Journey Home

After 34 hours of travelling I have made it back to the UK!

My flight path was pretty long and hectic with loooong layovers. I flew from Joinville into to Congonhas and my flight out of Brazil was from Guarulhos.   

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As both flights were Tam I could get a free transfer bus from the airport.

TAM operates a free shuttle service between Congonhas (CGH) and Guarulhos (GRU). Details and the schedule can be found here and here. There is also an Airport Bus Service that everyone can use.

TAM shuttle service

When walking out of baggage claim  at CGH you literally walk straight ahead down the ramp, following the signs to the bus/taxi area. The TAM buses are the first you come to when you cross over the road. There isn’t a sign but the buses were red, blue and white GTA ones. I just  asked a TAM pilot who was also waiting for the bus. There is one for the crew and one for passengers. The journey took about 1 hour and 10 minutes bearing in mind it was a Thursday morning, so no rush hour / holiday traffic. It drops you right outside TAM departures where you check in. 

It was all super smooth and easy, I think I wasn’t stressed as I had a 14 hour layover in SP! I was told I couldn't check in my baggage in until about 5 hours before the flight. So  I had 7 hours sitting by the check in desks. I think I asked the wrong person and probably could have done it earlier. Fortunately I had 254 hours of music, 344 books on my kindle and 6 movies to keep me occupied!

I slept for nearly all of my 12 hour flight to London and then had a 7 hour layover in London. It was originally 30 minutes but there is no way I would have made that and have no idea why TAM even put me on that one!

So back in the cold UK trying to figure out next steps!!

FINALLY, I have my e-ticket sitting in my inbox!

Talk about a Palava though! I spoke to a TAM representative from the US on Saturday. He said I need to call back on Monday to speak to the special department.

I called back on Monday and put in the request to change my ticket and was told to wait 48 hours.

On Wednesday I got an email saying to call the International Reservation Centre. They didn't actually give me the number to call and Google couldn't find it for me either. So I called a Brazilian number using the house phone. The Brazilian Guy I spoke to said it was impossible for me to change my ticket and I had to go to the airport to change it. When I asked could I go to Joinville airport, as it was a smaller aiport. He replied 'yes you have to go to the airport. I cannot change your ticket because it was purchased in the UK. You cannot change your ticket'

I ended up calling the UK call centre  on skype and spoke to a rep there who told me the details of my new ticket and took my credit card details to pay for the change fee. Again the line was really bad but Lu was really helpful, changed my ticket and charged my card!! Silly Brazilian man knew nothing. Wonderful Lu said that I would get an email in 24 hours with my new ticket. If I didn't to call back again.

24 and half hours later, I got another email saying the credit number was wrong. I called the UK line AGAIN from Skype and explained it another Rep. He accused me of giving them the wrong number to which I replied ' No I didn't but the line was very bad so she could have misheard me.' After 10 minutes of being on hold and him taking my details again. He said it should be processed and I should get an email in about 10 minutes with my new flight.

Lo and behold 10 minutes later I FINALLY had my new ticket in my hand!!!

I will be back in the UK on March 30th!!

I hate TAM airlines

Back in Brazil after quite possibly the worst flight I have ever had. I feel like that is a bit harsh as I did just manage to make all my connections and get here at the time I said I would, but not without problems.

First of all Brazil sent a plane over to Heathrow that was too small. TAM airlines were offering people checking in at Heathrow 400 pounds to go on the next flight. As I had flown from Manchester, I was already checked in and wasn´t offered this, as I may have taken it!! As we were boarding some people were being taken to one side, but no one was told what was going on. We sat on the plane the pilot announced we were going to fly via Recife. This is way up in the north about 1652miles frm Sao Paulo. Still not having a clue what was going on, we continued to sit on the plane. I earwigged on the girl´s conversation next to me and found out about the plane situation. We were going to fly via Recife to either change planes or change staff. I also found out that there were 2 spare seats, so the plane size was ok. After sitting for longer and it being half an hour past our alloted time. They then announced that they needed 3 volunteers to get off the flight. After more faffing and it sorted itself out. However by this time it was an hour past our slot and they cancelled the flight.

Cue lots of very unhappy people. We all got off the plane and went back through immigration and were at baggage claim. There were whispers of coachs waiting outside to take us to hotels but again no proper information. Then they wouldn´t give us our bags back as they said we would be using the same plane when we probably flew tomorrow. Nobody seemed to know anything, not even the staff.


Fortunately 2 hours after we should have flown they announced that we were going to fly that night and we all bundled onto the plane.

By this point I was so tired and happy to actually be on my way, I fell alseep, woke up later and nearly fainted. I am not sure if I was too hot or tired but there was something going on!


We finally arrived in Sao Paulo at 9.25am I should have arrived at 6.05am but I thought I would still have enough time to get my next flight at 11.55. I got in baggage claim and waited for my bags... and waited......and waited.... and waited..... for an hour. It was now 10.45am, no bags and still hadn´t checked in for my other flight. I kept asking people if more bags were coming out and was told to wait. Finally when there were 4 people left, they realised that our luggage had been lost. After more faffing and form filling and I was finially escorted through customs when I ran round like a headless chicken trying to figure out where to check in. It was now 11.15 and I was sure that check in had closed.


Eventually I  found the right desk and burst in tears and kept saying ´´I have missed check in´. A rather bemused girl asked me where I was going and if I had any luggague, cue more tears as I said it had been lost. ´TAM?´ she said sympathetically (Seems it must be  regualt occurence!), gave me boardng card, and pointed me in the right direction. Ran through security and surprise surprise actually mananged to make the flight!!!


The flight to Joinville was only about an hour wher I managed to squeeze myself into the tiny toilet and at least brush my teeth for the first time in over a day. 


We spoke to rep at Joinville airport who told me my bags were in Sao Paulo and would probably be delivered today on the next flight at around 5. After calling them again later that night. We were told that actually my bags were in London and never made it on the flight!!!! and should probably come in tomorrow.
After a few more phone calls, my bags finally turned up on Saturday evening. Accompanied by a reciept confirming my bags had been recieved on the 6th Ocotber..... funny that I was still in the UK and hadn´t even packed then!!


What I found really frustrating about the whole flight was the lack of communication and information about anything. Even when they did give info in London, it was all in Portuguese so half of us never knew what was going on. When we were given information, most of the time it was wrong. TAM sort yourself out!!!

Happier post to come next time!