Guest tomcal Posted August 20, 2011 Posted August 20, 2011 When I am flying within Brazil, I have always flown GOL Airlines(www.voegol.com.br) They have a newer fleet of Boeing 737’s and were usually cheaper than their competition such as TAM, and they are partners with American Airlines so you get milage credit. I have taken over 50 flights on GOL and not once has the online booking process gone smoothly! Usually everything goes well until you get to the part where u have to say what credit card you are using. They give you the options for AE,Visa,Master. But if you put anything other than American Express it doesn’t go through. If you are not a resident of Brazil you can only use AE, but they don’t tell you that, you eventually figure it out through trial and error. Their website will tell you something is not entered correctly but changing it doesn't help or it takes you back to the main screen! Today while booking my flights for October, I had the CC number entered and all the other information filled in, and hit enter, a screen popped up with a error message with a yellow alert triangle and no script in the box and a “ok” button! when you hit it, it took you back to the booking form!! No explaination! The other problem with GOL is that there is no U.S. office, so if you have to talk live with someone, you have to call Sao Paulo! After trying this over and over I finally gave in and called their offices. I hit the button for English and the women I got spoke about as good as English as I do Portuguese! She couldn’t tell me why I was having the problem but she said she would book the reservation for me! I gave her all the flight info and she says “ok your outbound flight from Rio to Porto Alegre will be $245.R and your return from Porto Alegre to Sao Paulo will be $265.R! I said “the fare on your website is $75.R($47.U.S.)” which is why I was wasting all this time and making a international call!! She says “yes it is cheaper on the web, but you have to book it there!” I go “but that’s why I am calling you, because I can’t!” UGH! She than says “what would you like to do? have me book it or book it yourself?” I hung up! I went back online, tried reentering the info about a ½ dozen times and Finally it went through! So I ended up with two flights at perfect times of the day for under $100. total! But it almost wasn’t worth it…..well until I started thinking about the hot guys in P.A., two of which recently messaged me on facebook asking when I was going to be there…my rational side took over and Yes it was worth the hassle! Quote
Members Lucky Posted August 20, 2011 Members Posted August 20, 2011 I had that problem with Air Asia. Nothing would work. Finally, at the last minute and as a last resort, I entered my AMEX number and everything went through the way it should have. Quote
Members TampaYankee Posted August 20, 2011 Members Posted August 20, 2011 ... and Yes it was worth the hassle! Your patience and perseverance is much greater than mine. Quote
Members RA1 Posted August 20, 2011 Members Posted August 20, 2011 I think some of the problem is interbank agreements or lack thereof. Also, any computer or company can establish a preference for what they will accept. I have run into this kind of problem before. It usually is not a problem for very small purchases or purchases from companies that have a lot of business from US citizens. MC, VS and AE spend a lot of money to tell you that they are accepted world wide and they are, most of the time. Best regards, RA1 Quote
Members ihpguy Posted August 22, 2011 Members Posted August 22, 2011 They do not take international credit cards here on line from my experience. Whether GOL, TAM or Webjet. The easiest and cheapest way here to di it is to print out the boleto bancario and pay at the local loterica. How to do it from the US, I have not a clue. Also if you attempt to pay at the airport at the counter for your on-line reservation on the same day you made it, they of course charge a counter service fee as well. A part of living life in paradise. Quote
TotallyOz Posted August 26, 2011 Posted August 26, 2011 I had this same problem in Brazil and I had the hotel book it for me and I paid them, plus their fee and service charge. Quote
Members ihpguy Posted August 26, 2011 Members Posted August 26, 2011 I think some of the problem is interbank agreements or lack thereof. Also, any computer or company can establish a preference for what they will accept. I have run into this kind of problem before. It usually is not a problem for very small purchases or purchases from companies that have a lot of business from US citizens. MC, VS and AE spend a lot of money to tell you that they are accepted world wide and they are, most of the time. Best regards, RA1 I'm no expert on this, but have had some experience with purchases here in Brasil on either my US debit or Chase/United Mileage Plus cards. For GOL, TAM and Webjet, they do not work on-line for any of these airlines. They will take accept them at the airport where they can be slid through the machines, but on-line not. The four options that I have found are to either print out the "BOLETO BANCARIO" which is an option on their sites and pay at a loterica. Remember that the lotericas only accept payments for up to 700Reais. Otherwise, the payment needs to be made at the company's representative bank which is listed on the payment form. The second is to make the reservation and pay for it at any travel agency. Remember that you can ask for a discount if you pay with cash instead of plastic. The third is if you have a Brasilian friend with a credit/debit card, pass them the money and ask them to make the purchase for you. The final option is to go to a site like Expedia. And this drives me nuts, the Pao de Acucar group, one of the largest retail merchants here doesn't take US plastic on-line. In their stores, no rhyme or reason. The Extra in Largo do Machado sometimes takes plastic, sometimes not. The Extra in Vila Isabel at the old fabric factory, not. In Copa at the Lojas, yes they do. Like we say here about lots of stuff...."BRASIL!" Quote
Guest tomcal Posted October 11, 2011 Posted October 11, 2011 I tried booking my flights within Brazil on GOL(www.voegol.com) today for my upcoming trip. I will be flying between Rio, Sao Paulo and Porto Alegre. I have been flying GOL for the past 6 years, I like there schedules and their planes and their service levels, EXCEPT for their Website! always, always a problem...today I finally gave up and called them in Brazil to try to confirm my reservations! After booking 4 separate reservations, the site wouldn't accept my credit card! GOL offers visa/mc/amex but only accept AMEX from U.S., while talking to the rep she says "you card is not accepted! but, she says it's not your problem it's our system, it's been going on for several days. We will confirm your resv and you will have to pay when you get to the airport!" I asked, "what if your system doesn't accept it at the airport?" and she says "don't worry it will"! LOL Quote
Members ihpguy Posted October 11, 2011 Members Posted October 11, 2011 Traveling this past year on Webjet, GOL and TAM, none of them will accept an international VISA or MC on-line. Of course, at the counter they will take your US card and also will be most-happily charged their counter service fee. A friend from Italy has no problem using his MC/VISA on-line. This I do not understand. The only way around this is to print a "BOLETO BANCARIO" and pay with cash at the numerous LOTERICA's that are all over the Metro Region. Quote
