Bad airport experiences

    I think Dec 30,2023 was my second worst experience....One minute late at the check out desk and I hear...I guess you will have to pay for another ticket.... Latam/Delta cannot fix this because I booked through a third party which is Priceline.. Five hours later at the airport with no success....
BUT one last call. Nearly a 5 minute call, and I'm finally on the next plane 🥲
   

    -@antonioggriffin

Well first off, you were late. So maybe you should plan accordingly to your flights especially if they’re international..?

Secondly, learn the valuable lesson of not using Priceline again and go either directly with the airline company or a more secure app like Expedia.

GRU does suck, but it sounds like you need to plan better and it has nothing to do with the airport

Only one word in the OP really matters

"Late"

The airport, airline, and booking company have not much to do with anything.

However, there are lessons:

Always get to an airport in plenty of time. Hanging around for a couple of hours is a lot better than missing a flight.

Third party booking companies (tickets, hotels, whatever) are often cheap, but commonly come at a price. I stopped using them years ago. I end up paying more, but I never have problems that can't be sorted quickly and easily.

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk … o-28373454

Here's another one.

He lost his passport but Easjet apologised?

No way. Losing a passport is passenger carelessness. I keep all travel document in a separate place with nothing else. They come out when needed, then go back. The place is a dedicated pocket in my tablet bag, That pocket is cleared of everything else, and that bag is over my shoulder at all times.

The upshot of most passenger caused airport problems is unthinking or uncaring passengers. Frankly, naming airlines, agents, and airports is just deflection.

The passenger is the only one to blame.

    I think Dec 30,2023 was my second worst experience....One minute late at the check out desk and I hear...I guess you will have to pay for another ticket.... Latam/Delta cannot fix this because I booked through a third party which is Priceline.. Five hours later at the airport with no success....
BUT one last call. Nearly a 5 minute call, and I'm finally on the next plane 🥲
   

    -@antonioggriffin

I believe that online check-in is available 24hrs before departure.  I recommend checking in as early as possible - even if you don't know how many luggage you have.  Checking in is a great way to ensure that you are assigned a seat.  However if you are on standby or have booked the cheapest economy ticket that does not assign seats, then it is important to show up early as this is typically first come first serve seating.

Also agree with @essxiv that intermediaries such as priceline and expedia often have snafus with tickets.  Better do the search using those sites and then book on the official airline site.  You may pay an extra $20 or thereabouts but you are issued tickets by the airline and in the worst case, you can get credit for flights not taken.

Airlines tend to oversell flights and that's why when passengers are late, they are out of luck.

Hope that you had a safe flight though.

Happy New Year 2024.

For me it was in December 2019. I was flying back home and leaving from Guarulhos International airport. the air conditioning was not working and it was disgustingly hot outside.

01/02/23 Here's the thing about Brazilian airports, from somebody who's been through about a dozen of them that I can recall without even bothering to search my memory.  The experience will almost always range from mediocre to terrible, because:

• Most of your fellow travelers are unaccustomed to air travel.  They don't know how to use the kiosks that are increasingly where travelers need to get boarding passes and baggage claim tickets, so the lines pile up behind them while they stare in confusion, until an overworked airline employee notices and sorts them out, or they give up;
• The many who give up (or don't bother) go and stand in the counter line, where they can't be helped and block the travelers who are prepared;
• When they get to the counter, instead of dropping their luggage and moving on, they ask all the travel related questions they've had time to think up while they were waiting in line while the airline employee, trying to be polite, patiently listens.  So what should be a five minute interaction becomes fifteen minutes  or more, easy.
• If you've bought your ticket through an aggregator (i.e., online service), or even through a professional travel agent, they will not change your ticket at the counter, so don't bother asking.  If an airline employee tries to send you to Special Services to rebook for an earlier flight to be helpful, make sure that s/he understands that you bought your ticket from a reseller before you give up your place in line; otherwise you could waste a half hour at Special Services, just to be turned down. 

There is no good solution.  I don't think that even adding more employees would solve it, although it would help.   The best partial solution is to get to the airport early; I aim to be at least  two hours early for domestic flights, three for international.  My husband used to laugh at me for that.  After a few close calls, he's now a believer.  Being there that early gives you a better shot at the kiosks, and time to come up with workarounds as you need them.

If you're still in line as your boarding time approaches, be alert for an airline employee going up and down the line shouting your flight number.  Make sure that person sees you and knows that it's your flight.  This is no time to be bashful or staring at your phone.

If you qualify in any way for the "Prioridade por Lei" lines, take them, and bring your traveling companion(s) with you. 

GRUs only problem, is its size, my two favorite airports are VCP and REC in brazil. Off plane and outside for fresh air in about 15 minutes.

@Mikeflanagan

I agree about REC - recently voted the 3rd best airport in the world by travellers responding to a Japanese magazine article...

    01/02/24 GRUs only problem, is its size, my two favorite airports are VCP and REC in brazil. Off plane and outside for fresh air in about 15 minutes.
   

    -@Mikeflanagan

Getting ONTO the plane is usually a much bigger problem than getting OFF it.

        01/02/24 GRUs only problem, is its size, my two favorite airports are VCP and REC in brazil. Off plane and outside for fresh air in about 15 minutes.        -@Mikeflanagan

Getting ONTO the plane is usually a much bigger problem than getting OFF it.
   

    -@abthree

I have never really understood the Brazilian prevalence to gathering as many members of family as possible to greet a lone traveller in the arrivals hall, often blocking the path of fellow travellers leaving the baggage collection area. Perhaps it is due to the fear of being locked in an aluminium tube surrouded by highly flammable liquid, a few miles in the air, and thus to celebrate the arrival of a loved one in a wholesome state - not burned to a crisp?

The WORST experience I had was waking up... With my head feeling like it was about to EXPLODE.. I kept thinking to myself.. Am I going to pass out??!!! What is happening.....

Later to find out one of my nostrils opened up from a cold I was battling earlier that week....

Avoid flying if your sick 🤒🤧🤕 kkkkkk

   

I have never really understood the Brazilian prevalence to gathering as many members of family as possible to greet a lone traveller in the arrivals hall, often blocking the path of fellow travellers leaving the baggage collection area. Perhaps it is due to the fear of being locked in an aluminium tube surrouded by highly flammable liquid, a few miles in the air, and thus to celebrate the arrival of a loved one in a wholesome state - not burned to a crisp?
   

    -@Peter Itamaraca

I've flown to Brasil about 60 times now and roughly the same number of times within the country.

Brasilians are THE WORST fliers to have to deal with in the world IMHO, and I've been to 50 countries.

As mentioned earlier, DO NOT DEAL WITH OTA'S buy direct from the airline/hotel/car rental websites.

01/14/24 I have never really understood the Brazilian prevalence to gathering as many members of family as possible to greet a lone traveller in the arrivals hall, often blocking the path of fellow travellers leaving the baggage collection area.        -@Peter Itamaraca

One of the unexpected benefits of a misspent youth in gay bars is my almost automatic ability to thread my way quickly through very crowded spaces.  Now that you mention it, arrival halls DO tend to be crowded here, but they're child's play, especially since nobody is shirtless and sweaty. 😂

On the other hand, I think that there's a special place in Hell reserved for all the people who push their luggage carts right up against the conveyor at baggage claim -- especially sideways! -- and then stand next to them.

You've obviously never been on a long haul international flight were there is a line of of pax 5 deep waiting by each of the 2 available toilets in economy class........each with a toothbrush and toothpaste in their hands kkkkkkkkkkk........all Brasilians of course.........weird habit they've got, brushing teeth 3-4 times a day.

September 2001 on Air France GIG-CDG for my honeymoon.

Yeah I pay extra for direct flights or do custom flight mapping to ensure less time in the air because jesus even the MIA > GRU or VCP is brutal

@essxiv

hey

can i use priceline in 2026  i wanna go brazil. or do u recommend sksmthing elze. please let me know you seem very educated.

bom dia

In December 2019 when I was returning home from my first Brazil trip the air conditioning at Guarulhos Sao Paulo was broken and it happened to be hot as hell. I was sweaty and uncomfortable before boarding my flight to Newark, NJ which was about 8+ hours X_x Other than that my experiences have been pretty positive at Guarulhos, Congonhas, SP, Recife and Navegantes.

So yesterday, I flew from CGH to SDU with AZUL........it was my first experience with this airline, and while the AZUL flight from SDU-CGH last week was without issue, coming back, well, we had a hiccup.

We're loaded in the shuttle bus sitting on the tarmac beside the plane about to exit and climb up the airstairs to board, when a ground crew member from AZUL comes onto our bus and says "we've got a problem with the aircraft and in 10 minutes we'll know the status of this flight. I'm the ramp supervisor here, so, I'll get right back to you with a resolution shortly".........10 minutes passes and he comes back and says the aircraft has gone mechanical and unfortunately we won't be flying on it today, but, he has another ready aircraft parked at a different gate, and that our bus will take us over there and the crew will come over as well with the luggage and we'll take off with aircraft. He apologized profusely for the issue, even though no one one wants to fly on a broken airplane.

I've flown over 100,000 miles a year for almost two decades, I've been delayed due to mechanical issues before, but never ever in my life have I experienced any airline handling it this way. The stories I could post here about airline f-ups would use a lot of server space, and yesterday we were all expecting to be rebooked out of CGH in a couple of hours, or even today, but no, we left and arrived only 30 minutes late. Every other airline would have done the opposite.

I think another place in hell is reserved for passengers who arrive with many overweight bags and repack/redistribute the contents on the floor in front of the ticket agent instead of stepping away and getting back in line when done.