Navigating GRU

I'd been led to believe that flying into São Paulo - Guarulhos would be a mess, but it was one of the most efficient airports I have ever flown into. My flight was 2 hours late, meaning that my turnaround time to make my connection was down to 1.5 hours, so I landed fully expecting to have to get on a later flight. But I got through immigration in five minutes, my bag was waiting for me in the carousel, and then.

And then. I got to the GOL airline check-in. At this point I did not care how long anything took because I was IN BRASIL, DAMMIT! But this was absolutely comical. Becuase of several long-haul flights coming in very late, they were not well prepared and the line stretched through the terminal. I felt confident though, because they were pulling people out of line when their flights were approaching. They were pulling us out of line and putting us in another, slower line, which in retrospect seems like an odd strategy.

Eventually the folks in the fancy, slower line completely lost it and practically started a riot. I think I might have learned some Portuguese swear words. Everyone working there was lovely, and definitely doing their best, and very sweetly informed me when I finally got to the front of the line that my flight was closed (no duh). A very kind fellow from United showed up and gave me a new ticket, on TAM, which meant another line, but happily one that went quickly.

A note about checking in in Brasil - people are allowed to fly with 2 bags of 32 kilos each, which means that you can pretty much move house in a single flight. Check in seems to take a long time due to staff having to figure out how to tag a surfboard, a bag the size of a Citroen deux chevaux, and a kitchen sink. Come to think of it, this may have something to do with my flight from Newark being extra delayed - the first hour of delay was mechanical issues, but the second was apparently weight redistribution.