LATAM long haul from São Paulo after six years: the Europe and US patterns, the trilingual cabin, the Brazilian contract and the ANAC licence in practice
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#1 LATAM, São Paulo, six years, long haul to Europe and the US, and Isabel wrote the GOL and the training side. This is LATAM Brasil long haul from inside, because the LATAM threads on here are the base specific recruitment and not the flying.
The network from Guarulhos
The 787s and the A350s (returning) and the 777s to Madrid, Lisbon, Paris, London, Frankfurt, Milan, Rome, and to New York, Miami, Orlando, Los Angeles, Boston. Plus the South American long haul to Santiago, Lima, Bogotá, Buenos Aires on the narrow and wide bodies. The Europe flying is the prize and the Miami and Orlando are the volume.
The patterns
São Paulo to Madrid: ten hours, a 24 to 48 hour layover, back. Lisbon and Paris similar. New York and Miami eight to nine hours with a 24 hour pattern. The trips are three to four days and the allowances are in euros and dollars, which for a real salary is the whole story.
The trilingual cabin
Portuguese, Spanish and English on every long haul, with the crew switching by passenger. The Europe flights are Brazilians going to Europe and Europeans going to Brazil; the Miami flights are the Brazilian diaspora and the Americans. The crew are hired for the languages and the LATAM assessment tests all three. Spanish is used more than English on the South American routes and English more on the Europe.
The Brazilian contract
The SNA collective agreement: a basic in reais, flying hour pay, layover allowances in the destination currency, the thirteenth salary, the Brazilian labour protections, and the ANAC licence as the professional credential. New joiners start on domestic and the South American network and bid onto the long haul by seniority. The long haul allowances in euros are why the senior crew hold the Europe.
The ANAC licence in practice
Isabel explained it: a formal licence from the regulator, yours, with recurrent requirements. In practice it means a LATAM crew member can move to GOL or Azul without retraining from zero, and it means the Brazilian crew who go abroad have a document that the foreign airlines respect. It is the thing Brazilian crew have that most crew do not.
The São Paulo life
Guarulhos is far from the city and the crew live in the eastern districts or in Guarulhos itself, or in the city and accept the commute. Rent is a large share of a domestic crew member's net and a manageable share of a long haul one's. The crew community at LATAM is enormous and the long haul group is its own society.
Why I stay
The Europe flying with the euro allowances, the ANAC licence as security, the SNA agreement, the trilingual cabin that I am proud of, and São Paulo as home. The Gulf recruits at the São Paulo events and I did the Emirates open day in year two and turned down the offer for the Lisbon layovers and my family. Six years in, the same reasons hold.
For Brazilian applicants
GOL or Azul first if LATAM is slow, the ANAC licence either way, the languages always, and the long haul at LATAM by seniority. The euro allowances are the goal. The trilingual cabin is the identity.
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#2 Trainer, Rio, and Bianca's LATAM long haul is where my trainees want to end up. The ANAC licence in practice paragraph is the thing I tell them: it is yours, it transfers, it is the Brazilian advantage.
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#3 Ex crew São Paulo, and the trilingual cabin is the LATAM identity exactly. The crew who switch between Portuguese, Spanish and English by row are the ones the European passengers remember.
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#4 Iberia Madrid, and the LATAM crews at the Madrid hotel are the Brazilians who know the city best after the Aeroméxico crews. The São Paulo to Madrid route is a bridge with crews on both ends. We should have a joint tapas night.
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#5 LATAM Lima, so the Peruvian base, and our long haul is Madrid and Miami on a smaller scale with the same trilingual cabin and a Peruvian contract. Bianca's description is the whole LATAM long haul with the São Paulo scale.
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#6 Brazilian at TAP, and the Lisbon layover being the reason to turn down Emirates is a very Brazilian reason and a good one. The LATAM Lisbon crews and the TAP São Paulo crews cross at the hotel every week.
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#7 Aeroméxico, and the Latin American long haul carriers (us, LATAM, Avianca) share the euro allowance story and the Madrid hotel. The trilingual cabin is LATAM's; ours is bilingual. Yours is harder.
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#8 Brasília, applying to GOL and Azul, and the path Bianca describes (GOL first, ANAC licence, LATAM long haul by seniority) is now the plan with a name. Thank you.
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#9 @rosaflores the joint tapas night should be a standing Thursday at the crew hotel. I will bring the LATAM crew. You bring the Iberia crew. The Aeroméxico crew will find us.