Star Alliance member TAP Air Portugal has just opened a second lounge at Lisbon Airport (LIS), which seems long overdue.
In this post:
TAP’s Premium Lounge Atlântico Lisbon
On January 30, 2024, TAP Air Portugal opened its Premium Lounge Atlântico. To cover the basics of the lounge:
- It’s for passengers on non-Schengen flights, meaning those traveling across the Atlantic, to Africa, to the UK, and beyond; the lounge is located immediately beyond passport control
- The lounge is open daily from 5AM until 12AM, covering virtually all departures
- The lounge is quite small, as it can only seat 100 people, and is 380 square meters (~4,100 square feet)
- The lounge has bathrooms, but no showers
- The lounge has a self-serve buffet and a self-serve drink selection, but no staffed bar
- The lounge follows standard Star Alliance access policies, so is open to Star Alliance business class passengers and Star Alliance Gold members
- The lounge is described as having “Portuguese materials in the spotlight, such as cork, burel, and tiles, that simulate the typical façades of Portuguese houses, passengers will find areas to work or relax, as well as a dining are”
One FlyerTalk member was there on opening day, and shared some pictures and thoughts here.
This is a long overdue addition for the airline
TAP Air Portugal is known for its extensive route network and great fares across the Atlantic, which opens up all kinds of efficient one-stop journeys across the Atlantic. The catch is that the carrier’s premium ground experience in Lisbon has historically left a lot to be desired.
In the past, the airline had just one lounge at the airport, located in the Schengen zone, and it wasn’t much to get excited about. For one, the lounge isn’t nearly large enough to handle the passenger demand at the airport. Furthermore, it’s nice to be able to go through passport control before you hang out in the lounge prior to a non-Schengen flight, so that you can time heading to the gate as well as possible.
So the new lounge is a welcome addition. That being said, this is a small lounge, given the size of TAP Air Portugal’s network, and it will no doubt get slammed during peak hours. Furthermore, usually non-Schengen lounges would be more premium than Schengen lounges, but in this case there’s no proper bar, no showers, etc.
Ultimately I suspect the fairly lackluster nature of this lounge just comes down to limited available real estate at airports. I’m sure the airline would’ve liked to open a larger lounge at the airport, but it just wasn’t possible.
Bottom line
TAP Air Portugal has opened its new Premium Lounge Atlântico at Lisbon Airport, which is the carrier’s non-Schengen lounge, primarily for those traveling across the Atlantic. It’s great to see the airline expand lounge capacity, but don’t expect this lounge to offer much of an elevated experience.
What do you make of TAP’s new lounge?
This is very relevant addition, long overdue. Core of the TAP strategy are their services to many different cities in Brazil.
The problem is Lisbon airport, which is small and past its prime.
I prefer OPO, ignoring the Blue Lounge completely.
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.
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...
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
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/
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/
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...
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.
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).
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
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).
Didn't know that Africa was across the Atlantic from LIS. Every day is a school day.
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.
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.
Sorry, Madeira, not Madera. D@mn auto spell check!
Add the Azores that have an island in the American continent
How about reading this the American way? "Including but not limited to..."
@ 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.
To fly from continental Portugal to Madeira you have to fly over the Atlantic. The same from continental Spain to the Canary Islands.
... 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 ...