TAP Air Portugal has announced plans to add three new seasonal routes across the Atlantic in the summer of 2025, though two of them aren’t from Lisbon.
Continue reading: TAP Air Portugal Adds Creative Routes Between United States & Portugal
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
SF to Terceira is really quite the ‘first’ route to start out of Terceira… taking the fight to Azores Airlines, i guess?
I believe SATA operated BOS-OPO flights in the past with wet leased 767s. Though, I remember the timing being terrible as well. Takes off from Boston at noon and arrives in Porto close to midnight!
Why do you find the absence of an LAX route to be surprising? LAX doesn't have as much S* connecting traffic as SFO. I'm more surprised there isn't N/S service to Milan or Brussels.
I hope the OAK-TER flight sticks around. It's always been one of my top 5 weirdest routes.
Last year it was operated with a Plus Ultra A330.
So for the Terceira one, do they double the crew on it or do they stay a week in SFO...
It's interesting that this is the Bay Area's second option for nonstop to the Azores. Maybe a local population thing moreso than a tourist route?
It's a local population thing. The Oakland area has a HUGE population of Azoreans, second only to areas of Massachusetts/ Rhode Island. Hence the longstanding summer routes from Oakland to the Azores on various airlines.
They probably work the other SFO - Lisbon flights since it's already a gateway with service.
I flew this last summer and hope it comes back, I actually loved the timing. It's great having another non-redeye option to Europe, especially flying with kids... IMO losing a night of sleep and not being able to check in to a hotel when you land is not a better option!
TAP flew to LA in the 80's/early 90's as well with a L15. I am surprised it took them this long to return to LAX.
There is more point to point at LAX. In fact it’s the busiest P2P airport in the world. Not everything must he connecting traffic. The LA SCMSA has a population in 18.3 million.
In the 80s the TP flight to/from LAX also stopped in Terceira en route.
Good Europe growth for SFO/LAX. I did try their A330neo product earlier this year. All in all, it's quite the average experience, between average seats, average food, and average service.
That being said Lisbon is beautiful and wouldn't mind going back nonstop on TAP.
People on this website are obsessed with diasporas but it's really completely irrelevant here. Azores have some 250k people in total, even if all of them had relatives in the US, it's nowhere near enough to support a direct route to one city. The route will primarily serve tourists from the US, hence the once a week frequency.
Now, don't get me wrong, Portugal in and of itself is a huge draw today. However, I can't help but wonder if TAP still caters to a substantial amount of U.S.-Africa traffic via its LIS hub.
Years ago, before Lisbon was a renowned and popular destination such that it is today, I flew TAP on the EWR-LIS-FCO route. Probably 2005 or 2006 if I had to guess. At that time, it was by far the cheapest way to travel between the U.S. and Rome.
The transatlantic A330 flight departed from a decrepit corner of EWR and deplaned via bus upon arrival to a remote stand at LIS. Buses emptied into a chaotic downstairs arrival hall where countless passengers were trying to make connecting flights not only to Europe, but also Africa. Lots and lots of the pax on the EWR-LIS flight were dressed in colorful African clothing and simply connecting beyond Lisbon to various places in Africa. Even if the TAP experience was subpar in terms of product and service, their low prices were right!
Now, I am sure TAP has likely improved tremendously since then. However, I wonder if they still cater extensively to U.S.-Africa connections through its LIS hub. Clearly they did a lot of that in the past, and could always do so with the new LAX-LIS flights as well?
I see your point, but for those types of flight, I’d prefer them to take off between midnight and early morning. Taking off at noon and arriving at midnight seems like a waste of a day for me. Taking off at midnight gets you in at noon, and early morning gets you in early evening; all around time for check in.
I don’t have kids, but I’d guess they’d be happy to stay up late (at least all the kids in my family seem to like to stay up late), if you had midnight departure, then sleep the whole flight, and you all arrive with half a day to explore or go right to sleep. I can see early mornings being tough for everyone, but a ~4:00 departure arriving ~16:00-17:00 makes more sense to me than a ~7:00 departure (BA) arriving around 19:00-20:00, where the best you can do is get dinner and sleep. Unfortunately, there’s not much choice you can do being so close while flying eastward. From the west coast, you could leave afternoon or late evening and arrive early morning or early evening, respectively.
BTW, how was your experience on that flight? I’ve been debating on SATA for a while, but I had good experience on TAP, and so I’d choose them with a lie flat over a recliner on SATA
I hope TAP has improved as well. I flew in J class on the EWR-LIS route in the early 2000s, and it was, without a doubt, one of the worst J class experiences I’ve ever had, even for that time. The service was indifferent, and the food was nearly inedible. The only saving grace was avoiding a remote parking situation at LIS. For my return to the USA, I switched flights to London and flew back with Virgin instead. Virgin was fantastic.
Right on about the east coast, the "problem" is that the flights are so short there is not much opportunity for sleep on a redeye, at least not more than a couple hours which would destroy my little ones and we'd lose at least a whole day anyways of them being tired/fussy.
The SATA flight was solid, although being a leased plane from Euroatlantic, I imagine it was a different experience than a typical SATA flight to PDL, etc. I think we lucked out and got the newer of the two 767s they leased last year. Plane condition was good but seatback entertainment was still limited. Overall, only memorable because of how unique it was, but a pretty basic experience.. not bad, not great. They also operated a BOS - FNC flight last year to little fanfare.
TAP has an extremely limited Africa network, and to destinations most Americans would not traveling to in volume. Maputo, anyone?
Maputo is the gateway to the stunning Bazaruto Archipelago, very worthwhile to visit! Likewise TAP to Sao Tome, Dakar, and Cabo Verde, very convenient!
While it's true that TAP used to stand for "Take Another Plane," TAP has indeed dramatically improved their intercontinental Business class product. I wouldn't hesitate to take TAP these days.
TAP isn't flying OAK-TER. Their route is SFO-TER 1x weekly each way. The OAK-TER route is flown by Azores Airlines, formerly known as SATA.
Thats true. I wonder if would be quicker to fly Sydney-LAX-Lisbon opposed to Sydney-[Dubai/Doha/Istanbul]-Lisbon.
Oh yes, I remember that one as well! They also did Terciera on a Plus Ultra A330, so better seats, although you don't get the all aisle access.
Why hasn't a daytime flight from BOS-LIS/OPO been considered? It is only 6+ hours eastbound, shorter than the other daytime flights to London, etc. Would not consider this flight specifically because it is too short and a very uncomfortable red-eye.
Maputo, Banjul, Dakar, Sal, Boa Vista, São Vicente, Praia, São Tomé, Luanda, Casablanca, Agadir, Tanger, Marrakech, Bissau, Accra. They also used to go to Bamako and Conakry but ceased operations due to safety and suspended Abidjan and Lome after the restructuring. They had announced JNB and CPT but suspended it due to Covid. They might start it again later in the line.
Love that the new routs has been added to the list! I've flown TAP business so many times, sometimes it's worth buying round trip in advance, financially makes more sense than upgrading a few days before the flight. LIS-SFO - business class only. The flight is tooooo long for couch