To all passengers coming to Brazil,

This is my firts post, but I feel obliged to warn all passengers coming to Brazil either on business or leisure trips to take all possible extra precautions on delays and cancellations of flights without prior notice. And no refunds for cancelled flights. Or re-accomodation on other flights, by with terrible connections or having to fly around the country to go from A to B.

After the 9/29 crash, air controllers (military) and Governement agencies responsible for air traffic control are constantly on strike (with usual excuses) and adding to the scenario obsolete equipment and investment restrictions by the Government, is causing serious troubles for anyone to fly around here.

And the airliners - mainly TAM and GOL - do not care about the passengers at all. One can be forced to stay for hours at the airports, and the airliners do not even permit you to leave the boarding area. One is not even offered a glass of water. The treatment given by the two airliners are beyond any consideration and respect towards the rights of the passengers. If and not when you are boarded and not allowed tom take-off - like what happened with Alitalia flight last week when passengers waited for 4 hours inside the plane !

What seemed to be a short-time issue is becoming permant. Please take care and prepare yourself for a nervous situation.

Besides the fact that Government agency Infraero, responsible for the airport structure and charging outrageuos airport taxes from the passengers, offers filthy facilities and weak wifi access but no electrical outlets for notebooks and/or mobiles charging.

I read in Oglobo and Fola de Sao Paulo that the Brasilian ATC controllers were basically "working to rule".....that is.....now using the maximum time and distance spacing for aircraft, which is slowing down all the flights dramatically. This is in retaliation after they were blamed as being at fault for the GOL crash.

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Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

I have flown round trip twice recently (month or so) with no significant issues (I did take off 1 hour late on my last outbound from GRU. There were no long lines in customs nor in immigration.

Wifi access (Boingo) was good (even surprisingly fast).

Airport taxes are the same as they have always been.

Facilities didnt seem filthy to me ... Restroom cleanliness typical for any international airport.

I flew GOL twice last week--Belo H to Salvador, Salvador to Rio. Both flights were about an hour late, but service was as good as i usually see in the US, and the food was better (not great)

For what it's worth - here's a kind of trip report with a focus on delays and quality of Brazillian air terminals during mid-December 2006:

I flew once with TAM:

TAM from EZE to GIG

This was a very early morning flight - The take off was delayed almost one hour. (Arrival was also about one hour late). I am not sure if it was related to air traffic control. In my experience, it is quite common to experience a one-hour delay, and I don't expect additional refreshment etc. during a one-hour wait at the gate. So I was not upset.

On arrival at GIG, my experience was excellent. Absolutely no line for immigration. Very quick and smooth - banks and taxi companies are immediately available in the arrivals hall. I have no complaints about the international arrival facilities at GIG.

I would say that Terminal 1 at GIG seems to be more chaotic - I wanted to leave my bag in a coin locker, which meant that I had to go to Terminal 1. Over there, I found a lot of long check-in lines, and some scenes that felt "sketchy". Fortunately my taxi driver came with me into the terminal and guided me to the guy with all the keys for the lockers.... The entire scene was simply very unfamiliar to me.

and I flew twice with Gol:

(1) Gol from GIG to SSA - stopover in SSA - then SSA to MCZ

GIG Terminal 1 is a rather overwhelming scene ... There are just so many long lines and it has a chaotic and crowded appearance. I could not work out where to go, so I asked - and discovered that the lines are actually moving fairly smoothly. Check-in was efficient. The boarding passes looked rather flimsy - like receipts from my local supermarket... but that's fine.

Upstairs, the dining options in GIG Terminal 1 are dreadful. I can understand frustration at Infraero. There is a kind of food court with no appetizing outlets - only very substandard which feels crowded, dirty and old. (in a country which has plenty of decent food).

The departure hall / seating areas around the gates are also crowded and chaotic. The information screens appear to have no connection with reality and I strained to listen to every announcement for fear of missing some vital information about my flight. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the toilet facilities were adequately clean. (It just didn't feel like the kind of place where that would be the case). Since this was a late night departure, I felt very tired - but I did not feel comfortable enough to rest in this sketchy area.

Our take off from GIG was delayed by more than 3 hours. IIRC, the boarding was roughly one hour delayed. And then we sat at the gate for another 2+ hours. During that time, the GOL FAs handed out some cups of water. In this respect, I would say that GOL's service was adequate - It was not great, but I was not in any discomfort. One flaw in the service was the lack of any announcement in English during this wait at the gate, so I pretty much had to guess at what was going on. I am pretty sure that they were saying that we were just waiting for permission to take off. The mood of the passengers on the plane was one of quiet resignation. I salute the Brazillians for their calm attitude.

After take off, the FAs provided two drinks services during the flight - tea, coffee, several kinds of fruit juice, guarana and so on - and some cereal bars. This is better service than I expect on flights of similar length in Europe or North America. I asked one of the FAs whether there was any chance of getting to my final destination (MCZ). She informed me that 50 other passengers on the flight were also trying to make that connection, so the connecting flight would probably be held for us. And she turned out to be correct...

SSA
Sure enough - We deplaned at SSA to find that several connections were being held there. To our great relief, we proceded to a circular waiting area. There was one cafe (still open at 1.00am) with a few basic snacks for sale. The area was clean and bright enough. It felt much better than GIG. No complaints about this terminal.

It was obvious that GOL was experiencing delays throughout the entire system - and they are now accustomed to it. Many passengers were hanging around for heavily delayed flights. We got on our plane roughly 1 hour later and took off immediately for MCZ. Staff were courteous and helpful (and patient with my beginner's Portuguese) when I asked for updates.

We finally reached MCZ at about 3.00am - I was stunned to arrive at a gleaming, modern airport. There were plenty of taxis and the car rental counters were all operating. I imagine they have extended their hours of business to accommodate the delayed passengers.

(2) Gol from MCZ to GRU

I had the pleasure of using MCZ again - I rate this as one of the best little airports I have ever been through. Not much queuing up for check-in. Very efficient and courteous GOL employees (which was a rule throughout my travel with them). Very nice business lounge on the land-side - with armchairs, free juice and internet access. Admission was 10 Reis.
It took less than five minutes to go through security and walk to the gate. Very comfortable waiting area at the gate, which was a good thing because.... the equipment was one hour late.
Once the plane had arrived, we boarded pretty much immediately and took off pretty much immediately. One hour delay is not something that I complain about.....

GOL service during the flight was fine - the usual cereal bars and juice. Arrival at GRU was one hour late.

On arrival at GRU, I could see absolutely massive queues for the GOL and TAM check in counters. It looks pretty awful - but people are well behaved and the system appears to be holding up. Once again. I salute the Brazillian people for their calm attitude under these testing circumstances.

and I flew once with UA:

UA from GRU to IAD

The GRU airport building feels really old and seems unable to cope with the volume of human traffic. Sometimes it's just impossible to proceed towards your check-in area because of the crowds all around. You just have to wait for the throngs of people to start moving again.

Landside upper floor of the airport is less crowded - has some stores / internet cafe / banks etc. - most of which look very tired and old.

United Airlines check in area is somewhat less chaotic than the TAM and GOL areas. I used the 1K check-in line for UA - which was quick.
Lines for security and passport checks were rather long, but relatively quick moving.

Once I got to the secure area, I went to the RCC - which is in a really awful state of repair. The exterior corridor looks like it was last cleaned in 1960. It's like a scene from the movie "Brazil" rather than the gateway airport of Brazil.... They have buckets and newspapers on the floor in a couple of places (such as the gents toilets in the RCC) to catch the leaks from the pipes in the ceiling.

RCC food options were surprisingly excellent - lots of fresh fruits / choice of breads / cheeses and cooked meats / quiche etc. / selection of desserts. But the place looks like a dump.

Departure out of GRU was on time. I'm not sure if they are prioritizing international flights or if I was just lucky.


Overall I would rate the experience as follows:
GOL and TAM Employees - Doing their absolute best in tough times
My fellow passengers - Very impressive. No raised voices or high tempers.
Airports - MCZ is five star / SSA is three star / GIG is one star / GRU is an uncleaned toilet

FWIW = IAD is also a toilet. (I suppose it is a relatively clean one compared with GRU). After a trip on the moon-buggy, I found myself in a one-hour line for Immigration... and then another moon buggy to make my connection. The whole thing took almost two hours. Awful.

I hope this helps.