Originally Posted by
seacarl
We are leaving on SEA-GRU-EWR MR on UA metal tomorrow. For U.S. passport holders, OLCI requires entry of information on a BRA visa in order to complete check-in. My guess is that the same computer logic will cause a ticket counter agent to ask for a visa, too. Even though it's a through ticket, the computer is seeing it as a trip to GRU (in fact it checked us in through to GRU but not beyond.) So if you try to do it without a visa, I expect you will have to convince an agent that you can do that, and expect some argument or scrutiny, and perhaps variability based on which agent you get.
I suppose you could make up a visa # to fool the chicken, but they'll ask to see it at some point (and it only issued an International Card showing the check-in but not full boarding passes). Our visa # is 6 digits followed by "MD" and is good for 10 years. E.g. 123456MD.
AA does even allow OCLI for Brazil. You must check in with the agent. If the trip is one part of the same ticket and you are transiting in GRU (GIG) there should not be an issue. But if its a separate ticket I'd say there is a good chance that an agent may deny you boarding without a Visa. Like to hear anyone's experience with a particular airline.