ron187

I'm flying from ORD-GRU-JNB-NBO in J with the second leg and third legs on SAA (booked as a single award ticket using ANA miles.)

Will UA be able to print my boarding passes for all flights? This is an expensive question, because if they can't, I will need a visa (which you must apply for ahead of time) to get landside in GRU to print the boarding pass. I would like to avoid this if at all possible.

I called UA and the agent conferred with his manager, but they were unsure. I would appreciate any insights!

NikoLGA

I’m fairly certain UA should, if all flights are on *A. However, even if they can’t, there will be transit desks at GRU where you can print onward passes.

NH_Clark

I've never transited through GRU, but you may have to convince the check-in agent at ORD that you don't need a Brasil visa. My experience has been they always check for visa before issuing/printing a ticket.

NikoLGA

Typically, ORD, being the international airport that it is, is OK with these things. Just make sure you show yourself to a United rep, not a AirServ handler.

sosptuba

I'm making a similar route in the very near future...MSN>ORD>GRU>JNB>CPT (ugh I know...) and was wondering the same thing especially since I'm on 3 PNR's

ron187

A little more info to add to my original post - All flights are on *A and my layover in GRU is 8 hours. I'm not worried about the time (I'll be fine hanging out in the lounge) but not sure if there is a time limit I can stay airside between flights.

zrs70

I would go into the SAA website and check in for those flights independently.

mduell

All being on *A is irrelevant; I've had plenty of UA failures to issue boarding passes on *A. You need an answer for SAA specifically.

emcampbe

may or may not be possible. Not sure about SAA, but UA doesn't allow you to check in on their site if your first flight is on another carrier - you can only do so after you are on board the other flight and it has closed out.

mahasamatman

From the Brazilian embassy's site:

Rover75

I started the thread about GRU transfers where you posted a link back to this thread:

Int'l to Int'l Connections At GRU Without Visa

(Recommended reading for anyone with international to international connections at GRU.)

I spoke with SA yesterday about my international to international transfer at GRU from CM (Copa) to SA (South African). (Full itinerary: SCL-PTY-GRU-JNB-CPT, all booked and ticketed for 45,000 UA miles in business on a single PNR.)

While SA has a good relationship with CM per my conversation (i.e., CM should be able to issue a boarding pass for my travel on SA given that they are both *A carriers with an interline agreement), the SA rep confirmed that there is (as you would expect) an international transfer desk at GRU if I am unable to pick up my SA boarding pass in either SCL or PTY.

Given that you are apparently already ticketed on this itinerary, I strongly urge you to look up your SA record locator and then call SA to confirm your ability to pick up your SA boarding pass at the GRU transit desk if UA can't issue it directly. My experience confirmed that SA was much more responsive the second time I called them when I was a fully ticketed business class passenger on an international to international itinerary heading into RSA.

Also, given that anything over a six hour connection at GRU may be dodgy (although SA explicitly told me their limit was 12 hours for international to international transit connections at GRU), I strongly urge you to confirm that your eight hour connection at GRU is ok when you speak to SA.

Tblack15

Slightly OT but relevant. You may want to confirm you don't need a Yellow Fever vaccination. You're transiting through a Yellow Fever at-risk country.

If you have it or don't need it, great.

ron187

Thanks for all the help with this, everyone! I have my Yellow Fever vaccination so I should be ok on that front. ^

Rover75 - which SAA number did you call? I was looking at the US numbers, but wasn't sure if it would be better to use skype to call the south african number instead for more knowledgeable reps?

YadiMolina

I've had 4 layovers of ~12 hrs at GRU on that SA flight to/from JNB. I don't recall that a passenger encounters any sort of passport or boarding pass review when transiting where they would know how long your layover is. The *A lounge didn't care.

ron187

Thanks YadiMolina - This is great news! Out of curiosity, were you coming from the US?