Review: TAAG Angola First Class 777 Lisbon To Luanda

Ben Schlappig
April 11, 2018
43

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I met up with two friends in Lisbon, and after a good night of sleep we left for Lisbon Airport at around 7:45AM, for our 10AM flight to Luanda. We had a friendly Uber driver from Angola, who couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that we were flying to “his” country.

Lisbon Airport check-in area

TAAG departs from Terminal 1 in Lisbon, and initially it took us a minute to find their check-in desk, though once we did, my excitement level just went through the roof.

TAAG Angola check-in Lisbon Airport

Am I the only one who loves TAAG’s branding?

TAAG Angola check-in Lisbon Airport

As we approached the check-in counter we were approached by a security officer.

“Where is your ticket?”
“It’s an electronic ticket.”
“Let me see it.”
“It’s electronic.”
“I need to see a copy of it.”

Okay, fine. We pulled up our e-tickets, and showed them to him. As I took the above picture of TAAG’s check-in counter, the same guy loudly exclaimed “no photo.” I would have probably just listened, but one of my friends is a bit more persistent than I am, and responded:

“Just of the sign, come on.”
“No, no photo.”
“Just of the sign? Why not?”
“For security.”
“What is the security risk with taking a picture of the sign?”
“You can’t take it.”
“Please? Can we take a selfie in front of it?”

At that point he motioned that we could take that photo, so I guess it worked.

The check-in process was efficient enough, though when the agent found out we were traveling to Sao Paulo via Luanda, she looked at us as if we were crazy (spoiler alert: the “looking at us like we’re crazy” thing would be a common theme for the next 24 hours).

Our carry-on bags were checked, and we were given awesome TAAG first class baggage tags. I really should laminate this, because it’s easily the nicest carry-on tag I’ve ever received (and now that I’ve told my mom that the airline has 13 “active” planes and four “written off” planes, I don’t think she’ll be letting me fly them again). 😉

TAAG Angola luggage tag

Security was quick, and Lisbon Airport even has an efficient fast track for premium passengers. Within a few minutes we found ourselves in the same departure hall that I was in a few weeks earlier, when flying TAP from Lisbon to Newark. TAAG uses the ANA Lounge at Lisbon Airport (which is a contract lounge that has nothing to do with the Japanese airline), though we decided to head straight to gate 46. That’s because the boarding pass indicated that boarding was starting at 8:55AM, a full 65 minutes before departure.

Lisbon Airport departure gate

The gate area was quiet, though I already saw the pilots in the cockpit, so the crew was already there. What a ridiculously gorgeous livery TAAG has!

TAAG 777 Lisbon Airport

I was expecting that in reality boarding would only start 30 minutes before departure and that they just posted a super early boarding time, as many airlines do. Nope. To my surprise, boarding started quite informally at 8:55AM. No announcement was made at first, but rather they just motioned that we could get on the plane.

TAAG Angola departure gate

TAAG 777 Lisbon Airport

TAAG Angola 651
Lisbon (LIS) – Luanda (LAD)
Sunday, March 11
Depart: 10:00AM
Arrive: 6:30PM
Duration: 7hr30min
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER
Seat: 1K (First Class)

We boarded through door L2, where we were acknowledged (greeted is too strong of a word) by the cabin supervisor and another flight attendant, and told to walk left. TAAG has two types of first class products on their 777s, so we didn’t know what to expect, since there’s almost nothing out there about their newest first class.

As I’m sure you can imagine, we were pleasantly surprised when we walked into the below cabin. There were a total of eight first class seats, spread across two rows in a 1-2-1 configuration. I loved the artwork on both the forward and rear bulkhead.

TAAG 777 first class cabin

I had selected seat 1K, the window seat in the first row on the right side.

TAAG 777 first class seats

TAAG’s new first class seat is pretty generic, as it’s almost identical to the one you’ll find on Kuwait Airways. The seat doesn’t have a door, though is quite spacious.

TAAG first class seats 777

At the front of the seat was a large entertainment screen as well as an ottoman.

TAAG first class seat

To the left of the seat was an enclosed storage compartment.

TAAG first class seat storage compartment

To the right of the seat was the entertainment controller, as well as a smaller exposed storage compartment.

TAAG first class entertainment controller & storage

Underneath this area and to the side were the 110v outlet, USB outlets, and headphone jack. Unfortunately my 110v outlet wasn’t working.

TAAG first class seat power outlets

Next to that was a small monitor where you could control various seat functions.

TAAG Angola first class seat controls

There was a long side table that stretched the length of the suite, which is also where the huge tray table could be extended from.

TAAG first class seat

TAAG first class seat tray table

Then the ottoman cover could be lifted to expose a huge storage compartment.

TAAG first class seat ottoman

In addition to a reading light along the side of the seat, there were two more in the overhead console. Annoyingly there were no individual air nozzles, though.

TAAG first class overhead console

Also waiting at my seat on boarding were a pillow and blanket. I was hoping there would be better bedding after takeoff, since it’s shameful to have a first class suite but then offer economy quality bedding. Unfortunately there wasn’t any better bedding, though.

TAAG Angola first class pillow & blanket

Then there were headphones, which were basic as well.

TAAG Angola first class headphones

The cabin stayed mostly empty for a while, given that most people weren’t wanting to board over an hour before departure. This presented a good opportunity to check out TAAG’s business class. The new 777 has fully flat seats in business class, in a 2-3-2 configuration, similar to what you’ll find on Turkish. While not cutting edge, it’s not a bad product either.

TAAG Angola business class seats 777

There was a business class mini-cabin right behind first class with just one row of seats.

TAAG Angola business class seats 777

Here’s what the center seats in first class looked like.

TAAG 777 first class seats

Within a couple of minutes of settling in, the primary first class flight attendant approached us to offer drinks. I think she was friendly, well intentioned, and genuine. She certainly wasn’t smiling, or polished, or trained in how to provide service in international first class, but I feel like she had the right idea, and wanted us to have an enjoyable flight.

To start she offered us water or orange juice. I just ordered water, which was served in a TAAG branded glass.

TAAG first class pre-departure water

She then offered us amenity kits, which had Aigner products in them. The amenity kits were quite nice, and had a toothbrush and toothpaste, eyeshades, a comb, a razor, a shoehorn, socks, lip balm, body lotion, shaving cream, facial moisturizer, and more.

TAAG Angola first class amenity kit

At first I was concerned about taking pictures, given our experience at check-in. I was pleasantly surprised when the flight attendant noticed me taking pictures and asked if I wanted her to take one of me in the seat.

About 30 minutes after getting on the plane, four other first class passengers showed up. There was an Angolan woman with her daughter, an Angolan man, and a man who I suspect was traveling to Luanda for business.

Also around this time the station manager came onboard and talked to the crew. We saw them all looking at us, and eventually he said “I was just telling our crew that this isn’t the normal mix of passengers.” I guess that was his polite way of saying that we were sticking out like sore thumbs. He was a super nice guy who has been in the airline industry for decades, and who has been an airline station manager for a long time for various airlines. It was fascinating to hear his insights into the airline and country.

He was drinking an espresso as we talked to him (I think he walked onto the plane primarily for a drink), and then the crew also offered us more drinks. While I didn’t order anything, one friend ordered a tea, with Lipton being the only option.

TAAG Angola pre-departure tea

Another friend asked for a cappuccino. The flight attendant said that they didn’t have that, but rather only had coffee with milk, so he ordered that. It looked awfully similar to a cappuccino, at least.

TAAG Angola pre-departure coffee

I love the cups and saucers!

Before takeoff I checked out the lavatories. There were two located at the front of the cabin, and they were both pretty basic.

TAAG Angola first class lavatory

TAAG Angola first class lavatory amenities

The only noteworthy thing was that they had bars of soap that said “enjoy your life” on them. The only time I’ve otherwise seen bars of soap is in Emirates’ new first class (which is where the similarities between the two products end).

TAAG Angola first class lavatory amenities

At 10AM the captain (who seemed to be local) added his welcome aboard, and informed us of our flight time of seven hours, and our cruising altitude of 35,000 feet. He informed us that we would be a little late on departure due to congestion. At 10:10AM the main cabin door closed, at which point the safety video was screened. At 10:15AM we began our pushback, and at 10:20AM began our taxi.

Pushing back Lisbon Airport

Our pilots taxied really fast, so even though it’s quite a distance, we were at runway 21C within minutes.

Taxiing Lisbon Airport

At 10:35AM we were cleared for takeoff. Admittedly it was a very windy day in Lisbon, but I’ve never had a takeoff roll quite like this. I felt like we were taking off on an aircraft carrier based on how powerful our takeoff roll was. I’ve never been pushed back in my seat quite in the same way.

Taking off Lisbon Airport

Not only was our takeoff roll powerful, but our climb out was steep, with a lot of side to side swaying (which is understandable due to the winds).

View after takeoff from Lisbon

The seatbelt sign was turned off just five minutes after takeoff, and my first order of business was putting the seat into bed mode. It’s a nice first class seat with plenty of space, though the bedding doesn’t quite match the bed, eh? What’s even more annoying is that the seat had horrible padding, as it was extremely hard, so a mattress pad (or even a proper duvet) would have gone a long way.

TAAG Angola first class bed

I also checked out the entertainment selection. Rather annoyingly you can only browse the entertainment selection on the little handheld device, rather than on the screen itself. I’m not a fan of this, though TAAG is hardly the only airline with such a restriction.

TAAG first class entertainment selection

The movie selection was limited, with a total of just 21 movies to choose from.

TAAG first class entertainment selection

Perhaps the most surprising thing I discovered onboard is that they have Wi-Fi.

TAAG 777 Wi-Fi

It isn’t cheap and they charge based on data usage, as follows:

10MB for 5USD
20MB for 8USD
50MB for 20USD
100MB for 30USD

The Wi-Fi makes up for the lack of other entertainment as far as I’m concerned, given the shock factor you can get texting people live from a TAAG Angola flight.

After checking out my bed and entertainment, I walked to the back of business class to get a picture from there. The cabin looked pretty nice, and was about two thirds full. While I didn’t snap a picture, economy looked pleasant as well, and was only in a 3-3-3 configuration (as opposed to the new 3-4-3 industry standard).

TAAG 777 business class cabin

There was no service for the first 80 minutes of the flight. I know the cabin supervisor was just sitting in the galley on her phone during that time, though I’m not sure what the other flight attendant was doing. We didn’t really mind, since we were having a great time. I checked out the airshow, as we were already over Africa.

Airshow enroute to Luanda

Finally 80 minutes after takeoff our tables were set. I’m not sure if their linens are shrinking, or…

TAAG first class lunch service — table setting

We were each presented with a warm towel. While the towel itself wasn’t very thick or high quality, I liked the presentation.

TAAG first class lunch service — warm towel

There were no menus on this flight, so each course was a surprise. To start we were offered canapés, consisting of three little crackers with ham, cheese, and shrimp. I ordered a glass of champagne to go along with it — TAAG serves Laurent-Perrier in first class, which isn’t great for first class, but is still better than I was expecting.

TAAG first class lunch service — appetizer

One of my friends ordered an Angolan beer.

TAAG first class lunch service — beer

About 30 minutes after the canapés, salt & pepper shakers, water, silverware, and a selection of bread were brought out.

TAAG first class lunch service — table setting

TAAG first class lunch service — bread

The appetizers were served from a trolley, with the choice between prawns, roast beef, and salad.

TAAG first class lunch cart

I ordered the prawns and salad.

TAAG first class lunch service — appetizer

While the prawns themselves seemed to be high quality, they clearly weren’t cooked correctly, because they were indescribably chewy. They were served mostly with corn, and I found the dish to be bland.

TAAG first class lunch service — appetizer

The side salad was decent, however.

TAAG first class lunch service — salad

One of my friends ordered the roast beef, which looked fairly good.

TAAG first class lunch service — appetizer

For the main courses we were offered the choice between cod, beef, and chicken. Two of us ordered the cod, though we were informed that they were out. We found that curious, since in the galley we had seen the meal order sheet, and it indicated that they had three of those loaded. Of the four other first class passengers, I saw that at least two weren’t eating the cod, so perhaps the cabin supervisor (or someone) “reserved” a dish for themselves?

Since neither of the options sounded appealing, we asked what they were serving in business class, thinking that maybe we could get a fish dish from there. The flight attendant’s response was simply “I don’t know.” Alrighty then.

I ordered the beef, which ended up being quite good. I think they could have gone a bit easier on the sauce, but otherwise it was a good steak.

TAAG first class lunch service — main course

The chicken, on the other hand, not so much…

TAAG first class lunch service — main course

Next up the dessert trolley was rolled down the aisle, with the choice between a cheese plate, fruit plate, and chocolate cake.

TAAG first class lunch service — dessert cart

We ordered one of each. All three were pretty unremarkable.

TAAG first class lunch service — dessert

To finish off the meal I ordered a coffee with milk.

TAAG first class lunch service — coffee

The meal service was done about three hours after takeoff. I’m not really sure what to say. Most of the food wasn’t totally awful, though both the food and service left a lot to be desired for international first class. Given that TAAG doesn’t have any competitors with first class on any of their routes (and since the people flying to/from Angola in first class are probably largely Angolans who fly their national airline for a variety of reasons), they can get away with it.

The younger flight attendant meant well, while the cabin supervisor was just sort of a grouch. I should note that at one point they asked us why we were taking so many pictures. It wasn’t in a rude way, but rather they were just curious, which was fair. We explained we have flown so many airlines but have always wanted to fly TAAG, and wanted to document the experience for our memories. They never mentioned anything again.

After the meal the cabin lights were dimmed, and we had about four hours remaining to Luanda.

TAAG 777 mood lighting

I decided to look through the inflight magazine, which had some interesting stuff in it. I especially enjoyed their fleet page, which shows that they have five 777-300ERs — two of them feature the new first class (with eight seats), and three feature their old first class (with 12 seats).

TAAG fleet

The magazine also advertised their flight to Havana. I think TAAG might just be the only airline to offer a three cabin first class product to Cuba?

TAAG inflight magazine

Then I checked out their duty free magazine, where I discovered that they had TAAG 777 model airplanes for sale. Naturally we had to buy those, though they only had two. TAAG doesn’t take credit cards for duty free, so we had to pay cash. The problem is that they had no change, which made things a bit complicated, though after a bit of negotiating we reached a deal.

TAAG duty free catalogue

In the end we picked up these two beauties!

TAAG airplane models

I spent a couple of hours connected to Wi-Fi working, and soon enough we were just 1hr40min from our arrival, as we were flying over Sao Tome and Principe, which has always fascinated me. I haven’t spent that much time in Africa outside of North Africa, so it was really cool to just observe the airshow on this flight.

Airshow enroute to Luanda

75 minutes before landing a light snack was served. Once again, tables were set and we were offered warm towels .

TAAG first class snack service — table setting