Gol Transportes Aéreos

FOR-GRU return connecting to/from international flight (on Delta to the US). No problem on our first flight though this was the first time in Brazil we were faced with paying for absolutely any drink or food other than regular water. We wisely opted not to pay the extra fee to get an exit row seat as we noted that as soon as the door closed people moved to those seats without paying (we followed). Since we were connecting to an international Delta flight (in biz class) we could take 3 checked bags up to 70 lbs. each. This was no problem either direction but on our arrival back from the States the Gol rep at the transit desk insisted that although the allowance for checked bags was more than it would have been for a purely domestic flight on its own the allowance for carry-on bags was the same small one (5 kg) as is we had just a GRU-FOR ticket. She would not issue our boarding passes until we lowered the weight of our carry-on bags from the high amount allowed on the Delta flight to the 5 kg. We had to have the checked bags brought back from the bowels of the airport so we could move items from the carry-on bags to the checked bags. We have never run into this before though in such situations in the past we'd usually been on TAM. We were on Gol because it's a partner of Delta. We will be informing Delta of the situation.

I fly very often to São Paulo most of the time with GOL. When I first started flying with them I was very satisfied. Friendly staff on air and on the ground. Good snacks and drinks and all for very good prices. Unfortunately I do not know what happened but they are managing to give away all the good qualities. Now you have to pay horrible prices for any snack or drink but don't get too excited as half of the options are never available. Fares are now no different from TAM The mileage program is actually pretty good. Just hope they get back to earlier days of good service.

I had a ticket from Montevideo to Sao Paulo with connecting flight to the US with United meaning I would be in transit in Sao Paulo for about 3 hours. At the airport in Montevideo the Gol counter did not let me board the plane because I did not have a visa to enter Brazil although I showed my United ticket and demonstrated I would only be in transit for 3 hours. GOL representatives were uncooperative refused to verify my ticket with United. Could not explain why I could not board the plane with evidence that I was not entering Brazil but was in transit to catch a connecting flight to the US. I went to a different Brazilian airline and they had no problem in selling a me ticket let me board and catch my connecting flight in Sao Paulo.

We booked in advance with GOL from Rio to Iguazu. When we checked in the day before we discovered that the airline had changed the time of the flight from 10.30am to 13.30pm. We tried to contact customer service and were kept on hold for an English speaking agent then disconnected. We could not reach anyone to speak to. When we checked in the next day and spoke to someone at the airport we discovered that they changed our return flight from 6.30pm the next day to 14.30 with a connection through São Paulo. That would have put us on a 6 hour transit instead of the 2 hour direct flight we had booked. It also further cut our time in Iguazu making it almost impossible to actually see anything. We tried to speak to staff at the airport but they all shrugged their shoulders. No one spoke good English and they were not willing to call the 0800 customer service for us. We had to go for fear of missing our flight.

BSB-SDU Oct 31st. Flight on time no flight entertainment food and beverages only if you pay. Seats uncomfortable as usual. Flight attendant offered me a glass of water just before arrival in Rio de Janeiro.

Flight CGH-Belo Horizonte. Boarding delayed as usual no real preference for Diamond passengers seat comfort is okay-its only 1 hr. No drink service only paid. Usually flying different route where this is offered. No priority luggage no lounge. Low budget airline with the price of a full service airline.

CNF-SDU. Very good flight no problems at all. Fast check-in and baggage claim. Just dislike in-flight service (catering and entertainment) but the cheap ticket justifies this.

VCP-CXJ with connection in CWB after 4-hour layover on return. Staff careless a GOL's standard. Pitiful snack on all flights. Simply no inflight entertainment. Plane's wireless system didn't work and FA's didn't care about it. There were delays on both connections. Overall great lack of service but not too away from general domestic flights in Brazil.

GIG-EZE. Check-in at Rio was a nightmare. The queue was long with only 3 agents doing the check in for the Int'l Flight to Buenos Aires. At least 300 passengers waiting for hours in line. Flight was delayed 45 mins and arrived in Buenos Aires an hour delayed. I lost my domestic connection and the catering service for a 3 hour international flight is a joke.

GRU-IGU. Disorganized check-in. Only 2 desks for more than 100 passengers checking in at the same time for 3 different flights. The boarding was better. The 737-800 belonging to Varig were clean and neat. 1 hr 45 mins flight with just a few selections of cold beverages. For the price it was reasonable.