All around Brazil: BA, Gol, Azul, TAM
Nov 25, 2015, 6:59 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Canada
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 1,254
All around Brazil: BA, Gol, Azul, TAM
Just returned from an amazing 2 weeks in Brazil and since it involved, in addition to some glorious photos, sampling almost all the national carriers of Brazil, as well as a direct comparison of BA and TAM business class, I thought I'd do a trip report.
I work in both Stockholm and Oxford so decided to originate the journey at ARN both to save a lot of money relative to starting in LHR, but also because I could write-off some of the cost of the ticket as my usual commute. Unfortunately I had a meeting on the 5th in Oxford and for various reasons couldn't fly the night before, so I had to fly first thing on the 5th, get the bus into Oxford for the day, and then return that evening to LHR. In addition to this, last minute changes to my work meant I had to be in Oxford until Nov 4 meaning that I also had to fly down to ARN that evening in order to catch my early morning first leg. I did that as an award on SAS and as it was a very routine short haul, I haven't included it in my trip report, but for completeness, my itinerary was as follows:
Nov 4 - LHR-ARN on SAS: Departed 20:00
Nov 5 - ARN-LHR 7:10 British Airways CE
Nov 5 - LHR-GRU 20:45 British Airways CW
Nov 6 - GRU-IGU 15:00 Gol
Nov 9 - IGU-CGB 8:00 Azul
Nov 12 - CGB-BSB-GIG 16:45 TAM economy
Nov 19 - GIG-GRU 18:30 TAM economy
Nov 19 - GRU-LHR 23:45 TAM Business
I work in both Stockholm and Oxford so decided to originate the journey at ARN both to save a lot of money relative to starting in LHR, but also because I could write-off some of the cost of the ticket as my usual commute. Unfortunately I had a meeting on the 5th in Oxford and for various reasons couldn't fly the night before, so I had to fly first thing on the 5th, get the bus into Oxford for the day, and then return that evening to LHR. In addition to this, last minute changes to my work meant I had to be in Oxford until Nov 4 meaning that I also had to fly down to ARN that evening in order to catch my early morning first leg. I did that as an award on SAS and as it was a very routine short haul, I haven't included it in my trip report, but for completeness, my itinerary was as follows:
Nov 4 - LHR-ARN on SAS: Departed 20:00
Nov 5 - ARN-LHR 7:10 British Airways CE
Nov 5 - LHR-GRU 20:45 British Airways CW
Nov 6 - GRU-IGU 15:00 Gol
Nov 9 - IGU-CGB 8:00 Azul
Nov 12 - CGB-BSB-GIG 16:45 TAM economy
Nov 19 - GIG-GRU 18:30 TAM economy
Nov 19 - GRU-LHR 23:45 TAM Business
Nov 25, 2015, 7:15 am
#2
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Canada
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 1,254
Nov 5 ARN-LHR 7:10 BA Club Europe
I was in 1D which is my preferred seat, but after boarding was complete the CSD said that 1F was also free so I moved down to get a nice view of Stockholm on departure and London on arrival. It was quite cloudy at the latter though, so there wasn't that much to see. The crew on this flight were great and the breakfast was fairly good. I had had a late night getting in from London around 1:30 and didn't sleep well so I nodded off during take off. Luckily the crew member woke me up for breakfast otherwise I would have been pretty hungry. Breakfast was a full English with orange juice and was quite nice. I went back to sleep after eating and didn't have any other drinks. The crew were very attentive always proactively offering more drinks, etc. Sorry for the blurriness of the picture.
Immigration at LHR was very quick, though I was also one of the first off the plane so that probably helped. Bus to Oxford arrived just as I got to the stand which was great (it turned out to be the delayed earlier service so not so great for everyone else). Was the first time on that bus that it's been quite busy. There was a mother with children playing music very loudly and kicking the back of my seat. She didn't seem to notice/care even after someone said something to her.
Headed into Oxford for a full day of meetings/teaching before setting off back to the airport for the long haul to Sao Paulo!
I was in 1D which is my preferred seat, but after boarding was complete the CSD said that 1F was also free so I moved down to get a nice view of Stockholm on departure and London on arrival. It was quite cloudy at the latter though, so there wasn't that much to see. The crew on this flight were great and the breakfast was fairly good. I had had a late night getting in from London around 1:30 and didn't sleep well so I nodded off during take off. Luckily the crew member woke me up for breakfast otherwise I would have been pretty hungry. Breakfast was a full English with orange juice and was quite nice. I went back to sleep after eating and didn't have any other drinks. The crew were very attentive always proactively offering more drinks, etc. Sorry for the blurriness of the picture.
Immigration at LHR was very quick, though I was also one of the first off the plane so that probably helped. Bus to Oxford arrived just as I got to the stand which was great (it turned out to be the delayed earlier service so not so great for everyone else). Was the first time on that bus that it's been quite busy. There was a mother with children playing music very loudly and kicking the back of my seat. She didn't seem to notice/care even after someone said something to her.
Headed into Oxford for a full day of meetings/teaching before setting off back to the airport for the long haul to Sao Paulo!