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A Tale of Three Airlines

Flying Varig domestically in Brazil just a few days after the airline went on the auction block (and failed to meet the minimum bid by, um, a few hundred million dollars) turned out to be a mistake. A Rio to Salvador flight was delayed five hours, and the meat turnover served in flight was not all that tasty.

Varig simply cancelled all flights on the Salvador-Rio route on our return. To her credit, the overwhelmed agent on duty scampered over to the bright orange desks of Gol to procure tickets. Gol, Brazil's very successful low-cost carrier, runs an efficient ship. The airline blankets Brazil with routes and also flies to Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, and Bolivia, with a Chile route planned and code-share arrangements with Copa Airlines to Panama City as well.

But it was tiny AeroStar, who fly between Salvador and the tiny Morro do São Paolo airstrip on the island of Trinharé, that took the cake. Why? See the (above) holding room's white-on-white interior design. Waiting for your tiny, battered prop plane in an airconditioned space this blandly glamorous made the following thirty minutes of bouncy flight through rainclouds almost feel worth it. Almost.