I wrote a few days ago about the "great" order in Brazil, but nothing prepared me to the the experience of going through immigrations on my way out of Sao Paulo last night. It took me 90 minutes to go through immigration 
and I can say that I'm one of the "lucky" ones that was able to get in line quickly.
So why does this happen?
- All the international flights leave pretty much at the same time (about 5 minutes apart from each other).
- All the international carriers open their check-in area 3 hours before their flight(s).
- With more than 10 flights to USA and UK leaving at about the same time, you have about 2,500 passengers that check-in together and then stand in the same line for immigration.
I was 5th in line for check-in (I've been standing there 40 minutes before they opened the Continental check-in counters), so that is why I was one of the people that was able to get in line to immigration early. If it took me 90 minutes I wonder how much it took for the people at the end of the line to check-in.
Between the time you spend in the check-in line and the time spent in the immigration line, how do the Brazilians expect that you will have enough time to buy a bottle of Cachaça in the duty free to take back home? The lesson learned from this experience is that you should have your last Caipirinha before starting the check-in process. There's a couple of bars in the check-in area so have a drink there because you won't have time before the flight 
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