Berto

I'll be flying on a DL award ticket next month that will have me going AEP-GRU-ATL with AR on the first leg and DL on the second. From the searches that I've done it appears that although the two airlines are in separate terminals but are connected prior to Immigration and Customs so that International connections can be made. However, based on what I've read online, it still seems a bit cloudy to me. Is international transit like it is at NRT where you split off from passengers entering Japan, go through security and then are deposited into the terminal with all the other departing international passengers? Or am I going to be sitting in some sort of transit room for 4 hours in between flights? According to Delta, as a Platinum and Business Class passenger, I only have access to the GOL Lounge, but my searches indicate that there may also be a lounge operated by AF. Will I be able to access either one or is there a better way to waste my four hour layover at GRU? Any decent restaurants or anything?

Thanks!

NPF

It will be exactly like your NRT experience.

Delta used to operate a lounge by itself (other than the Gol one). It has been closed for refurbishment a while ago; I don't know if it has been already re-opened, but the Gol lounge is fine (Delta's was incredibly crowded).

I don't have experience with the AF lounge, so don't know about it or its admission policy.

I also have never looked for "nice restaurants" at GRU (somehow doubt they exist . . .), only snack bars. Be prepared, they are darned expensive.

All lounges are situated in a single, long corridor that links both terminals airside. There is also a small Hotel (Fastsleep) that rents rooms by the hour and/or for a shower only.

Berto

That's exactly what I was hoping. By chance do you know if one has to get a lounge invitation to be admitted to the GOL lounge when flying Delta (knowing that this is the case with some third-party lounges). Sounds like my layover at GRU may be less-than-exciting, but doesn't sound like the worst thing in the world.

Thanks!

SoCal

We started our travels in Brazil, not Argentina, but when flying DL biz class, we had access to only the Gol lounge (I walked to the AF lounge and asked). It was fine. Not crowded. Comfortable. No showers, not good Wi-Fi, but perfectly acceptable. I suspect the same would apply in your case, but you can always to go the AF lounge and ask (as I did) and it turned away (as I was) go to the Gol lounge. You will survive. We're flying biz class FOR-GRU-ATL-MDW in June, and assume we'll use the Gol lounge, as the DL lounge has been closed (indefinitely?).

Berto

Sigh...

It doesn't make sense that I probably won't get access to a SkyTeam lounge, but then that is something that never seems to make sense when it comes to this alliance. Who knows maybe I'll throw down enough pieces of paper and plastic (J Boarding Pass, PM card, and SC Membership), that somehow I'll convince them to let me, a bit like how Delta stopped paying KLM for arrival lounge access in AMS. Thanks for the heads up though; at least I'll have realistic expectations about AF lounge access there.

SoCal

No harm in trying. I tried to get access to the AF lounge with our Delta biz class boarding passes last year, but no dice. I'll probably try again this June. If you succeed, please let us know here.

SoCal

You generally get access to all Sky Team lounges? If you get access to the Gol lounge, feel lucky. If you look at Delta's Web site https://www.delta.com/skyclub/viewSk...irportCode=GRU, it lists one lounge, and that's the Gol Smiles Lounge (listed as a "partner lounge"). Don't feel too bad. Last year we flew out of SEA in fc on American Airlines (connecting to an international biz class flight), and got access to no lounge, since AA has no lounges there, and its partner lounge, Alaska Airlines' "Board Room," would have allowed us only if we were Admirals Club members. If there had been an AA lounge, we could have gotten in on the basis of connecting to intl. biz class that day.