Review: TAP Air Portugal Business Class A330 Lisbon To Newark

Yeap, TAP employees always seem happy being miserable.

Every time I'm in Portugal, I find the people to be warm, generous and hospitable.

Thus I find it's a shame and a disgrace to its country when the national carrier's crew as "national embassadors" and being in the service industry provide poor service.

Why do you think the air show map is programmed to show where the Civil War steamship, USS Tulip, exploded and sank in 1864? It seems slightly macabre.

I think TAP FA's will get better as well, eventually. The old generation was (and still is) used to a state owned airline, which was bleeding tens of millions of euros every single year while they had a lot of benefits while doing as less as possible. I think, or at least I hope, that new FA's will be trained to be much more friendly. As a portuguese and TAP customer, I also think that FA's is something that must be much improved. While the hard product is getting much better, the personel issues may take longer.

@David
They also pinpoint the location where RMS Empress of Ireland sank in1914.
Odd indeed.

I find that the people in Portugal are always warm and hospitable whenever I've visited. Too bad you didn't have the same experience on this flight with this crew

@lucky: no pic(s) of the seat in flat position?

TAP is such a disappointing airline, because of its inconsistency. Which is a pity: otherwise they’d be a great European gateway to Brazil in particular.

And as others have written, in stark contrast to the country itself.

"While it’s a cute concept, I couldn’t close the tin once I first opened it"

You could have asked the crew for assistance...but given how disinterested they seemed, it probably would not have helped.

Hey Lucky,

Looks like it happened yet again: http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2018/01/28/serial-stowaway-arrested-again-at-ohare/

http://abc7chicago.com/serial-stowaway-marilyn-hartman-arrested-again-at-ohare/2999426/

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-serial-stowaway-arrested-at-ohare-20180128-story.html

I thought you might find this interesting as you've covered this in the past

Have a great Sunday and, as always, safe travels!

Is there a way to delete duplicate posts?

Always love your posts, but no need for pictures of flight scenery outside the plane - that's how it looked for every plane that left Lisbon that morning

Keep the flight scenery photos. I’ve been in and out of Lisbon many times but always on sunny days, have never seen it so gloomy as in your pics.

You should have tried the cheese and port. When I had them on a flight from YYZ they were remarkably good, despite the cheese being wrapped in cellophane.

I don't see why you're obsessed with those throne seats on these flights, virtually all reviews for these type of seats say the foot cubby is terrible, surely the better seat is the true window seat on the other side, just as private but without the footwell issue? To pay €/$100 that some airlines charge for this seat seems ludicrous in my opinion.

I can't help thinking that having this layout on an A330 seems tight, considering they're only usually 8 across in economy.

Agree with @tim, ~@FredM ~ no need to pad out with departure and approach shots, runway and other parked aircraft etc. shots! It all looks the same after seeing 50 airports.

TAP, Take Another Plane, is still apt. Entitled crew like Alitalia.

One of the lakes on Newark approach, looks a lot like the shape of African continent.

I'm not a fan of that seat, assuming it's the same as those on Austrian ( "throne", single seats). The footwell is too narrow and it's difficult to turn over while sleeping. Also the height is too low and doesn't give sufficient privacy from surrounding passengers. Nowehere near as good as Finnair, another "cheap and cheerful" alternative.

Recently flew TAP from Morocco to Barcelona (with a stop in Lisbon). Awful experience all around and the sardine size of the economy seat was the least of it. The staff on the ground was atrocious. Both of our flights were delayed quite a bit, but rather than offer any help or information, one of the gate agents in Lisbon took it as an opportunity to wade thoughthe crowd and put every carry-on in a bag sizer. It didn't get much better on-board. Take Another Plane is right. My wife and I both vowed never, ever again.

Keep the flight scenery photos! Even if you don’t like them is it that hard to move your finger and keep scrolling? If you’ve read this blog for long at all you’d know Ben likes window seats ... cause he likes looking out the window so your bound to get some out the window shots on an AvGeeks blog lol.

I say this again:

We had a wonderful time last year when , for a change, I was traveling more for pleasure than work and with my husband. We flew on from JFK on TAP through LIS to GVA in biz class. Both flights from/to JFK were staffed with excellent crews. On the return our really fabulous FA gave us a full wine tasting before our meal and was attentive the entire flight. The food was good and my only complaint is that the transfer at LIS to our GVA flight was hideously slow due to a massive line at immigration/tranfers.

We also flew to and from GVA with “understaffed” A321s with no service but on the return the very nice purser brought us champagne "under-cover".

TAP sells upgrades to business-class pretty cheap so it's possible they were not given an operational upgrade.

What alliance partners can you credit mileage to when flying TAP?

@ @mkcol -- All Star Alliance airlines. Here are the mileage earning rates for a J class ticket:
https://www.wheretocredit.com/tap-portugal/j

@Lucky You star! 😉

Dear Lucky
Dear all

Does anybody know when TAP finally has updated its complete business class? In general their connection from Europe to Brazil is great, but the old business class is really disappointing.

Thanks!

Update: September 2018- TAP are still regularly switching out their new business class for the old crappy configuration. It’s now happened to me twice- seat was marketed as “lie flat” but was switched day of departure. Beware.

Do you know if ALL the BCN to Newark flights have lie flat seats?
I can't get a straight answer out of the airline?

Oops. I switch in Lisbon, so I meant Lisbon to Newark? Lie flat seats?
thanks

Is there any noticeable difference between 3J and 5J?

@ JamesP -- Nope, not really.

Just flew yesterday from LIS to JFK and had the A330 with the new business class config. Changed seat from 3E to 1E which has the very wide foot front space which is great. Had a similar experience with the crew that didn't seem super interested...the only issue with being in 1E is that you can hear the crew talk...and gosh they talk quite loud...
Otherwise food OK. Nothing amazing or terrible. A very good seat, not expensive from Europe to JFK in business class.
Business class was much busier than eco. Maybe 40% empty in eco...

Great review. The decision is easy. ByeBye TAP

Be careful with this airline.

Some airports they sell business class tickets from don’t even have lounge access for TAP business passengers, like Manchester Airport.

I have stopped booking with this airline and always look for an alternative.

#ThoughtsAndPrayers for you @WR
Cannot imagine how awful it must have been not have had access to a lounge that would cost £15-£30

Does anyone see anywhere on Tap's booking screen where you can choose to search for business class tickets?? It's a frustrating and ridiculously missing option..