dls25

Cliffs: Avoid flying GOL on AA tickets at all costs
​​​​​​I went to Brazil this week to visit family and have a little rest of relaxation. I was scheduled to fly from Sao Luis (SLZ) to the US via Sao Paulo and Dallas tonight. It has turned into a nightmare and made me a believer that GOL is the worst airline in history including Soviet Aeroflot.

I get to SLZ around 4:00 PM for my 5:30 flight. I head to the check-in counter, hand the agent my US Passport and my itinerary. The agent does a bunch of typing, makes a phone call and then asks me if I had proof of US residency like a green card. I look at him like ...? A US Passport is more than sufficient to enter the US. Even the Brazilian passenger next to me is like what the hell is this guy talking about, a US Passport holder literally cannot have a green card. He goes off and makes some more phone calls and comes back and doesn't mention the green card again.

Next he asked me for my COVID test. I give him my antigen test that meets all CDC requirements that was taken three days ago. He goes off and makes some phone calls and comes back telling me I need a PCR test. I pull up the US Embassy, CDC and AA websites to show him that an antigen test is fine. He persists in his demand for a PCR Test and even brings over his supervisor to back him up and tells me the test requirements vary by airline and they called AA and AA requires a PCR. I'm like that is total ........ and complete lie and whip out my phone and call AA myself and put them on speaker. The AA agent educates them on US test requirements in Portuguese but they still refuse to relent and tells them to look in TIMATIC and they don't even know what TIMATIC is. The AA Agent is incredulous. Finally, after about 90 minutes of arguing, the GOL staff finally realize they are wrong but by this time the flight has departed.

The GOL staff are all apologies but I'm like apologies are not going to get me home or cover the extra expenses and hassle you have now caused. GOL has the crappiest IT system I have ever seen. The GOL staff cannot rebook my flight at all since it is an AA codeshare and on AA stock; they have to call some internal interline desk in Sao Paulo which cannot do anything either. They call AA and try to sweet talk them into rebooking me for free but AA is like nope, that will be $2800 please. The GOL staff try to get me to pay $2800 and they will reimburse me and I'm like "do I look that stupid?" So finally, they are like we need to close, please call reservations after noon tomorrow and the will be an interline supervisor who might be able to assist. I refuse. I admit I caused a scene - I sat down right in the middle of their office and refused to leave until they booked me a flight tomorrow. Then they called the police on me. The police didn't really do anything other than make me leave the office.

So I showed up on time with the proper documents. GOL screwed up and is unable to fix the problem due to their crap IT so I'm stuck in a foreign country in limbo and now I have to get another COVID test because the previous one is now expired. Due to the short turnaround time I'm going to have to get another antigen so we'll see if I have the same drama again whenever I get the flight rebooked. If I could fly to Rio and torch GOL's HQ building I would. I never thought I would miss LATAM so.

Customer Service is not their GOL. AA needs a better partner.
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shd9

Sorry for the trouble - it is always complicated when connecting from a domestic(-ish) airline to an international one. GOL employees at outstations might be contracted, and they probably rarely deal with international connections.

thoughts: maybe you could have asked GOL to check in to GRU only - flight being domestic they won't bog you too much. At GRU there would be real AAgents who would know the rules. But in this case, I would call AA again and explain the situation succinctly (unable to check in due to bad GOL agents, had recordings/calls to AA CS during check-in they could listen to etc). I think eventually someone at AA would be happy to get it rebooked

dls25

Thanks for the advice. I did try to get them to only check me in as far as GRU but they refused.
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Beleive it or not, these were actually real GOL employees. GOL flies to the US and other international destinations, so I am really shocked by their sheer incompetence and worthless IT.

EQDsSUCK

Wow! I'm so sorry this is happening to you. That is totally ridiculous and unfair.

SUBSCRIBE!

dw

OP- hope you are able to get everything resolved today.

Sadly, I am sure, with the current preflight test restrictions, this will not be the only incident of an airline misinterpreting the regulations.

chuck1

Keep us updated.

anaggie

I always book international and domestic separate in Brazil. LATAM and GOL are notorious for creating problems. It is a a headache.

I always book with at least 12hrs of time built in between domestic and international. Unfortunately, I have learned the hard way.

FlyDeltaMD88

Very sorry for your experience and Gol's incompetence. Keep us updated.

YuropFlyer

Arriving just 90min before departure at the airport during normal times might be fine, during COVID-19, pretty much all airlines across the globe have strongly advised to arrive as early as possible (Most say 3-4 hours)

While I assume you were indeed in the right with your documents, most countries (and airlines) across the globe indeed demand a PCR test. I guess you're aware of that too. Seems in your situation, arriving earlier might would have done the trick. Not blaiming you, it seems GOL did a bad show here, but it's quite clearly announced that due to the extensive checks that happen during COVID-19, one should arrive as early as possible - there are TONS of different rulings, and agents are pressed hard to verify the situation, which is changing daily!

Arriving on the (almost) last minute isn't really a good strategy if you must travel during those times.

TravelerMSY

What a disaster! Update us when you get home.

dls25

Thanks for the kind wishes, everyone. I did get on a flight today, no thanks to GOL. After dealing with GOL all morning and getting nowhere, I finally called AA's Sao Paulo office in a state of panic but the agent that answered the phone and her supervisor were able to get me on a flight tonight.

Apparently this happens at 2-3 times a week with GOL, so the Brazilian office is very familiar with the issue and is taking steps to address it with GOL before their partnership can expand. GOL Agents do not have access to TIMATIC, when they check in an international passenger they have to call some sort of documentation center that is staffed by a third party to find out what is needed and this center frequently gives bad info.

Even today, it took 45 minutes to check in between calling the documentation center and having to manually type in the APIS info as SLZ does not have passport readers at he check in counters.

Lesson learned.

donotblink

This is crazy. This post got picked up by Gary Leff at View From The Wing https://viewfromthewing.com/police-r...m=BoardingArea

People in the comments section there are speculating that they may have been soliciting a bribe, particularly because they asked for a green card after handing them a U.S. Passport!

dkmatter

Bribes are not how routine retail things work in Brazil. It's not Morocco or Arab like that. And Brazil is not like central america where people are aware of US immigration issues. Maranhão is in the middle of nowhere in Brazil and very poor. Most people would know almost nothing about gringo green cards or speak any English.

Hanlon's razor is almost always correct. Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.

tkelvin69

Probably a good strategy but you often can get a fare from AA that includes a GOL segment at no extra cost. And there’s that whole thing about no misconnect protection on two different tickets.

Mr. Vker

I love that they called this a "passenger meltdown". It was an airline meltdown.