SoCal

A week ago I went through both GRU and FOR. At GRU, the longest line in Immigration I'd ever seen, but it moved quickly. Customs even quicker (though I spent some time in the Duty Free shop after Immigration). The transfer desk, which had been closed the last few times I went through GRU, was open (I expected it to be closed, so went upstairs to the TAM check-in area and was sent back downstairs to the transfer desk, which actually had longer lines). Still, all in all, I tried to imagine that old airport coping with the crowds expected for the World Cup. I did not see any signs of renovation or expansion of facilities. Ditto for Fortaleza, which is still hoping for at least one WC game (the state's governor is even lugging one of the city's stadiums for use during the 2016 Olympics, but that seems a real long shot). The airport is outmoded, and very user-unfriendly (I guess most tourists will take taxis, so won't be bothered by the poor state of the lighting in the parking lot, which is completely uncovered). I read articles about future renovations, but saw no sign of work being done yet, and if nothing has started yet, am a tad skeptical that much will be completed by 2014. Boa sorte!

Embuexpat

So the problem was?

dgcpaphd

The OP posted a set of facts describing the apparent lack of preparedness of Brazil for the upcoming World Cup.

That is the problem.

As much as I care for Brazil, I share the concerns of the original poster. I do not believe that Brazil will be ready to handle the crowds for the upcoming World Cup or the Olympics. I have not seen any evidence of substantive signs of progress at making Brazil user friendly for future visitors of those events.
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AAEXP

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people in Brazil that in the most Brazilian of ways just close their eyes to reality and let their historic nationalistic feelings take them away.....it now also seems to hit expats

There is a serious problem here and I really do not know how many flagpoles one has to wave with to make the decision makers understand that even though God is a Brazilian, miracles alone will not do the work....

MariaSF

I was recently in Recife and was surprised to see how much is going on there, in terms of getting ready for the World Cup: new ball park being built, renovation of the avenues that link the interstate with the city/airport and the nearby beaches, new tram/subway stations, hospitality industry workers getting subsidized language classes, among other things.

http://www.estadao.com.br/estadaodeh...mp693112,0.php

REC is a pretty decent airport already, apparently operating under capacity.

dgcpaphd

Thanks for the article which is great news for Northern Brazil.

However, what about any work started in either Rio or SP where most of the World Cup & Olympic visitors will enter and stay?

Although there are now flights from abroad that go direct to Recife, most travelers to Brazil will go to the areas of Rio and/or SP. That is where the lack of initiative is apparent.
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jefi99

Not only Recife. TAP Air Portugal also flies daily or almost daily from Lisbon to Fortaleza, Salvador, Natal, BH, Viracopos and Brasilia. Other airlines also flies internationally from Europa and the US to other cities in Brazil.

dgcpaphd

It is true that different air carriers go to other cities in Northern Brazil. However, that is not the issue of this thread. The issue is that there appears to be little, if any, work in progress in Rio and Sao Paulo in preparation for the two major upcoming attractions to Brazil (World Cup and Olympics).
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SoCal

Exactly. I wasn't clear, but my point about GRU was that, although the lines moved reasonably enough on a non-holiday Saturday afternoon, the crowds expected for the World Cup could overwhelm the place. Ditto for FOR and, I suspect, some other locations. Recife's airport is one of the better ones in the country, I feel. Facilities for baggage handling, dining, and parking are also inadequate for extremely large crowds in FOR and may turn out to be insufficient at GRU and GIG.

Having enough flights into the Norltheast, and perhaps the North, from Europe (though damn few from the U.S.) may allow more people to fly to certain venues without going through GRU or GIG but may just do all the more to overwhelm the airports where they do land. As people in many countries have learned (often to their chagrin), airport renovation and expansion can take years more than first expected.

moeve

Funny you were not the first to think and say that. We expressed the same thoughts are the chaos we saw in GRU in Feb and Mar. Feb I let by because I thought parts of SA were still on vacation so that might have been cause for such chaos. However on the return leg there were NO vacation times and it only got worse.

I guess visitors for the WC and 2 years later for the Olympics are going to need a good set of nerves and leave lots of time for eventualities...

Gaucho100K

Geez.... another bashing thread of a Southern Hemisphere Country on its organizational skills of a big event...

Didnt you guys learn from the South African experience...??? I have to remind you that with the 2010 WC, we heard these same lame phrases on and on and over and over again... and in the end, the World Cup was a great success.

Please, stop whining and wait and see... both the World Cup and the Olympics will be a huge success, Brazil is not going to let this opportunity go away without showing the world what it is capable of.

moeve

Didnt you guys learn from the South African experience...??? I have to remind you that with the 2010 WC, we heard these same lame phrases on and on and over and over again... and in the end, the World Cup was a great success.

eh yes but they got a brand new airport and got help to better organize themselves. Over and above that South Africa doesn't really have a major transfer hub like GRU for example.

To start out with they never had any of the kind of chaos we saw early this year in South America to even begin with - let alone to fix before this major event.

It isn't the events / games themselves that will cause trouble but the moving of the masses through airports (apparently) already at their limits

FlyingRabbit

No more than anyone flying in USA for the past ten years...

Jokes aside, I do think we will be ready. My main concern is at what cost.

moeve

Maybe we caught a bad day but some how I doubt that because people post enough incidents here out of that airport.

On our trip home in March we had several gate changes right up to the very last moment (story already posted here) Our gate changed to 4A less than an hour to boarding so all the people went down stairs to those bus transfer gates. Our flight lined up at 4A while the flight to Washington was boarding at 4B. Out of the blue they announce in Portugese that our flight now has to move to 4C which is on the other side of the room. The total chaos that ensued since many didn't understand was crazy!!

In the meantime they closed the gate for Washington while there were still people in the line for the flight but because they were letting our flight pass through the room they could't get to there gate. I actually watched the gate folks tell 2 business class pasengers who had gotten caught up in this mess that they were to late and would not be allowed on the flight even though they had been at the gate while boarding was in process and had just gotten caught up in this gate mess.

I am sorry but there total lack of planning and communication is the cause for many incidents posted here and elsewhere - and they should fix it in a hurry.

Gaucho100K

Time will see who was right....

I cant wait to come back and see your "comments" after the games are over... it will be interesting to read what angle you spin with your evaluations.