TAP Air Portugal A330neo Business Class: Surprisingly Decent!

Did they serve a champagne or a sparkling wine from Portugal? What was the lounge in Miami? Turkish?

I had the pleasure of using TAP several times before COVID. the seat is very narrow, the crews were basic but I found the food, duvet pillows and amenity kit very good. Food and drinks were also good. If the price is right I would fly with them again at any time. To be honest: better nothing happen with your booking: customer service is virtually non-existent

I consider TP a very decent Carrier for what they offer. I use them quite a lot and like you mentioned, their Business Class on Long Haul offers very decent product comparing with what you pay for. Of course, out of Europe it's not a LX or so but still...
The only thing that I struggle with when flying TP is the need of using their LIS-hub. That Airport is for decades Overcrowded and too small to handdle all those movements with only one RWY and lack of space for almost everything. It improved over the years but most times you won't even have a Jetbridge available, so if you wanna be almost sure to have an Outstanding position, then use LIS. What indirectly turns the Groundservice almost always terrible!

Flew TAP business from Boston to Funchal round trip for 1500 dollars in November. Absolutely steal. The lie flat seats were comfortable, food was excellent and the service was good enough! Checks all the boxes, lie flat, good food, amenity kit etc for very reasonable rates.

TAPs business class product is an EXCELLENT value when compared to the cost of similar TATL products. Great hard product accompanied by warm signature Portugese hospitality (including ground personnel!) They also offer great opportunities to bid for upgrades.

The only negative thing about flying TAP is LIS - probably THE worst European capital airport.

Ha, Ben you're crushing it with all the reviews lately, thanks for that! Agreed on the MIA air conditioning, and IMHO as an outsider it feels like a cultural thing in South Florida overall - they LOVEEE their a/c, and we're not talking like 68 or 70 degrees, they blast those suckers as low as they'll go.

I flew TAP this week from Lisbon to Miami. Your comments exactly mirror my experience. The food was good, the flight attendants were very friendly, the bedding and amenities were fine, and the seat was a little difficult to get in and out of, even when fully upright.

There are other adjectives to describe food besides “tasty”. All of the online bloggers use the word “tasty” to describe any food that tastes good. “Delicious, delectable, scrumptious and good are all good substitutes. It’s like monkey see monkey do when describing food as “tasty” all of the time.

Was it the 3:45 am departure from Miami?

@ FNT Delta Diamond -- Yep, they served a Portuguese sparkling wine, and the Turkish Lounge is the one that passengers are sent to.

@ Willem -- There is/was a 3:45AM departure from Miami?!

The bar is very low for these travel/rewards blogs. We're "lucky" enough that this one isn't filled with rampant typos and misinfo.

Another blog was just "recently" discovering the Chase Ink Preferred only requires $8k min spend, when it's been that way for almost a year.

Thanks for this review. I'm South Florida and NYC/NJ based, and have also seen some MIA-LIS biz award availability, so I wouldn't hesitate to book this in future.

I concur with this review, having taken a MIA-LIS-ORD routing on the A330neo in Feb 2020 (my last flight before the pandemic -- sigh).

Seats are definitely tight (I'm 6'3"), but food was at least on-par with what US carriers serve on trans-Atlantic routes, service was efficient and upbeat, and the pricing was about 25% lower than most business class options to Europe (a fact that keeps airfares lower to LIS in general across most airlines.

Only thing I'm disappointed to note is that, from the accompanying pictures, they appear to have dumped the lime green argyle-pattern socks? They're pretty fun, and sturdy enough that I still have a pair.

"The starter and appetizer were then served on a single tray"

You mean the starter/appetizer and the main/entree were served on a single tray...

"I prefer the TAP experience to a vast majority of flights with Lufthansa, SWISS, LOT Polish Airlines, and more"

How would you compare it to United and the other US airlines, which at least do compete with it on those direct TATL routes?

@ Julia -- Fixed, thank you! I'd say I probably slightly prefer most US airlines, with the exception of DL and UA narrow bodies, and DL 767s. While US carriers don't have a great soft product, they do have a solid hard product, plus great bedding, and that's important in business class.

TAP offers a very solid value proposition, usually combining attractive pricing (although the Brazilian routes can get expensive) with a good standard of service. The problem is that their IROPS handling leaves a lot to be desired- of course, this blog rarely comments on things like operational reliability for non-US carriers so this review is very much in line with those of other products.

I’ll echo the many comments on TAP business class. Good value, particularly with buy up opportunities. Decent in flight experience & seat. Sub optimal transfer airport in LIS.

It’s on my list for a cash fare, if their schedule aligns with my plans.

Please tell me that main was only one of the options. Fish as both a starter and a main would be terrible if there's no alternative offered.

Entree = starter...

On the crew, my best flight crew experience ever was TAP. They decided to 'prank' the entire plane on April fools day by telling everyone immediately after take-off that we were going to Lisbon rather than Porto. As you can imagine, every call light went on and they spent the entire flight managing people's connection concerns. It was hysterical - and they announced the truth as the plan touched the runway. Has made me fond of TAP ever since. Not sure whether it counts as great service.

Yes I will never get how an “entree” is a main course . The word already says it

I don’t think you got lucky. TAP is a hidden gem based on my experiences two weeks ago flying EWR-LIS round trip and also on TAP intra-Europe. I was impressed by the service, and crew attitudes. All for half the price of business class on United. I saw nothing of the ‘discount carrier mentality’ on the EU flights of weighing or measuring carryon bags.

The reality is that TAP is the best bargain into or out of Europe to the U.S. Especially out of Europe. Even two days before you need to fly they often have really good paid J fares.

It's a model that if it spreads more to the U.S. and Europe would actually change the entire industry. There is no fathomable reason why UA or LH, as an example, should charge $5000K for a one way J ticket. Oh, well, other than greed and absurd management. They would actually sell their J seats rather than upgrade or allow redemptions if they would price them like TAP. Which is why there are rarely redemptions on TAP.

Yup! And this isn't just MIA, but also TPA and MCO in my experience.

I remember that at one point not to long ago TAP had a flight departing MIA at 3:45am.

Now, TAP seasonally has 2 daily flights out of MIA. The later flight departs around midnight (I think it only operates in the summer), and it was operated by one of TAP's remaining standard A330s last summer.

agreed, our company used to have a Miami office and it was freezing in there. I would bring warm clothes for the trip. Could never understand why they had it so cold. Our offices in other cities such as Chicago, New York or Toronto were not a patch on Miami despite all being way colder climates.

I think Brussels wins the worst European capital airport prize.

Hi Ben, any idea why TAP doesn't fly nonstop to Los Angeles? I don't believe any other airlines flies between Lisbon and LAX and feel it would have decent demand? At least seasonally?

Because forcing people to use both LAX and LIS together is just cruel.

There are two problems with LIS. It is run by a French company who just seem to be fixated on making money rather than providing a good service. And they have been planning a new airport for ages but they can’t agree where to put it. One of the recently discussed options is to expand the airport at Beja. Look it up on a map !!! It’s mid way between LIS and the Algarve and isn’t currently connected to major road or rail links. PS LIS is connected to the Metro.

TAP used to fly to Los Angeles via the Azores. Service commenced April 16, 1989 however am unsure when they stopped. They do fly to San Francisco.
There’s a large Portuguese diaspora in
Northern California of around 125,000. L.A. around 50000.

I reluctantly tried TAP a few years ago as they have cheap J fares and credit to 200% on some Star Alliance programmes... And since then I repeated often (keeping an eye on full flats 321neo sometimes used on European destinations).
To me, it's TP over any US3 anyway.
LIS isn't the best airport at all (also foggy and windy sometimes) and boarding by bus is the rule more than the exception. However Schengen immigration is always a breeze (in my experience) a few days ago a new TP lounge opened at the entrance of the non Schengen pier, this slightly helps.
Once on board, catering ex LIS is more than fine, crews are generally good and there is no fwd WC reserved for pilots. No later than last week, they went the extra mile to recover my phone which mistakenly slipped into the seat and this way in no way easy.

I don't fly business class, only economy and I'd argue that in economy TAP is arguable one of the best airlines flying across the Atlantic. I would take them over any other airline, any day. The exit row seat on their A321s are the best hidden gem in the sky, IMO.
As someone else alluded to, LIS is a problem and unfortunately the airport's limitations can lead to occasional delays but I've been lucky with that.

We are taking the TAP A330neo in business class from San Franciso to Lisbon. Does the business class seat have an adjustable foot rest? We would we be better off taking another airline, like United from San Francisco to Barcelona and then a domestic flight to Lisbon?

Had a similarly good experience on IAD-LIS last month. Throne seat on the A321 is solid and service on the quick overnight fairly efficient. Didn't feel low-costy at all.

Barcelona to Lisbon isn’t a domestic flight………

Politically, no, but in practical terms, it is; both cities are in the Schengen zone,

I fully agree. TAP itself is okay but is let down by the abomination that is LIS!

TAP is no worst than United. They are quite good actually.
They also just opened a smaller lounge in Lisbon in the non -schengen area. It was about time!
Lisbon airport is a problem especially for airlines. I always struggle to understand why so many passengers. I 'd rather transfer in Lisbon even if you don't get a jetbridge than to transfer in Istanbul where you have to run for almost an hour

usually they have 3 options, fish, meat and one of them vegetarian
that's been my experience.
they also partner with PT chefs so at least one of the main course option is usually a typical PT dish (Last time I flew it was octopus which I found quite interesting (and very good)

I usually fly TAP once a year r/t LIS-BOS in Business because of the price. The flight is just long enough to eat & get in a few hours of sleep. The food has always been decent, no complaints. So long as they keep the price low, I will always choose them if I don't feel like using points elsewhere.

BRU is a Diamond compared with LIS!

True, all Brazilian Routes are amazingly expensive, certainly if you start in LIS. Except GRU, as that's not a tourism destination. Mostly you pay the triple for a 7h flight as you should pay for a LIS-GRU. But that's the business.

I'm flying business from Miami to Lisbon.
Im with my wife so I chose the center aisle so we could be together. Our seats are way up front. Are these better or worse than the others or it doesn't matter?
Thanks whoever answers

If you’re flying together then take the middle seats.

Having moved to Portugal two years ago I use TAP constantly on both short and long haul. Short haul business is solid. The leg room and food is good and while the service is proficient I never think it’s particularly friendly. On the long haul the hard product is competitive but the soft product feels more like premium economy. There’s no welcome drink upon boarding, the pillow is not supportive at all. I’d like to see a mattress pad for sleeping. The ‘everything on one tray’ food service is fine for night flights but lazy on day flights in business class. There’s no reason why they can’t clear the appetiser plate and bring the hot entree. Dessert is always a let down, some chopped fruit, a scoop of ice cream and a bit of (plastic) wrapped cheese is not what Portugal is about. If TAP worked on enhancing its long-haul product offering it could really be something very good.