her IPOD out of her pocket, changed the song and then stamped my passport. Well at least she was only listening in one ear (but still). Fortunately I gave myself lots of time so I didn't affect my departure but I could tell others were in a rush.

Good luck Rio in hosting some World Cup games in 2014 and then the Olympics in 2016.

Only 2 agents to handle all of the archaic Terminal 1 international departing passengers. Took forever to finally get to a customs "agent" to formally leave the country. When I got to the window, she first took her IPOD out of her pocket, changed the song and then stamped my passport. Well at least she was only listening in one ear (but still). Fortunately I gave myself lots of time so I didn't affect my departure but I could tell others were in a rush.

Good luck Rio in hosting some World Cup games in 2014 and then the Olympics in 2016.

You think that is bad, the declaration line coming out of customs can take forever. One agent that speaks only Portguese.

Last year leaving Rio my passport got stuck in the machine that customs uses. It took five technicians to open the machine to get the passport out. I justed wanted to get to the lounge and shower and change after a day on the beach.

Yeah, GIG needs lots of work.

Please continue to follow this thread in the FT Brazil Forum.
Thanks..
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

Customs to leave the country???? Do you mean immigration, as in passport control? We have usually exited through GRU but will be exiting through GIG next week. Fortunately, with lots of time.

Customs to leave the country???? Do you mean immigration, as in passport control? We have usually exited through GRU but will be exiting through GIG next week. Fortunately, with lots of time.

Yes I meant immigration (I was tired when I wrote the original post). Yes I usually use GRU too but GIG exit x-ray/immigration was atrocious on Sunday night in Terminal 1.

Yes I meant immigration (I was tired when I wrote the original post). Yes I usually use GRU too but GIG exit x-ray/immigration was atrocious on Sunday night in Terminal 1.

Hey, the agent turned off their I-Pod for you. I think that was pretty generous. I have found such lines to vary at least as much from day to day as from airport to airport. Haven't found GRU or GIG consistently better than the other, though it seems GRU has been busier, at least when we've gone through. Hoping for a quick process at GIG next week.

I guess they were all working over in Terminal 2. I , too, departed July 31 but on TAM. There were lots of agents (all booths filled) and the line moved at a good pace.

My only problem is some of the security screening guards I encounter in Brazil. Having steel implants , both hips, I sometimes (and this night was one such occasion) am subjected to, what I consider, too much of a personal search.

I much prefer the professional and competent pat down done in the US or Canada, get it over with and let me be on my way!!

It appears, in Brazil, they will not or are reluctant to touch a pax for a pat down. Instead its off to a little booth and I am expected to prove no weapons around my waist, if you catch my drift.

At the same time, I believe the rest of the Brazilian screening process lacks in thoroughness, beginning with the really poor detector wands they often have to use - a joke. I have long ago accepted the security hassle metal implants result in, but goodness, get with the international examination standards.

Rant over, sorry for your delay Rushfan.

Only 2 agents...

What a horrible experience! That seems very rare to me.

I have not heard of that happening, for that matter I have never heard of one of the passport clerks having enough money for an iPod, much less using one. Usually outbound passport processing is quite rapid.

There are certainly many problems facing us if we expect to host either event, but I am both surprised and distressed about this one.

I always thought this works pretty well. Both Brazilians and foreigners use the same single queue for outbound processing. I personally ahve never waited more than five minutes in the queue, even at peak times.

Could you tell us what the time and day were? I'd like to make a comtact or two to find out if there was something unusual that day. Maybe I can find nothing but I want to try.

What a horrible experience! That seems very rare to me.

I have not heard of that happening, for that matter I have never heard of one of the passport clerks having enough money for an iPod, much less using one. Usually outbound passport processing is quite rapid.

There are certainly many problems facing us if we expect to host either event, but I am both surprised and distressed about this one.

I always thought this works pretty well. Both Brazilians and foreigners use the same single queue for outbound processing. I personally ahve never waited more than five minutes in the queue, even at peak times.

Could you tell us what the time and day were? I'd like to make a comtact or two to find out if there was something unusual that day. Maybe I can find nothing but I want to try.

18:00 - 19:30 (probably longer) on Sunday July 31. X-ray screening was also slowed down to ensure that the line up to the 2 agents would not go too long. The main issue again was just the 2 immigration agents. It took me 1 hour to clear and when I lined up for x-ray, the lineup wasn't even out into the terminal area. Fortunately I had lots of time but others were nervous.

Sundays are usually pretty bad. Sometimes even if you check in 2 hours prior to your flight, the airline ticket agent may tell you to go ahead and get in line for immigration. About 75% of the time I see a good size line (~30min) to get out of GIG on Sundays.

An article in today's Globo about problems getting through customs at GIG yesterday. Waits of up to 5 hours and people outside the exit banging luggage carts against the walls in protest. There apparently were 5 Receita Federal officers on duty but a spokesman gave a thoroughly acceptable explanation as to why a major international airport should keep passengers in its precincts for hours : 7 planes arrived at the same time and dozens of passengers had 4 or 5 large suitcases to be inspected :eek: - its a wonder the planes could fly with that much luggage on board :p

..Waits of up to 5 hours and people outside the exit banging luggage carts against the walls in protest...

After my earlier post recounting easy times I chose to arrive yesterday amid all that mess. First, it was Friday morning, not Sunday, so it was not even the Sunday rush to explain the problems.

I did ask my friend about last Sunday with Immigration. He's with the Policia Federal at GIG. He said there was a "scheduling problem" that resulted in too few immigration agents. I rather suspect more than that.

Yesterday nobody anywhere gave passengers any explanation for delays. I was in the customs queue for 'only' 1 1/2 hours. People kept arriving in droves and the queue moved very slowly. I entered the queue when it was just beyond the last escalators coming down from Immigration. By the time I reached the Dufry shop the queue extended to the end of the entire baggage claim area and doubled back to the first Dufry entrance. By the time I reached the formal entrance to customs the queue had redoubled. The Globo article does mention five hours, and I am prepared to believe it.

There were several unusual issues I noticed:
1) Almost all returning Brazilians had lots of bags. That is normal, we all shop madly when we are abroad. This was unusually heavy.
2) At least one flight, I am not sure which one, seemed not to have customs forms for passengers, nor had they been given instructions. That slowed things somewhat, but a customs agent began handing out forms to people waiting in the queue as I neared the customs hall.
3) Many people were entering the 'goods to declare' queue when they had nothing to declare. Some of them were sent back to the interminal end of the other queue and they screamed, shouted and were incredibly rude. the culture of 'impunity' was at work!
4) Many people did not enter then 'goods to declare' queue when they had three carts worth of TV's, computers, etc in their original cartons, in which they had been checked. Some of them shouted and screamed when they were shunted to the inspection area.
5) There was no explanation nor guidance from any official, although a number of officers arrived to promote queue discipline. That worked better than it does in Lagos (my traditional measure for airport inefficiency) but not by much.

When I eventually arrived I was waved through with nary a glance. I too had my typical load of stuff coming back with me. I had difficulty exiting though, because three generations of the same family were disputing a Customs decision about their inclusion of three Samsung 50" TV's in their original cartons as part of their undeclared baggage. I think they may have lost that battle.

This morning I received a call from another Brazilian who arrived yesterday discussing monumental sales they had found shopping in Miami. She and her husband arrived with twelve bags, she said, three each for themselves and their two children. I wonder if US end-of-summer sales coupled with Brazilian end-of-winter trips could have been the culprit for all this.

Lastly, The OP is certainly correct. No major Brazilian airport is prepared for normal seasonal variations today, much less for World Cup traffic. The extension for Terminal 2 in GIG is not yet open, although it is expected to be open imminently. That will not help the T1 fiascos, however. T1 has DL, AF and AA, among others. The international flights scheduled for arrival in the morning hours have doubled in passenger capacity during the last year.

Not ready, true!

I was naive in my earlier post because I have been lucky for some years in the days I depart and return. Yesterday was a bitter cure for my optimism.

After my earlier post recounting easy times I chose to arrive yesterday amid all that mess. First, it was Friday morning, not Sunday, so it was not even the Sunday rush to explain the problems.

While not wishing your experience on anyone jbcarioca its nice to have an eyewitness account to confirm what we read in the newspapers :cool:

A bit off topic but to give another personal experience, I flew SAA into GRU last Tuesday evening. SAA did everything within its power (and some things not within its power) to make me miss my Webjet connection to SDU. I had allowed 2hrs 15mins for the connection. The SAA flight left JNB 30 mins late, we were put into a holding pattern at GRU for 20 mins or so landing over an hour late, SAA didn't have the Brasilian landing cards onboard so we had to fill them out on landing and the check-in agent had omitted putting the Star Alliance priority baggage insert on my luggage tag (flying Business Class) so despite being first off the plane my luggage was next to last to appear on the belt.

I took my luggage off the belt at 1800 and my Webjet flight was scheduled for departure at 1815. I was out of the customs hall within 2 mins, up the escalator and at the Webjet check-in 5 mins before scheduled takeoff and told to take all my luggage with me and head to the gate. Security did not seem to be bothered by the two bottles of wine in my suitcase.Boarding was delayed until 1820 and I made my flight :D and had ample room in the overhead bins^. Sometimes things actually go your way.

While not wishing your experience on anyone jbcarioca its nice to have an eyewitness account to confirm what we read in the newspapers :cool:

A bit off topic but to give another personal experience, I flew SAA into GRU last Tuesday evening. SAA did everything within its power (and some things not within its power) to make me miss my Webjet connection to SDU. I had allowed 2hrs 15mins for the connection. The SAA flight left JNB 30 mins late, we were put into a holding pattern at GRU for 20 mins or so landing over an hour late, SAA didn't have the Brasilian landing cards onboard so we had to fill them out on landing and the check-in agent had omitted putting the Star Alliance priority baggage insert on my luggage tag (flying Business Class) so despite being first off the plane my luggage was next to last to appear on the belt.

I took my luggage off the belt at 1800 and my Webjet flight was scheduled for departure at 1815. I was out of the customs hall within 2 mins, up the escalator and at the Webjet check-in 5 mins before scheduled takeoff and told to take all my luggage with me and head to the gate. Security did not seem to be bothered by the two bottles of wine in my suitcase.Boarding was delayed until 1820 and I made my flight :D and had ample room in the overhead bins^. Sometimes things actually go your way.

Also happened to me once, SAA did not have the immigration forms on a flight coming in to GRU. :td:

Often I've arrived into T1 when there is just one exit line. So travelers like myself with nothing to declare and one bag have to stand in line with people that have several carts of merchandise they have gotten in New York or Miami. Its really frustrating because getting through the entrance customs que is usually a cinch (flights always seem to be mostly Brasilians from the US). Never been asked one question by an officer; they just stamp by passport and grunt.

I never have a bag to claim. If I do not get caught up in the exit customs que I can be off the a/c and on the curb getting inside a cab in under 10 minutes. Otherwise, it can be an hour plus.

We went through Customs in Terminal 2 last Saturday morning. I breezed through, but one of my wife's bags had been sent directly to Customs (we found this out when the bag didn't show up on the baggage carousel and we asked reps there). Customs official said that US Airways had sent notice of a small, heavy bag, so it went directly to Customs. Maybe suspicion of computer parts. In fact it will mainly filled with vitamins and such my wife had bought at GNC in the States. No interrorgation, and no fees to pay. Just an extra half hour killed.