Portugal’s prime minister visited the Bay Area this week, and has just announced that TAP Air Portugal will be launching flights between Lisbon and San Francisco as of 2019. This route has been rumored for quite a while, though this is the first official confirmation about the route.
As of now the details of the new route haven’t yet been revealed, including the launch date, frequencies, or schedule. TAP Air Portugal’s current US destinations include Boston, Miami, New York JFK, and Newark, so this will by far be their longest US route. It will also be their furthest route period (their longest route right now is from Lisbon to Porto Alegre, Brazil).
TAP Air Portugal uses A330s for their longhaul flights, and they’re in the process of installing fully flat seats in a staggered configuration throughout their longhaul fleet. I flew TAP Air Portugal from Lisbon to Newark earlier in the year, and had a pleasant enough experience (the seats were good, food alright, and service… not great).
In addition to their current fleet of A330s, the airline has up to 25 A330-900neo aircraft on order. They’re the launch customer for the aircraft type, and will take delivery of their first such plane towards the end of 2018. So there’s a chance they’ll use that plane for the San Francisco route.
San Francisco is a logical airport for the airline to expand to. It’s a United hub, so through their Star Alliance membership they should get quite a bit of feed there. Furthermore, with Portugal trying to lure in foreign businesses and investors, a direct link to the Bay Area is advantageous.
As a consumer I’m excited about this route for a few reasons:
- TAP is typically pretty good about releasing award availability
- TAP often has low transatlantic business class fares, so hopefully that trend continues with this new route
- TAP offers a free stopover program, where you can stay in Portugal for up to three days enroute to another destination within Europe
It’s always great to see more transatlantic flights to the West Coast of the US. Historically only the major transatlantic players flew all the way to the West Coast, though we’ve seen a huge amount of expansion lately, from the major European carriers (which have added destinations — British Airways flies to five destinations in California alone), ultra low cost carriers, and some of the smaller transatlantic airlines (Austrian, LOT, etc.).
So we’ll have to stay tuned for the details, but at least now it’s official that the route is happening.
What do you make of TAP launching nonstop flights between Lisbon and San Francisco?
Rolling Dice
Because no European tourist wants to visit San Jose
Why can they show love with San Jose? This is the real heart of the Silicon Valley.
They will start flying to Buenos Aires next year too.
Edelweiss will do the same by November from Zurich.
Great news! Looking forward to this route -- it's been a long time since TAP meant "Take Another Plane."
Yes, the number one reason would be the large Portuguese population in the Bay area.
Those seats look quite unusual.
The "throne by the window" is one I haven't seen before. All the space looks nice but 1) how easy is it to actually look out the window from that seat?, and 2) how spacious is that foot cubby?
Conversely, the set of double seats by the window in other rows look somewhat cramped.
Is this a configuration where there are major winners and major losers depending on which seat you get?
TAP Air Portugal is maybe a step above LCC. Maybe. Some would say it is equal to a LCC in everything except price.
YQ?
Jet Blue flies Long Beach-San Francisco and vice versa.
I was mapping out ANA RTW options the other day for a future trip. This looks like a cool option since Portugal is one destination we'd like to hit... but... ITA Matrix says TP would charge a $245 YQ for one way LIS-EWR, so I would think it would be that much or more for LIS-SFO. Ouch.
The stop over program allows up to 5 days, not 3.
I would only take them as a last resort. The FA's have no regard for passengers, food is gross. Plus they bump passengers and try to avoid compensation at all costs.
@FNT Delta Diamond - how does this do this exactly? Any "JetBlue customers" (whatever that means) in Los Angeles will still need to connect over Boston or New York to get on a TAP flight - JetBlue doesnt fly from LAX to SFO, so not sure how this flight to SFO would benefit them. JetBlue provides feed to TAP at gateways such as Boston and JFK where United doesnt have much of a network. At...
@FNT Delta Diamond - how does this do this exactly? Any "JetBlue customers" (whatever that means) in Los Angeles will still need to connect over Boston or New York to get on a TAP flight - JetBlue doesnt fly from LAX to SFO, so not sure how this flight to SFO would benefit them. JetBlue provides feed to TAP at gateways such as Boston and JFK where United doesnt have much of a network. At Newark, United provides feed. I'm sure they'll get feed from UA at SFO, as UA has a much larger network there.
Don't forget that Jet Blue has a close relationship--arguably closer than United--with TAP Air Portugal. This gives JetBlue customers on the West Coast, particularly Los Angeles, an easy way to get to Europe.
RE TAP to SFO -- also, there is a not inconsequential Portuguese ethnic population in central California. Think Congressman Devin Nunes for example. Recall SATA (now Azores Airlines) has flown nonstop seasonally for years from OAK; they maintain a sales office in San Jose.
Guaranteed to be on the 330 NEO...
http://crankyflier.com/2018/06/12/david-neeleman-on-the-a330neo-and-doubling-taps-presence-in-the-us-across-the-aisle/