I have a similar itinerary this week: arriving on AA and connecting to a domestic flight on Gol. I believe that means I'll be arriving in Terminal 3 and departing from Terminal 1-A.

Anyone know if Gol has a recheck desk after Customs in T3? Also, anything unusual I should be aware of when connecting at GRU? Thanks.

Yes, GOL and also Azul have recheck after exiting Customs in T-3. The only new wrinkle in my last trip a few weeks ago was being told I could not check in until withing 3 hours of the GOL flight scheduled departure. That had never been enforced before if it was an existing rule. (I asked and was told it wasn''t a new rule).

Isn't that the international flight though?

Then you are flying domestic from GRU to Manaus, correct?
So my question was regarding the flight from Manaus to GRU rather than GIG if Rio is where you want to end up spending time. Are you thinking there is enough price advantage to a RT (GRU-MAO-GRU) fare to cover the S.P. to Rio leg?Certain flights may have larger differences in fares for GRU vs. GIG, but the one I referred to from MAO is minimal., btw. ( maybe I'm missing something....?)

Thank you very much. I think that by the time we're through Customs it will be within 3 hours of departure.

I'm glad you did because this is what I was looking for. I have a Delta ticket GIG-GRU-ATL in a couple weeks. I have done this exact routing but it's been years. The GIG-GRU is of course on Gol. How exactly does that work? Do I go through passport control then in GRU? Should I be concerned about a 1:45 connection length? Arriving 7:15pm. Departing 9pm on a Monday. Since it's essentially all ticketed on Delta, I assume I'll pick up all boarding passes at the Delta counter in GIG?

You will clear passport control and Customs at GRU. 1:45 can be tight, but doable if inbound flight is on time. Dalta may give you a bosrding pass, but you will need to get your checked bags if you have any and clear customs. Then after exiting Customs, they is a recheck area for TAM, GOL, and Azul. Likely once you recheck, you will need to make your way from Terminal 3 to Terminal 1.

No checked bags thankfully.

That improves your odds substantially.

I am arriving on a united flight about 9am in GRU on SAT and need to take a GOL flight to GIG at 10:55.

I have already checked in at GOL and have my boarding pass.

HOw much time do I need and can I check my luggage after going thru customs with recheck as long as I have boarding passes?

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks

9AM, that would likely be UA 861. Two hours is doable, but everything has to work out well. By that I mean the UA flight isn't delayed, no delays of getting the checked bags, and the length of the line for passport control isn't bad. When exiting customs, keep straight instead of turning right into the duty free store. After exiting customs, there is a recheck area, just keep walking straight past all the people waiting for others arriving. You will likely see the TAM signs for recheck first, the Gol recheck is on the other side of TAM recheck. Normally this line isn't too bad, worst I have experienced is about 4 or 5 people waiting. If the boarding pass for GOL was issued by UA, GOL will give you a different one when you recheck the bags. After recheck, you will need to go up one floor, and pass thru Terminal 2 to Terminal 1, which will most likely be where you will depart from. This is about a 15 minute walk. Terminal 1 has gates 1-13. Security is usually not bad, even with a long line it moves pretty quickly. Some have said that if they don't check in for a Gol flight at least 1 hour in advance, they have problems. But if you already have a separate Gol BP or one issued by UA, I don't think this would be a problem if you were running late. Good luck.

Just reporting back on my experience two weeks ago...

We arrived on BA247 (which lands at about 5:20am). There was a very short line at immigration, although we did walk fast to beat the majority of the passengers to the queue. Our bags arrived rather quickly and we weren't stopped at customs. I would echo qfrodo's suggestion to miss out on the duty-free shops. The signage implies that the exit is for "Crew" if you walk straight, and for passengers if you turn right, but don't be tempted to walk through the duty-free shop because it takes a long time to weave through all the passengers.
In the end, we had about 2.5 out of our 3.5 hours to spare, and we walked between T3 and T2 instead of waiting for the shuttle.

I know this is just one experience and isn't necessarily indicative.

Well, hope it all adds up, that the "fire sale" was truly that. And thanks for explaining your logic, even this far down the posting road.
Enjoy.

I have a SDU-GRU(GOL) GRU-JFK (AA) connection, on 2 separate tickets. Is it possible to do the domestic to international connection in 2 hours safely? I am in Business Class, Oneworld Platinum and no checked bags.

On my last trip, I chickened out and did a 5 hour connection.

If your GOL flight is on time and with no checked bags, you should be fine. I normally like 3 hours, but have done 2 on occasion.

Do you know if Gol is usually on time? I am thinking that I will check-in online for the AA flight and will have no bags. Also there are 2 later AA-codeshares with TAM to JFK. Maybe AA will accommodate me on them if I miss the AA flight? Maybe not since it is not on the same ticket? This is my first time as a Platinum on AA, so I do not know what to expect.

Thoughts?