Airport Lines

[williewanker2]

I flew out of Rio Thursday night and the airport was a disaster. The Federal Police are having some sort of a work slowdown to press their demand for higher pay. The result is that it takes three or more hours to hand in the little white paper that Brazilian immigration gives you when you enter the country. Only one police official was available to collect the papers.

 

American Airlines recommended that I get to the airport four hours ahead of scheduled departure. I just made my flight which left on time. I don't know how many missed it because of the line.

 

I suggest that anyone thinking of vacationing in Brazil delay your trip until this work slowdown has ended.

 

Brazil has a reciprocity policy of requiring Americans to go through special immigration/customs procedures in Brazil that match what the U.S. requires Brazilians to do when entering the U.S. Thus when I entered the country, I had to go through a special line reserved for Americans to be fingerprinted and photographed because this is what the US requires for Brazilians. This added about 45 minutes to the already slow process of entering Brazil.

 

Perhaps the U.S. could also adopt the same reciprocity policy. The US could require Brazilians to stand in a special line for three hours to hand in a useless piece of paper before being allowed to leave the country.

 

Given this kind of gross government inefficiency in Brazil, one should not be surprised that Brazil remains a poor backward country.

 

Bob from Washington

[Guest msclonly]

I would say that rather than gross inefficiency, they slowddown is

working very effiently.

Rather reckless to say the least.

Many citizens depend on the income from tourists.

[Guest msclonly]

But my spelling is inefficient and headed for a reck!

 

;(

[trilingual]

RE: Latest News

 

The PF was threatening to arrest any other government employee put into their place to process passengers, claiming that it was unconstitutional for anyone but an actual police officer to do their work. A federal judge blew that one out of the water today, so it's possible that the government will send non-striking employees to fill in, as they did in São Paulo yesterday (but not in Rio). The first of the month is approaching, and I'm hoping that with other employees doing their work and bills coming due (like the rent) the strike will start to fizzle. Everyone's getting pretty tired of it, and the head of the police officers association has been acting really arrogant and obnoxious on TV, which isn't exactly winning them extra support from the person in the street. Stay tuned. . .

 

And in the meantime, this is a good time to remind folks that this is run-of-the-mill in the developing world. Things often run like clockwork, but then something goes seriously screwy! It's not convenient, but in a way it's part of the charm of these countries. People who aren't comfortable with uncertainty and a certain degree of chaos should consider vacationing elsewhere, like Switzerland or Disney World. Spending time in this part of the world requires a lot of patience, flexibility and tolerance for ways of doing things that are definitely NOT the way they do them back home.

[+ Lucky]

RE: Latest News

 

I hardly think a four-hour wait to turn in a useless piece of paper is "part of the charm" of visiting Brasil!

[williewanker2]

In another thread, someone asked if a passenger has to physically stand in a line for 3-4 hours or can he sit somewhere until his turn at the counter. Sadly, you have to physically stand in a line that stretches from one end of the terminal to the other and then doubles back on itself. The only exceptions seems to be families with young children, seniors over age 65, and pregnant women. I asked why a family went straight to the head of the line and one of the ladies keeping order told me that this was Brazilian law.

 

The only way to get any relief from standing is to have someone hold your place. I and a lady in front of me took turns holding each others place in line and guarding our luggage while we went to the toilet, took a walk around the terminal to straighten out our backs, bought a drink, etc.

 

Just remember that you have to check in with the airline before you begin standing in the line from hell. A couple of Japanese tourists ahead of us stood in the line for a couple of hours before being told that they needed to check in first. Also make certain that the airline checkin staff tell you exactly which line to stand in.

[Guest msclonly]

Seniors got to the head of the line!

 

GQQD news!

 

I am going to LQQK and dress older to go to the head of the line!

Perhaps I will stop at that Day SPA from some silver highlights and some white pale makeup and red around the eyes for that hospital and mursing home look!

 

:+

[imrthr]

RE: Seniors got to the head of the line!

 

>I am going to LQQK and dress older to go to the head of the

>line!

>Perhaps I will stop at that Day SPA from some silver

>highlights and some white pale makeup and red around the eyes

>for that hospital and mursing home look!

>

 

I don't understand your posting; is it meant as a sick joke? Your comment implies that older people traveling to Brazil have colorless skin tone, red eyes and a nursing home look.

 

If you were to use this sort of camouflage while attempting to speed up your Brazilian immigration process, I don't think it will have any effect except to prevent your entry into Brazil and a probable fine for trying to pull off a subterfuge of this sort.

[imrthr]

Hello to all:

 

Here is my input relative to when I left Rio last Tuesday for my evening flight back to the U.S.

 

I arrived at the airport about three hours prior to my scheduled flight time (7:25 p.m.). It had been suggested by the airline to arrive between four and five hours prior to my flight but I resisted that suggestion.

 

I had no waiting to check in for my flight. After check in, I proceded to the immigration area. I expected to see an enormous crowd waiting to be processed. To my surprise, there was no one waiting in line at the booth where we are processed out of Brazil.

 

There was only one lady working the booth. She looked at my passport and flipped through the pages and attempted to make some sense out of the various Brazil stamps that were scattered throughout my passport. She was slow but pleasant. As she was stamping my passport, I suddenly heard loud talking behind me. The loud talking came from a crowd that had just checked in at the airline counters and was stampeding towards the immigration booth where that one lady was working.

 

Boy, was I lucky to have beaten that crowd to immigration.

 

I then cleared security. I waited in the security area for a while to observe the flow of people being processed by that one lone employee working at immigration. I noticed that people began to "trickle" into the waiting area after clearing security. I remained a little longer because I was curious how long it took each person to process through the immigration system. On average, I observed that it took about two and one-half minutes each time a person cleared through security after clearing immigration.

 

After about one hour I went to the lounge and waited for my flight to be called for boarding. After boarding, we were told that the airplane would be held for about a half hour because people had checked in for the flight but had not cleared immigration. The pilot decided to accommodate those who were trapped in the immigration system. After the flight was about one-half hour late, we departed Rio.

 

Three hours was sufficient time for me, but it could have been a disaster if I had not been ahead of the crowd that was behind me. There is no doubt about it, the lines are long and aggravating. There is no solution that will work for everyone. I guess it goes back to my original assessment - grin and bear it!

 

I return to Brazil in two weeks. Does anyone know if this crazy strike has any hope of being resolved by that time?

[elpaso]

Just landed in NYC from Rio. My take on the Rio slowdown:

 

Waited in line for 3 hours 20 minutes on Sat., March 27 -- up to about 45 minutes before my flight -- then (very discretely) agents from American and Continental circulated through the lines and pulled passengers on their two flights to the front of the line.

 

If you're a gambler, you might see no reason to arrive so early...because they pull you to the front anyway. But then again, that process seemed very quiet, very ad hoc, and fairly random.

 

If you're not a gambler, I would recommend arriving at least 4 hours early. 3.5 hours would not have been nearly adequate; had they not pulled me to the front, I would certainly have missed my flight.

 

I was also concerned about the connection in Sao Paulo, as all Rio flights are departing late because of the slowdown, but the Continental shift manager in SP says that they are holding all connecting flights during the slowdown to accommodate Rio passengers.

 

Cheers!

[Guest rampo]

RE: Latest News

 

>It's not convenient, but in a way it's part of the charm

>of these countries. People who aren't comfortable with

>uncertainty and a certain degree of chaos should consider

>vacationing elsewhere, like Switzerland or Disney World.

>Spending time in this part of the world requires a lot of

>patience, flexibility and tolerance for ways of doing things

>that are definitely NOT the way they do them back home.

 

Generally I agree with trilingual's advice about taking things in stride when visiting foreign countries, but in relation to the current situation in Brazil, I think the putdown about visiting Switzerland or Disney World is a bit harsh. There are times and situations when the traveller may want to consider delaying or rescheduling a trip, and the current situation in Brazilian airports sounds like a decent enough reason why some might want to put off a trip to Brazil until things settle down. Last year at the height of the SARS epidemic I delayed a trip to Thailand by one month because Thai immigration authorities were flip-flopping about how to treat arrivals from Hong Kong. I wound up rescheduling my trip through Tokyo rather than Hong Kong. It may not have been necessary, but I think it was a worthwhile precaution at the time. If you don't mind spending a lot of extra time getting through Brazilian immigration, fine, but I can easily understand why some might reschedule their trip.

[trilingual]

I hope the strike will fizzle or end soon, too, as I'm traveling in mid-April. Things may get better starting tomorrow if the government is able to take advantage of the latest court ruling allowing it to temporarily assign other federal employees to process passengers at the airports. My understanding is that they already started doing that in SP on Friday but not yet in Rio. Maybe they'll start tomorrow (Monday).

 

Also, the end of the month is coming and the striking police officers are going to have bills to pay. I can't imagine that their Union has a huge strike fund, or that they can afford to live off their savings indefinitely while not working, so facing things like rent payments may drive some of them back to work. The government so far has offered a general 10% increase to federal workers, but the strikers want a near-doubling of their salaries and the government isn't remotely likely to agree to such a large raise. So stay tuned. . .

[jakobsen]

"The only exceptions seems to be families with young children, seniors over age 65, and pregnant women. I asked why a family went straight to the head of the line and one of the ladies keeping order told me that this was Brazilian law."

 

Indeed there was a banner outside the immigration area in Sao Paulo declaring that the Federal Police is in compliance with the law by allowing families with young children, seniors (although this is hotly contested since Lula is attempting to raise the retirement age for men from 55 to 60 and for women from 50 to 55) and pregnant women to get in front of line.

[Big Daddy]

A quick question. What constitutes "senior" in terms of going to the front of the line. Is it age 55?

[Guest msclonly]

For AARP it is 50 years old. They need you membership money.

Then a lot of hotel chains and car rentals honor their membership,

so you should get the Senior rate.

 

The airlines seemed to be a little leniet as to 62 years, or even 60 years, but now it seems like they are saying 'are you 65 years or over?"

But that might be on a good day, since I only LQQK 55 yrs old!

 

:+

[imrthr]

>What constitutes "senior" in terms of

>going to the front of the line.

 

Big Daddy - Your question is clear that you asked about the age rules for Brazil which are age 65 for men and age 62 for women.

 

The previous posting attempted to advise you on rules for AARP, hotels and car rental agencies and other private companies located in America. Those rules have no effect on Brazil's rule for seniors and familes with small children and disabled citizens bumping to the front of the immigration line.

[Guest Tomcal_]

RE: Airport Lines- huge fiasco!

 

I got back this morning, I got to the airport at 6:50 for a 10:50 flight. I got my ticket immediately as there were no lines at the american counter, but...there was a 400+ person line wrapping around the airport for customs!! What really made me angry, is that people who got there 2hours after me, got pulled out of line to make their flight! So we kept getting pushed back. I watched 4 guys(very hot and gay) who showed up at 8:45 for a 10:10 flight on American, get pulled out ahead of us. Since my flight was the last flight out for the evening at 10:50, our group kept getting everyone else put in front of them. There was one american, one air france and a Continental flight ahead of ours. Bottom line, don't go until an hour before your flight! They make sure everyone gets on, They started boarding our flight at the time it was supposed to depart

OH, and the customs guys did not stamp or look at our passport, they just took 15 min. breaks every hour and made everyone wait. The Brazilians who were in line with me were as mad or madder then us! this strike does not appear to have the sympathy of the locals

[trilingual]

To go to the head of the line as a senior, I'm pretty sure that you have to be age 60 in Brazil. That's when you can ride the buses for free. I have to admit that when the lines at the supermarket or bank are immense I sneak into the priority line, even though I'm a couple of years shy of 60. But my hair and beard are gray, and to the kids who work at the supermarket or as bank tellers I'm sure I look like Methuselah! ;( I wouldn't try cheating at the airport, though. You're dealing with testy federal policemen there, and your birthdate is conveniently written into your passport. Just grin and bear it.

 

Tonight's news on Globo said that extra staff would be assigned to the Rio airport tomorrow. Pray that it's true. The government has also gone to court to try to get the strike ruled illegal. Meanwhile, be prepared. Take along a bottle of water and some reading material, or crossword puzzles, or whatever. No need to spend the wait utterly bored! People seem to be good about holding places if you have to run to the john. So just try to be zen about the whole thing and with any luck it'll be better (or over) very soon!

[trilingual]

RE: Court Ruling

 

This evening's news reports that a federal judge found that the PF strike, in and of itself, is legal, but not the tactic of a rulebook slowdown ("work-to-rule"). The judge ordered the PF to stop doing that at the international airports, with a R$10,000 a day fine for the Union each day they slow down inspections. Supposedly the processing was back to normal at the Rio airport this afternoon!

 

It's not clear if the court ruling also extends to other inconveniences caused by the strike, like the halt in issuing passports to Brazilians. There should be more details on the decision in the morning papers.

[xchris]

RE: Court Ruling

 

Is correct the info I had about the brasilian workers, that they are normally paied even for the strike days?

 

This is not what happens in Europe, Not in Italy at all. And this is why normally the decision of doing a strike is dangerous for the market (and costumers) but costly for thew workers, too. And between the two dangers the parts try to accomodate the needs...

But not in case of a privileged position of the worker side.

 

A brasilian friend is trying to have his passport renovated, but the PF didn't do this job in the last 6 weeks. This is the inconvenience of travelling from the brasilian point of view...

[trilingual]

RE: Court Ruling

 

The latest I've heard is that things are back to normal at the airports. Has anyone traveled in the last 2 days who can report personally?

 

My BF is going to try to pick up his new passport this morning. I'll post something later about his experience when he gets home.

[HooBoy]

RE: Court Ruling

 

At EWR the security was tougher than I have seen it in the past.

 

Outside the USA, I have not found a country that makes you take your computer out separately, but in New York's Newark Liberty airport (EWR), you have to take your computer out of the bag, remove your shoes, belt and sometimes glasses.

 

It is no problem with me. I appreciate the work the men and women screening passengers are doing.

 

Now, residents of visa-waver countries like Britain are being run through the fingerprinting/photographing process.

__

 

The above written as a regular guy, not the owner of a website and has no official meaning, just unofficial BS.)

__

 

--garbo the hoo

[sf traveler]

Well today´s paper says that operação padrão or the work to rule slowdown as it´s known to us gringos, is back on. In São Paulo it´s supposed to restart Monday but it isn´t entirely clear about Rio. The paper said that it was already started but that the long lines had not reappeared. I´m going out tonight so I´ll post about my experiences and let everyone know when I get home. Of course, the situation changes from day to day so check the latest news if you want to know the current state of affairs. SF Traveler

[imrthr]

> Of course, the situation changes from

>day to day so check the latest news if you want to know the

>current state of affairs.

 

 

Question - for those of us who do not have access to local news, how do we "check the latest news?"

 

Accessing "google" or other internet sites produce only reports of old news articles and stories about the initial strike. Reuters has reported nothing about the strike recently.

 

Inquiring about the strike from people at the front desk of the hotel is useless because that information is not available to them.

 

Telephone calls to the airline are also useless and are usually inaccurate. This is because the immigration process is located AFTER you check in for your flight. Until you have checked in, you will not know the status of the immigration line unless it is already rapped around the airport which it was when people I know went through the process during the past week or so.

 

I will be returning to Rio in 10 days and then after five days will be leaving Rio for Argentina then after a few more days, back to Rio for another week. It is disappointing to realize that a good portion of an otherwise fun trip will be consumed by waiting in protracted lines merely to hand in a silly piece of paper.

 

The "hand in the piece of paper" routine is not reciprocity. The lines at Brazilian immigration to hand in the paper is contrary to reciprocity. In America, foreigners leaving the country present their immigration "piece of paper" to the airline agent at check in. The paper is attached to the boarding pass and is retained by the airline employee as the individual boards the aircraft. No lines are necessary for this process. The visa and fingerprint and photo is "reciprocity" or "tit for tat" therefore, there is not much point in squawking about that anymore.

 

True, we could choose to visit other counties and avoid the hassles of the immigration process in Brazil. However, this is not a productive alternative to the inefficient immigration process in Brazil. I still like visiting Brazil despite the nonsense of the system in place.

[trilingual]

If you understand Portuguese you can read the Rio papers on-line:

 

http://oglobo.globo.com

 

http://www.jbonline.terra.com.br