YOWgary

I'm flying YUL-EZE on AC96 later this month, and neither my booking nor a new search seems to offer details on what happens to EZE pax during the stop at GRU.

Stay on the plane, disembark to a holding area, drinks in the lounge? Has anyone done this recently?

172pilot

When the EZE flight used to go through SCL, you were deplaned into the INTL area of the airport. You then boarded the plane once it was cleaned. Presumably AC will do something similar in GRU.

YLWflyer

I will be doing the same trip this month, is there a lounge worth checking out in GRU?

Adam Smith

What's different this time is the GRU-EZE flight is a continuation of YYZ-GRU, but @YOWgary is coming in from YUL, meaning it's a connection rather than staying on the same plane. I'm doing the same thing in a few weeks, so am curious how this works out.

EDIT: sorry, I see some days YUL-EZE is in fact "direct". The dates I was looking at, and ended up booking, it's as I described above (96 is YUL-GRU, 90 is YYZ-GRU-EZE).

I imagine the YYZ-GRU "direct" will be treated the same way the YUL-GRU "direct" is, but I do wonder what the procedure will be for people like me who are connecting.

YOWgary

​​​​​​...but it is the same 788 operating a single flight number marketed as direct-but-not-nonstop, not to be confused with the 789 operating AC90 with a connection at GRU.

I booked through YUL for this reason, to avoid any chance of missing the onward flight to EZE if AC90 were delayed.
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FlyingFiasco

For both flights, you are disembarking the aircraft.

You enter a designated holding area and then re-board after they transferred the luggage and refueled the plane. You go through a quick security procedure, but you don't clear immigration and customs. If both flights are on time, you're in there for only about an hour.

It's actually quite well organized. I'm doing it again tomorrow (Thursday morning to be exact) and can report out if anything has changed.

john2003

We have a booking in the reverse direction. I read somewhere that you have to get off the plane but can't access any lounges. Not a great experience is my sense but unavoidable.

Symmetre

I haven't been to GRU since before the pandemic but at that time, the lounge situation was pretty dismal. There was a Smiles lounge, with very limited offerings and this cheap plastic furniture ... it felt more like going into a McDonalds than an airport lounge, to be perfectly honest. I've no idea if that has changed in the two years since my last trip, but I rather doubt it.

FlyingFiasco

That must have been a few years back. The new *A lounge is large and quite good. It is suspended and overlooks the shops. It is open and can get a bit noisy but the food and drink options are good.

This being said, for the GRU-EZE-GRU legs, you don't get to leave the holding area, so this is a moot point.

Bohemian1

As an AC customer, I used to really enjoy the *A lounge in GRU but thought that it had closed for good last year.

I think it was part of some scheme by the GRU airport authority to run all of the lounges themselves. But I could be misinformed.

mamau

Open again under another name but still open to *A.

Plumber

Did this last month and a family member did this 3 days ago....but both only in the southerly direction... YUL-GRU-EZE.

You get off the plane- go though a quick security check by following the international connections signs, then are back into the departure gates area.

There is a lounge, but it is a good 10 minute walk from the gate area. We did have access to the lounge, but the issue is that the lounge only opens at 11 am.

If on time, the flight should arrive at GRU at 09:50 and depart at 11:50... so by the time you disembark and get through security, its more like one hour until boarding. But again the lounge does not open till 11 am.

When I did this last month, we waited outside the lounge and were first in line when it opened at 11am... we had a few items and left the lounge at 11:15... Then got to the gate by 11:25 and boarded the plane.

Earlier this week my family member arrived into GRU almost 50 minutes late, but left on time at 11:50... so he did not bother going to the lounge.

FlyingFiasco

Passed through today.
AC90 was a bit late, so we got escorted by the GRU concierge straight to intermediate security and then to the AC96 gate. No lineups anywhere, so about a 15 minute process.
Concierge said that in earlier days, AC96 would take off if delayed too long but the ensuing shitstorm convinced them to now wait for AC90 no matter what.

Concierge also confirmed what Bohemian1 says upthread, i.e. that GRU took over all lounge operations. But apparently you still have full access as a *A elite member.

All in all, a really enjoyable experience today. Well organized and really swift.

YOWgary

Really appreciate this, thank you.

I'd have booked AC90 except that that 1-hour connection looked risky. Oh well, note for next month's mileage run.

Adam Smith

Sucks about the lounge opening hours. I have 3 hours from when AC96 arrives (0830) to when AC90 departs (1130). I had just assumed there would be a lounge open during that time period.

Although I'm still oddly titillated by the prospect of connecting from one AC flight to another in Brazil. I must be an avgeek