On Friday, I flew from São Paulo to Miami. My ticket was purchased the morning of the flight while I was already in the airport as I was forced to cancel two other flights due to unclear travel requirements. I did not use the typical booking processes, airline app, airline website, or travel agent, but rather, I booked my ticket over the phone because I was using a travel credit from another ticket.
The booking process was seamless with the customer service agent on the phone. As I was already inside the airport and checked in online, I did not go to the airline counters. If I wanted to exit the secure side of the airport, I would have been required to go through immigration and customs, so I spent the entire day inside the terminal and took advantage of my Priority Pass access.
Flight AA930 is the first of two daily flights from Aeroporto Internacional de São Paulo-Guarulhos to Miami International Airport and departs at 21:25. Our boarding time was 20:35 at gate 322 and boarding began two minutes ahead of schedule. At the gate, the boarding area was a mess because the airline only had two signs, one for groups 1-4 and the other for groups 5-9.
Because of this, people bunched up around the gate and when I walked up, I did not know which group was boarding. The airline did have one staff member calling out one group at a time. I walked over to the gate at 20:43 and by 20:49 I was at the aircraft door and about to board.
The aircraft for the flight was a Boeing 777-300ER, t.