Gol Transportes Aéreos

FOR-REC-BSB and BSB-FOR. Gol was having a sale so I took that even though my wife was on TAM. Planes were comfortable and clean though on the last flight the toilets got rather dirty even during a short flight. Whereas in the past I would have expected at least a small sandwich and drinks that included beer that has changed: on the first flight we got a small package of crackers and a smaller package of cookies plus soft drinks (no beer); on the second and third flights the crackers were replaced by a bag of potato chips. Still no beer. A fight attendant on the last flight said they'd stopped serving free beer some time ago but that on some fights they were starting to sell it. I got an emergency row seat (albeit with a seat that didn't recline) for no extra charge on the last flight (other flights were full). No questions as to whether I spoke enough Portuguese to understand emergency instructions (maybe they surmised it from my conversation with the attendant; btw one needs to specifically ask for an emergency row seat when checking in at the airport). To Gol's credit there is no extra cost for these (TAM charges).

GIG-EZE I had to book this airline because TAM had cancelled their flight due to the ash cloud over Argentina. I think I paid US$500+ for this one way trip which was outrageous but I had no choice. Check in was a joke it was confusing because hardly anyone spoke English (even though signs are in Portuguese and English - including these airport officials that walk around in yellow jackets that say "Can I help you?" on the back but can't speak English?) and they seem to have a separate check in process for your passport and bags? The flight was 2 hours late but no announcement until 5 minutes before departure. Food was not worth the effort. This is a terrible airline and another I'd add to my blacklist.

Booked flight Foz de Iguazu to Rio over the internet. Knew I was going to miss my flight due to a car accident and so we rang the airline on the way to hospital. Gol were extremely accomodating and postponed my flight to the next day without charge and also provided assistance with mobility at the airport (I was wheelchair bound). The flight was comfortable and left on time. Great customer service which they were in no way obliged to give. Gol made a holiday disaster much easier.

Route EZE (Buenos Aires) - BGI (Barbados) was supposed to take about 10 hrs including connecting time in GRU (Sao Paulo). It took us 72 hrs to get to our destination since the first flight departed with a 3 hr delay due to technical problems and it was almost impossible to get to Sao Paulo in time to board the connecting flight. However staff insisted that we had no choice other than boarding it with the promise that should we miss the connection (which we did) and being that it was a weekly flight the staff at Sao Paulo would be aware of our situation and would have an alternative plan. We landed in Sao only to find that the flight had departed without us and that they had no other plan than suggesting we board the next flight a week later! From then on it was a 3 day nightmare dealing with staff who were not prepared to manage even the simplest situations. After an endless wait at the airport a supervisor came with a "solution" a terrible itinerary via Brasilia and Miami staying overnight in Sao. When we told him it would be too tiresome he replied "I lost 2 hrs 30 mins trying to solve this I cannot do any more". Not much compared with the 3 days of our vacations spoilt. The connecting time for this new schedule was too tight and again due to the first leg delay we missed the connecting flight from Brasilia to Miami! We had to stay overnight in Brasilia too and also explain the situation all over again to the staff there who asked us "but why did they send you here"? Finally the following morning we boarded an American Airlines flight and arrived in Barbados via Miami 72 hrs later.

GIG-SSA. Bought the ticket on-line. While the booking process is less torturous than in the past the website is still full of traps that make many people give up in frustration. GOL was once known as Brasil's low-cost airline but prices are now the same as its competitor TAM. The check-in line at GIG was fairly long. The check-in agent was very helpful and allowed me to take a large bag as carry-on instead of checking it to save me the overweight luggage charge. The boarding process was efficient. The aircraft was clean and comfortable. GOL used to serve free beverages and a light snack but on this flight we were handed a menu and all refreshments had to be purchased. I chose a sandwich combo that included a tasteless sandwich a bag of chips and a can of Pepsi for 20 reais (approx US $15.00 a rather steep price for the mediocre quality). The flight crew was pleasant. We landed on-time in SSA. Overall GOL provides a reasonable service but it's no longer the low-cost airline many assume it to be.

SDU-CGH. Boarding at SDU was chaotic – the flight was delayed by almost 1 hour and the gate changed several times. Gate change announcements only in Portuguese. Eventually we were bussed to our aircraft. Aircraft was newer Boeing 737-800 cabin clean good leg room. Service consisted of free soft drinks and some snacks. Overall a good experience spoiled by the ground handling.

I think it's worth the attention to not fall in the ambush of GOL website and contract the service of travel assistance by mistake. By the time you make payment a check box appears asking if you "confirms the service engagement?". At no time is described "confirms the travel assistance service engagement?". Moreover it is not broken the price of the service alone but has added to the value of the ticket. You can only identify the service conditions when you click on link and another window opens. I always buy passage on the site and this time I ended up contracting the travel assistance services by mistake.

BeloHorizonte to Florianopolis via Sao Paulo. not charged for our excess baggage flights arrived on time. Juice and chips served for free. Very polite staff. A good no frills product. Only problem for foreigners is actually buying the flight over the net. We had to get our Brasilian friends to buy as we don't have a CPF number.

Sao Paolo to Rio. Originally booked on TAM but was re-routed due to delayed flight from Dubai. Ground stuff was polite and I was asked my seat preference in English. Departed on time. Arrived on time. Drinks were served. Baggage came very quickly. Friendly stuff. Clean surroundings. First when I saw orange colours I immediately associated it with UK no frills airline Easyjet but I was pleasantly surprised at overall performance of GOL.

GIG-FOR. Originally booked on TAM but when we had to be rerouted from the US Delta put us on this flight. Actually on a plane from Flex Airlines apparently a low-cost subsidiary of Gol (this had happened once before when I was booked on Gol). While some of the passengers were outraged that they weren't on a Gol plane seating and service was about the same. Small snack and drinks (non-alcoholic only) served. Seating space average for airlines these days. We got to Fortaleza on time.