Hi fellow Flyertalk'ers and welcome to my first TR on the forum
Originally I was planning to include all of the return journey from the world cup in Brazil, but unfortunately my cell phone battery died at some stage in GRU and I was only able to document the the domestic sectors.
The itinerary goes as follows:
JJ 3191 SSA GIG A321
G3 1717 SDU GRU Boeing 737 800
LA 2764 GRU LIM (battery died, no pictures) A320
We arrived Salvador airport at around 9:10 am and gladly there wasn't much of a queue at the TAM check in counters. Bags tagged to Río, boarding passes in hand and ready to go.
Unfortunately there wasn't a lounge at this airport (did my research before) so after a bit of a wonder landside we headed airside. Security was a breeze and soon we were on the departures lounge. I grabbed a coffee and waited for the flight, thinking that a delay was evident as boarding hadn't started yet and the scheduled departure time was approaching, eventhough there was an A321 parked at the gate. Eventually at 11:15 a delay was announced stating that now the flight would now depart at approximately 14:00 hours with no explanation why. We went land side again and grabbed lunch at a good italian restaurant (for an airport at least).
SSA Airside
Time went by fairly quickly and soon it was time to board the A321 that will take us to Rio de Janeiro.
We were one of the last ones to board and directed ourselves to the back of the cabin. This time I was seated on 33A
Soon the doors were closed. Pushback followed by a short taxi to the runaway and in no time we took off.
cruising at 33 000 feet
Service was similar as the one experienced on my outbound flight from Sao Paulo. It consisted on a snack box with some mouchies and a variety of soft drinks to choose from. In my point of view it was adequate for a 1: 40 hour flight like this one, but I would definitely expect something more filling in longer domestic flights. Unlike on my GRU SSA flight, this cabin crew was not friendly at all. In fact they did a rushed service.
Descending towards GIG
After a relaxing time in the air it was time to touch land again. We landed at GIG at 16:15 and had to wait for about 10 minutes for a gate to be assigned to us.
Logically we were one of the last ones to disembark and when we arrived to baggage claim our bags were already waiting for us.
I bid ferwell to the rest of the group who were staying in rio for a few days and hailed a taxi asking the driver to give me a drive around the city, take me to Ipanema and then to SDU to catch my other flight. I ended up abandoning the taxi at Ipanema as I still had around an hour I could use to have a look around the area. I really liked the area and was sorry I couldn't stayed a couple of days in the city, but I will be back someday.
Beautiful Ipanema
A few minutes before six I grabbed another taxi to SDU which was much closer to where I was than I thought. Perhaps If I would have know that and that the traffic was so light, I would have stayed another hour exploring beautiful Ipanema.
I arrived Santos Dumont before 6:20pm which gave me plenty of time to have a wonder around the terminal and have a relaxed dinner all before checking in.
After check in I quickly cleared security and settled near a window airside and without much trubble I foubd a flat power outlet to charge my phone.
I really liked the location of SDU and thr design of some p
arts, others look more like a shopping mall than an airport itself.
Check in
Spotting must be nice here during day hours
Soon I headed to my bus gate where boarding had just started. I had group 1 boarding and quickly made my way to the cramped bus that would take us to our
737 800.
Heading downstairs
It is always great to board via stairs
I was welcomed in by a rather desinterested FA and made my way to my seat 4F which was was gol conforto (premium eco).
The seat had very good legroom and recline (50 percent more) as it was marketed in the inflight magazine
The lead FA introduced himself and
announced a short flying time of 47 minutes.
Pushing back
Great leg room in GOL conforto
We had some nice views of Río de janeiro as we took off.
Service consisted on a packet of nuts and a choice between water and pepsi to drink. Additionally there was a buy on board menu on each seat pocket, but I didn't see anyone buying nor the cabin crew offering anything extra. Anyway I didn't expect anything free on this flight as I thought that GOL was a full LCC
Soon descent to Sao paulo started and we touched down at 21:39, 53 minutes after pushback.
Massive Sao Paulo
I quickly made my way out and checked in for my next flight in one of the automated check in machines. I cleared security and immigration and headed to the admirals club to wait there until it was closed. It was a decent lounge with the typical basic food offerings you find in an American carrier lounge, but don't expect it to be nearly as good as the TAM lounge on the other terminal.
Blurry, dark picture of the Admirals
Buffet, pretty unappetizing...
My cell phone battery died at this stage, therefore no more pictures from this point.
I spent the next four hours or so sleeping in a nearby gate until boarding was called for my flight to Lima at around 3:15 am. The flight was on a standard LA A320, configured with premium economy (equivalent to a European business class) and economy. I only managed to see two people seated on the former. Guess it is not worthy considering it is a night flight and both offer almost the same seat. The flight was uneventful and I managed to snooze off the majority of the flight on a sardine configured A320.
Hope you enjoyed reading it!