A roughly perfect Azul experience, yet I was still disappointed

I had an empty seat next to me and plenty of legroom. Complimentary snacks were served, along with a drink. Everyone was extremely polite and friendly, both in the terminal and on board. We pushed back 10 minutes early, and landed similarly ahead of schedule.

Indeed, it was on the balance, a pretty darn good flight. And yet I sill walked off the Azul jet in Brasilia a bit disappointed.

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I was on a quick weekend trip to Sao Paulo, where I spoke at the PPV Experience loyalty conference. Flight schedules being what they are, I had a full day available on Sunday before my flight home, so I decided to explore the country a bit, along with some new-to-me airlines. As Azul operates the E195-E2, a relatively rare aircraft in North America (though Porter Air is working to change that), my primary goal was to take one for a ride. As an added bonus, I was looking forward to trying out the carrier’s implementation of Viasat’s inflight Wi-Fi service running in Brazil.

After spending far too long scouring schedules to come up with a suitably “me” itinerary (multiple airlines and aircraft types, “commuting” from one airport in Sao Paulo to another via a third city), I booked a flight with the E2 scheduled from Sao Paulo-Congonhas to Brasilia (flying back to Guarulhos on a GOL MAX 8).

Alas, as the day of travel approached I learned the aircraft was swapped out for first generation E195. Plus, no Wi-Fi on board. Very much a bummer, but I’d still get to experience Azul, plus I’d already paid for my tour in Brasilia, so off we went.

The cabin experience is almost identical to that of JetBlue‘s E190s, and with good reason considering David Neeleman’s role in founding both airlines. One key difference these days is that the Azul interior is still well-maintained, even if the tiny screens are still tiny.

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The inflight TV service worked well, with plenty of options to choose from, including some stored content for when the plane is outside the satellite coverage area.

Snacks were served shortly after departure, though only one option. Orange or grape juice were on offer, as well as water.

I also had to gate-check my (US-sized) carry-on bag. Not surprising, but I was hoping to slip by without them noticing it is a smidgen above Azul’s allowable size. Not a huge deal, as we landed early and the luggage was quickly delivered to baggage claim, before our scheduled arrival time.

Based on the flight’s operational history, it appears Azul swaps the scheduled E195-E2 for an older E195 about 15-20% of the time. The seating layout is mostly the same, though the E2 has an extra exit row and a pair of extra seats in the “Azul Space” section up front. The newer plane carries 18 more passengers, but I did not notice any indications of displaced passengers based on the swap, so the carrier seems to handle that pretty well. Indeed, such swaps are probably not a huge deal for most passengers nor operationally for the carrier.

But with the different IFE/C experience it has the potential to be frustrating or disappointing for someone who expected to be online for the 90ish minute trip. That was certainly the case for me.