Flight Review: how is it like to fly on Brazil’s GOL B737-800
Flight#: G3 9182
From: Sao Paulo Guarulhos (GRU)
To: Foz do Iguaçu (IGU)
Flight time: 1h 45min
Aircraft: Boeing 737-800
Flight#: G3 7631
From: Montevideo (MVD)
To: Sao Paulo Guarulhos (GRU)
Flight time: 2h 30min
Aircraft: Boeing 737-800
My recent attendance to the IATA AGM conference in Rio de Janeiro offered me a chance to try the service onboard several Latin American airlines on different types of flights, long-haul and short-haul, international and domestic. On future installments I will cover JetSmart and LATAM, but this post is about Brazilian low-cost pioneer GOL.
I had the chance to fly GOL on two segments, a domestic one between Sao Paul Guarulhos and Foz do Iguaçu, and an international one between Montevideo, Uruguay, and Sao Paulo Guarulhos again. Most of the pictures I post here are from the first of these two flights, although the experience was pretty similar and consistent on both flights, so it is pretty representative of the GOL experience within Latin America.
Now, the GOL story is going to get even more interesting soon, as the Brazilian airline will get five Airbus A330-900neo widebody aircraft from its parent company Abra Group (which also runs Avianca and Chilean airline SKY). With these new A330s, the first Airbus aircraft for an airline which had been always a Boeing loyalist, GOL will get into the long-haul low-cost business, which will be interested to watch.
But, for the time being, let’s look at how the passenger experience is like on the short-haul flights that are the bread and butter of GOL.
The flights were courtesy of GOL. All opinons are my own.
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The Pre-flight Experience
Let me set the stage by explaning that GOL operates as a low-cost carrier, BUT there are a few small differences with how this works in Brazil compared to Europe and the US.
I would call it somehow a “low-cost soft” model, since even the most basic fare (see the screenshot below) provides some services that are no longer taken for granted in other parts of the world (this may change in Europe soon if and when the controversial reform of airline regulations is finally implemented).
So, it is still possible to bring a carry-on onboard free of charge in addition to a smaller personal bag or rucksack of up to 10kg (!) which must fit under the seat. As we will soon see, there are some complimentary extras onboard as well!
On these particular flights I had a check-in bag included, so I exceptionally checked in one of my bags to try it out. This was possibly a mistake, since the queue for check-in at the GOL counter at Guarulhos Terminal 2 was very long and very, very slow, particularly since many of those checking in bags have huge amounts of them!.
Staff is well aware of this and every now and them rushes some of the standing passengers whose flights are closer in time to a speedier line. That was eventually what I did, since even showing up a full two hours before the flight I started to get into the time-danger zone to catch my flight.
Having said that, the boarding at the gate, which is structured in five different boarding groups, was pretty efficient.
The Cabin
GOL operates single-cabin aircraft, although there is a section at the front that is considered more “premium”. You can see it in the colour of the seats, which have an orange band on the side. There is even the rail for a physical separator, although this so far as I could see on these flights, was not really used.
The cabin was very clean and tidy. The seat, and this was interesting to see and touch, are covered in a material which is like some sort of artificial leather, which feels a bit “spongy” to the touch, but was quite comfortable nevertheless. These are slim seats but not the super-slim ones that are become the norm on narrow-body aircraft.
The seat pitch was also very decent, and much better than I had anticipated considering it is still a budget carrier. I have read that the typical seat pitch on GOL is 30 to 32”, which compares really good even with European full service carriers.
On both segments I flew with GOL we were given complimentary drinks (a choice of water, coffee or soft drinks, including my beloved Guaraná!) as well as a snack. On the first flight that was just a sweet one (a chocolate cookie), on the flight back to Sao Paulo we were given both sweet (a cookie) and savourty snacks (sweet potato chips).
Interestingly, it seems that on-demand inflight food and drink sales are not a thing in Brazil (I ignore whether this is due to regulatory, business or cultural factors).
GOL aircraft are equipped with inflight internet connectivity and an inflight entertainment platform (IFE) offering different types of content.
Like is common on many airlines, there is a limited messaging option which is free and then there is the option to purchase internet access either for one hour or for the full flight. The prices, 25 Reais (close to $8.6) and 40 Reais (around $11.2), respectively, are, I think quite reasonable, particularly when considering some domestic flights in Brazil can be quite long. The free messaging option, btw, worked pretty well, which is something not all airlines can say!
By the way, the seats are also fitted with USB power outlets.
GOL also offers live TV transmissions for free, which I found remarkable considering this must consume a fair amount of satellite broadband!
In addition to the internet connectivity, you can also watch content from the airline’s own IFE catalogue for free. You have to do so on your own device, since there are not seatback screens. The content portfolio is actually quite large, with a good variety of movies and series, both classical and current. This was by far the largest free IFE content catalogue that I have come across recently on a short haul airline. So, pretty impressive overall.
And, of course, there is a moving map, as well!
Our take:
GOL provides great value throughout. Despite being what is typically categorized as a “low-cost carrier”, it offers a level of service, even with the basic fare bundle that is better than what most European airlines would offer like-for-like (and, yes, I know the bar is not high!). The weakest point of the experience was perhaps the slowness of the check-in process on the ground, but this was actually a good reminder of why I try to avoid check-in 95% of the time.
Boarding was pretty efficient and we departed and arrived on time both times (and the crew happily mentioned it over the cabin communication system!)
Onboard I was particularly impressed by the free IFE platform. The drink and snack were a nice touch, as well!
