Star Alliance member TAP Air Portugal has just opened a second lounge at Lisbon Airport (LIS), which seems long overdue.
Continue reading: TAP Air Portugal’s New Premium Lounge Atlântico In Lisbon
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Didn't know that Africa was across the Atlantic from LIS. Every day is a school day.
Not much to get excited about, unfortunately. The Schengen area lounge is almost always overcrowded, often to the point of not even finding a single seat. Drink and food selection is meh. Though, I find TAPs inflight service (in J) on flights within the EU to be better than most other airlines. You get a three-course meal with proper silverware as opposed to a boxed meal tossed in your general direction (looking at you KLM).
Yeah, TP have a pretty decent African network, and I assume one would have access to this lounge when flying to (for example) TMS as well.
Portugal is the only country outside African Continent who is considered inside Africa. Amazing.
About time! When I flew RAK-LIS-IAD I had no lounge access because they wouldn’t let me through passport control just to use the lounge
@ Throwawayname -- Fair enough, I'll add Africa. I didn't say this was only for transatlantic flights, but rather that it's primarily for transatlantic flights (which I believe to be true in terms of overall capacity).
I probably wouldn't have made the comment had there not been a reference to the UK (DUB's missing too)- they only fly to three UK airports (and I think MAN is Embraer only) so likely have more capacity to Africa.
Don't want to get too political, but I do recall a certain level of reflection around that sort of thing taking place on this blog when BLM was in the news.
SLIS is just such a terrible airport for flights back to the US. The additional security at the gates for US-bound flights is haphazard, and the area for passengers once they've cleared screening is about half the space needed to accommodate the people on the flight (even with most standing).
This is good news. I'm a 7-8x per year TAP flyer to/from the Iberian peninsula and TAP has been my go-to for a while. While I've always found the Schengen TAP lounge fine (crowded, but not overly so...have always managed a table by myself, food decent enough, plenty of pasteis de nata, and friendly bar staff), the passport control hopscotch has been annoying, to say the least. I'm headed back through LIS in a couple of weeks so I'll be interested to try it out and compare the experiences. If it's as poorly thought out as it seems it may be given the size and lack of amenities, I might just keep doing the Schengen/Non-Schengen dance depending on how much time I have.
Lisbon resident here... The airport is chronically busy due to its capacity/space issues and general poor management. This airport has been here since pre-WW2 with random extensions. The lounge issues stem from all of this.
Currently there are 2 lounges - TAP's and a priority pass one - constantly packed. They do both have staffed bars and hot food. But the capacity issues are insane and it's not uncommon to see huge lines at the PP lounge during the daily periods where Americans or Brazilians are waiting for their longhauls.
Lisbon has needed a larger longhaul focused airport for years. If you want some spicy takes check out the Ryan Air CEO's comments about TAP and Lisbon... A few sites have been identified but everyone involved is arguing about where is appropriate. Expect an opening date of never or 20 years from now.
Is Montijo definitely not happening, or is it still possible? I see they cancelled the plan to open in 2026, but I couldn't work out if this was permanent, or temporary until they found a solution to the environmental impact issues
I actually think the Schengen lounge is very good except for the fact that it's always overcrowded. Of course in pratice it makes the lounge visit a rather bad experience for most people, but food and drinks are absolutely awesome and in my opinion one of the best offering of European business class lounges.
Sadly the entire airport is under its capacity so I don't see much improvement coming soon, however TAP is doing the best they can under the circumstances.
Madera is part of Portugal and is off the coast of Africa. So Portugal is part of both Europe and Africa. The same can be said about Spain and the Canary Islands.
To fly from continental Portugal to Madeira you have to fly over the Atlantic. The same from continental Spain to the Canary Islands.
The problem is Lisbon airport, which is small and past its prime.
I prefer OPO, ignoring the Blue Lounge completely.
Remains unresolved, situation is chaos as usual. The nearest options (Montijo or Alcochete) involve a bridge/likely traffic issues, and the no-bridge option (Santarem, considered a longshot) is an hour drive or intercity train on a good day. None are currently directly connected to the local public transit system and I have seen no discussion of how they plan to get people to any of these locations.
Latest non-news: https://www.portugalresident.com/lisbon-airport-wrangle-icnf-puts-boot-firmly-into-montijo-option/
... even to destinations other than Madeira most flights to Africa "cross" the Atlantic, because they go south, leave Portugal over the Algarve Coast (which is on the Atlantic an reach Africa over the Atiantic Coast of Morocco, Mauretania oder Senegal ...
This is very relevant addition, long overdue. Core of the TAP strategy are their services to many different cities in Brazil.