jczinn

Yes, I can't imagine they'd want to be responsible for this.. Anyway, thanks for all the replies, I feel a little less panicked now

AlexMC

You won't face any problem taking your backpack with you to the plane - specially if this is going to be your only carry-on item. I can assure you that.

NightFly

That may be the case in Brasil, however I recently had my laptop-sized backpack (being my ONLY carry-on) weighed at SCL (for a JJ flight) and an over-zealous agent ranted about it having something like 9kgs ONLY carry-on for a 777-operated flight

EricTheNerd

Just a data point: My wife and I flew SDU-CGH-CGR, CGR-GRU-CWB and CWB-IGU in July. We each had a standard rollaboard carryon (for the US) and a shoulderbag. For each flight, they never weighed the shoulderbags (which were likely more than 5 kgs) but they always weighed our rollers (which to be fair were about 12 kgs) at check-in. We attempted check-in at the kiosks in SDU to try to avoid checking bags but it kept throwing back errors. We resigned ourselves to checking our bags (which we avoided on the international flight down), but since checked bags are free, and baggage retrieval was always quick, there was no cause for complaint. In regards to liquids, I bought a relatively titanic bottle of contact lens solution and had it in my carryon bag for CWB-IGU, and nobody batted an eyelash. I seem to also recall a sign in one of the airports specifying that the liquid limit was only for international flights. Overall, checking bags isn't the same hassle as it is in Argentina or the US.

jczinn

Quick update on my part--travelling from GRU to IGU and back, no one at TAM paid any attention to either my or my husband's backpacks. From GRU they never even looked at them and from IGU all the check-in clerk did was put a sticker on them (while they was still on our backs), never asked to weigh them. We were quite relieved as mine weighed at least 20 lbs! We also noted many other tourists with large carry-on backpacks that looked well over 5 kg. So it seems like it is correct that they only bother to weigh roll-aboards.

sofasurfer

A few more data points for this thread: we weren't asked to weigh our carryon backpacks (containing laptops and a couple of other misc small electronic things we wouldn't put in checked baggage) - I'd say each bag was ~9kg

MCO-GRU J
GRU-CNF Y
CNF-SDU Y

Svantevit

A few more data points:

CGH-BSB Y
BSB-CGH Y
CGH-POA Y
POA-GRU Y

No sign of anyone paying attention to the weight of the carry-on for these flights or any other flights at the time as far as I could see.

Svantevit

qfrodo

Well, after 2 years and 10 months straight of monthly trips I finally ran into the carryon police at VIX today. Made no difference that I was Fidelidade Blue or *G. Since I had purchased the ticket separately, they were viewing it as a domestic trip rather than a connection to an international trip. They made the statement that international was allowed 10 kilos, but not positive if my itinerary had all been one one PNR if they would have treated the VIX-GIG as part of the international trip.

So, I pulled the bag with the PC in it out and checked the other. they did state that if two bags were carried on, the total would still need to be less than 5 kilos. Won't inpact this trip much as I will just stick the one bag back inside the other before boarding the international segment.

hardiwv

TAM and GOL in Brazil have always waived the check-in luggage piece/weight limitation for my domestic flights, provided I show them my international ticket and the international flight arrives/departs within 48h. What is interesting is that I always fly SkyTeam and even TAM belonging to Star Alliance waives the domestic baggage rules if I show my international SkyTeam ticket. ^

This would never happen in Europe where airlines such as KL charge for every single kilogram above the limit....

Rgs,

1111

I'm flying JFK-GRU-JFK in J soon, and hoping not to check a bag. I know this thread is focused on domestic flights but haven't found any other info. How likely am I to be able to carry a heavy roll-aboard on with me?

Seat 1F

In my experience with TAM, the carry on policy is more relaxed for international flights than it is for domestic flights. I just did GRU-EZE-GRU (J class) in June with A330 equipment both ways. I had a rollerboard and a sizable Tumi briefcase as carryon. Not a question or comment in either direction. You should not have a problem.

heramato

You will be fine. The problem is on regional flights and mostly in Y.

pvdecastro

This is regarding internal flights within Brazil only.

I�m a TAM red card ( star alliance gold ) and travel with them about 60 times per year within Brazil.

Normal carry ons in the US will have a difficult time being allowed on board in Brazil. A backpack is fine unless is really heavy.

From my experience if your carry on is above 7kg they�ll ask you to check it in.