Gol Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes S.a

[Redbeanz]

Has anyone had much experience flying on GOL between EZE and Rio?

 

[estebandepraga]

Yes but not for many years

 

[camberiu]

Has anyone had much experience flying on GOL between EZE and Rio?

What info are you looking for exactly?

 

[Redbeanz]

Thinking on flying GOL to Rio, connecting to a Delta flight to ATL. Is it a decently comfortable airline that you would recommend?

 

[ben]

I sell tickets on GOL fairly regularly, nothing special but no major hiccups.

I do have a horror story with them, in fact a connecting flight story.

A client of mine was returning on an Air Canada flight which was to connect to a flight of theirs from Brazil back to BA. The Air Canada flight was delayed, so they missed their connecting flight. They were told that they would be flying on the next Gol flight to AEP.

When the time came for boarding, they were told that they couldn't board that flight, as they were supposed to have flown on the other, prior Gol flight, and for this one they'd have to check in again. When the passengers protested that they had checked in with Air Canada, and Gol personnel told them to take this flight, and on top of that they couldn't "check in" even if they wanted to, as for that they'd have to clear Brazilian immigration and they didn't have a visa, they were told that they - the passengers - would have to sort it out with Air Canada. By the time that they managed to get in touch with me (with a borrowed phone - they made no arrangements for phone service there, as they were supposed to be in Brazil for under 2 hours), they had already missed boarding.

As their luck had it, while I was talking to Gol on the phone, Air Canada check in had opened for a flight that departing at that time, An Air Canada supervisor accompanied them to the Gol counter, worked things out, and got them - barely - onto the last flight departing for BA.

Even with the flight delay, they should have been in Aeroparque at 8 pm. Instead, they arrived at Ezeiza well past midnight, having eaten nothing for a whole day.

In my communications with them in this and a couple of other cases, the slogan "Lineas Aereas Inteligentes" is definitely a misnomer. They were generally helpful in the end (EDIT: and friendly at all times), but things did not go smoothly and easily. Their Spanish was so heavily accented that I sometimes preferred switching to English.

Their flights normally leave and arrive on time, and service onboard isn't terrible. But when things go wrong, you have to be ready to put up a fight.

 

[Alicia karr]

I just did four legs of travel with them. Apart from having to walk up and down stairs to board, and that they had no milk for the coffee , the actual flight was ok. They were helpful when my daughter realized she left her reciprocity visa for argentina in her old passport! they advised us on what we could do to solve the issue. And we did.

 

[Redbeanz]

Thank you both. laCoqueta, I never thought about asking what airline you used for your trip. Ben, I'm glad to have your info as well. Lucky clients, that you were able to straighten that out so quickly!

Do all the BsAs to Rio flights on GOL fly out of Aeroparque? (In fact, does GOL use Aeroparque exclusively for all its destinations?)

 

[Alicia karr]

No. We flew from EZE

 

[Alicia karr]

Oops! But that was to Sao Paolo

 

[estebandepraga]

I would prefer to fly TAM if the price is similar