Is one airline any better than the other?

GOL is considered a budget airline and you will only get a small cereal and a soft drink to eat. Crew is quite nice, though. Depending on the flight the extra food you will get in TAM is not worth. Both have new and clean planes and I would go for the cheaper/more convenient schedule.

Thanks mot. I just tried to pay for a GOL flight (GRU to GIG) on their online site, but it seems the only credit card they accept is American Express, which I don't have. Not very user friendly...

I guess it's on to Plan B. Unfortunate because the flight price was very good...$50US.

At $ 50.00 US what's wrong with cash if everything else is OK.
bsvirginian

Can it be that easy? I'm in Chicago, so how would I go about getting cash to GOL? I suspect a wire transfer would make this fare not such a good deal.

It's been my experience that the domestic flights are so numerous that you wouldn't have too much of a wait at the airport probably isn't more than an hour. They have currency exchange booths at the airport. I'm assuming that you are flying into GRU and trying to get to GIG? Is that Rio? Check their site again to see how frequent the flights are. If it's Rio that you want it would be the equivalent of flying from Chicago to NYC.
bsvirginian

Ovenbird, Can you book through an agent?

You might do an internet search for "Brazilian Travel". They handled my travel plans to Brazil in November. I'm certain they will at least give you some advice. I really think the flights are so numberous that you can do it right at the airport. Good Luck.
bsvirginian

We will land in Sao Paulo (GRU) and want to get to Rio, either GIG or the other airport there. We are uncomfortable winging it since we need to meet up with our tour group in Rio. So we are trying to get reservations on either GOL or TAM.

Neither the GOL nor TAM website is user friendly for those outside of South America. So I suspect I'll need to pay the fee and do this through a travel agent. I'll check out Brazil Travel...thanks bsvirginian for the suggestion.

Look at BACC travel, a Brazilian agency in NYC. They have been around a long time and do a lot of business. They have a user friendly website:

bacctravel.com

Good luck. As between GOL and TAM, I would pick the more convenient/cheaper flight. They are both good options.

Thanks for the recommendation, tengohambre.