I arrived from Luanda early in the morning, then spent the day at the Marriott Sao Paulo Airport napping and working, and then at 4PM headed back to the airport for my 10:30PM flight to Los Angeles.
Continue reading: Review: American Admirals Club Sao Paulo Airport
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Yes, they're all new, bright, shiny, and potentially an improvement on the old ones. The showers, for the clubs that have them, are certainly nicer. But....
Maybe it's just me, but the "new" AAdmirals Club interiors, that they're standardizing system-wide, look more like a corporate office breakroom than a "lounge/oasis" amidst a terminal. The seating areas in this one almost look like an office cube-farm without the desks. And, with minimal soft surfaces/fabrics on walls/floors/seating, there is little to absorb sound leaving them quite noisy at times.
Sao Paulo's Terminal 3 is indeed very nice and thankfully they are in the process of renovating Terminal 2 (the GOL Smiles/Premium lounge has also been renovated). The short lines at security are actually pretty common as in Brazil, security lines tend to be very efficient (unlike in the US).
Just to let you know this AA lounge is at least 2 years old since it was the last time i was there and indeed it is a really nice one. Lounges in Brazil usually have a very nice selection of local food/snacks and local juices and beverages.
Nice review but you work too hard, Lucky! See what you wrote "I arrived from Luanda early in the morning, then spent the day at the Marriott Sao Paulo Airport napping and working, and then at 4PM headed back to the airport"
You didn't see Sao Paulo at all. Granted, it's just a huge city but too bad you didn't stay for one day. Lucky, try to live life a little while you're still young. See a city for a day or half day, not just do nice reviews for us.
Hey Ben, the link up top to the Luanda Lounge is broken on each page. Just a heads up. Otherwise a fun read!
Looks nice other than that dining area that reminds me of a high school/work cafeteria.
@Dave - Canada: could not agree more. Sao Paulo is not a nice city to visit but has the most amazing restaurants one can imagine. It a vey cosmopolitan city with the largest Lebanese and Japanese population outide those countries. Add that to Italians and Portuguese populations you can only imagine the quality of food there. Then add Brazilian cuisine with amazing cuts of meat, seafood and cheese bread. You won’t find any of these at the Marriott airport hotel.
Wait a minute?? The crew arrived at 9.50 PM and boarding began 5 min later at 9.55 PM?? That must be the quickest preparation of the cabin for a long haul or nothing at all ! You need time to look, if all your security equipments are on place and working..the seats are equiped with working seatbelts and safety procedure leaflets, the food and utensil carts have to be put on the right place or sequence so it will be easier and less time consuming during service..etc...and all these in 5 min.?? So I should assume because of the delay the cabin crew did not procede with proper preparations pre flight..this an alarming negligence!!
@John - the corporate office break room comment is spot on. It’s the first thing that came to my mind too.
I realize that this post/question is strange. However, I travel to Brazil frequently and have often asked this question but never received an answer that made sense.
Considering that there is a review of the terminal 3 at Sao Paulo, I agree that the new GRU (3) airport terminal is nice. The review fairly well mirrors my opinion of the relatively new terminal.
However, the review does not address an issue I have concerning the mens' restroom, particularly at the urinals.
At each urinal there is installed, a large shelve about average eye level and where most men would stand when using the urinal. Having the shelf mounted on the wall and sticking out more than a foot from the wall prevents the average male from getting close to the urinal when using it.
Similar type shelves are in all of the terminals at GRU and at GIG and some other Brazilian airports.
Consequently, when approaching urinals at these airports, there is often misdirected urinal on the floor in front of each urinal. Needless to say, this is not a pleasant thing to see.
Like I said in my opening sentence, my question is strange.
Is there anyone who visits these Brazilian airports who has a correct answer for why those shelves are placed eye level at all urinals?
When I asked about the shelves in the past, I was given many guesses that do not make sense.
With luck, someone will KNOW the reason rather than guess at one.
Sorry to be blunt but I find those shelves irritating, unnecessary and quite strange.
Does the AAdvantage Executive World Elite Mastercard get you reciprocal entrance benefits at other oneworld lounges, or it just entrance to Admirals Clubs? I'm debating whether to keep up my AA status for the international lounge access or whether to just get this card. Thanks!
@Xtina - No. In general, it doesn’t. The one exception is that it gets you access to Qantas lounges while flying Qantas in Australia.
Congestion is São Paulo, hah. In 2010 I had an AC flight out of gru, I was close to Congonhas, the downtown airport. It's usually a short trip, but it rained. My bus left cgh at 4pm, we got to the airport at 10pm. The flight was scheduled for 10pm, but to my surprise check in was still open. The crew showed up at midnight. I asked the lady at check in for a business class upgrade, only about 50 passengers made it to the airport, no need to upgrade, everyone in economy got 3 seats to themselves. That was my second best eco flight ever.
If one has a long layover in gru, one can check internacional shoping in guarulhos. There's a free shuttle from the airport. Huge mall with one of my favorite restaurants in Brazil, I don't know the name, but you pay per kilo. Excellent for killing time, eating Brazilian junk food and people watching.
@OMMAT-Did you guys see Allegiant Airlines on 60 Mins about a spotty safety record.
The admirals club dining room looks like it doubles as a hospital cafeteria. No thank you.
Looks like a functional lounge, but the vibe seems really depressing. Hospital waiting area and hospital cafeteria is spot on.
I happen to think American Way magazine is pretty awesome... if you could grab one from the lounge you could be sure that the sudoku/crosswords aren't already done...
Reading the reviews and looking at the pictures of both the AA and LA lounges at GRU, gives a glimpse of the income inequality in Brazil. The gap must be ginormous!
There must be a demand and the ability to pay for such aesthetics, concentrated at the top of society (i.e. favoring those who travel in premium cabins on non-low cost carriers), for both AA and LA to offer such a superior product on the ground, in an emerging economy with a relatively high GINI coefficient (albeit declining).
@TheRealBabushka you got that right. The gap is ridiculously huge. The rich are indeed very rich, and unfortunately there is a huge poor population. T3 and the lounges are extremely nice, even to Ben's surprise, because the brazilian rich love very nice things. The high end malls in Sao Paulo concentrate the best stores and you won't see a brazilian rich woman not wearing heels to the mall.