Flying this route in a few weeks (and aiming to book a same day connection on another airline GRU->SDU/GIG) and it seems like this flight is almost always delayed. Some days its only 30-45 minutes, others its a couple of hours, last nights flight has a 13 hour delay and is scheduled to leave at 11 this morning.

Can someone in the know explain the reason why this flight is almost always delayed? I know theres runway issues at JFK this summer but it seems like other evening international delta departures have been leaving generally on time. Is this an issue with GRU? Bad luck with mechanicals? The incoming flight always appears to come from Nice, Venice, Madrid or Amsterdam and always arrives o time.

Is there something I'm missing? My goal was to book a connecting flight on a separate ticket for 12:15, giving me 3h50min to handle immigration and check in to the connecting flight; but if i need to build a 2 hour delay into my travel plans then I might be cutting it too close and will have to reconfigure my travel plans (since my final destination is a 2 hour car ride and 30 minute boat ride from RIO).

Thanks.