Boston has been experiencing some of the most impressive international growth of any US airport, as over the past few years they’ve picked up several new flights to Asia (on Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Hainan, and Japan Airlines), and even more new flights to Europe.
Well, it looks like we can now add yet another airline to the list of European airlines serving Logan Airport.
TAP Portugal will be launching daily nonstop flights between Lisbon and Boston as of June 11, 2016.
TAP Portugal A330
The flight will be operated by an Airbus A330-200 with the following schedule:
TP217 Lisbon to Boston departing 2:25PM arriving 5:00PM
TP218 Boston to Lisbon departing 7:45PM arriving 7:20AM (+1 day)
At just 3,192 miles, this will be one of the shorter transatlantic flights out there, as it’s blocked at 6hr35min eastbound and 7hr35min westbound.
On top of that, TAP Portugal will be launching daily nonstop flights between Lisbon and New York JFK as of July 1, 2016. That flight will also be operated by an Airbus A330-200, with the following schedule:
TP209 Lisbon to New York departing 5:00PM arriving 8:00PM
TP208 New York to Lisbon departing 11:30PM arriving 11:30AM (+1 day)
This complements TAP’s existing US destinations, which include Miami and Newark.
TAP has pretty good food and service in business class, though their seats are angled. That’s not a huge deal for such a short transatlantic flight, as the convenience of a nonstop flight will more than outweigh the quality of seats for many.
TAP Portugal A330 business class
Lisbon is also an awesome city, and for that matter Portugal as a whole is gorgeous. So if you haven’t yet visited, these new flights are a great way to get there from Boston or New York.
Lisbon, Portugal
Porto, Portugal
The new flights are already bookable, and TAP Portugal has two business class award seats available every day between Lisbon and both Boston and New York, for what it’s worth.
The challenge is that there aren’t any especially lucrative distance based award programs in Star Alliance, and for that matter premium cabin transatlantic redemption values aren’t all that good. Your best options in general are:
- Air Canada Aeroplan: 55,000 miles for one-way business class (plus fuel surcharges)
- ANA Mileage Club: 88,000 miles for roundtrip business class (plus fuel surcharges)
- Avianca LifeMiles: 63,000 miles for one-way business class
- United MileagePlus: 70,000 miles for one-way business class
It’s also interesting to note that TAP Portugal plans to partner with JetBlue out of both Kennedy and Logan, which should help them provide more traffic for their flights. The partnership between TAP and JetBlue is sort of funny as well, given the history of the airlines’ leadership. Via the Boston Globe:
The new service is a homecoming of sorts for David Neeleman, TAP’s co-owner and founder of JetBlue Airways Corp., which ousted him chief executive in 2007. Neeleman brought JetBlue, now the largest carrier at Logan, to Boston in 2004. TAP also will begin service to Lisbon on July 1 from New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport, which Neeleman established as JetBlue’s hub.
In addition, TAP will partner with JetBlue, which will provide connections to JFK and Logan for passengers flying to Lisbon on TAP Portugal.
Neeleman said in a statement that it’s “wonderful to be back at JFK and Logan and working with JetBlue again.”
Bottom line
While the TAP Portugal inflight experience isn’t the best in the world, Portugal is an awesome country, and a lot of people will value the convenience of this new nonstop options out of Boston and New York. I’d say the new Boston flight adds a bit more value than the New York flight, given that TAP already flies to Newark. Either way, it’s awesome to see TAP just about double their service to the US over the course of a few weeks.
If you’re looking for award seats on the new flights, they’re readily available.
Anyone excited about the new TAP flight between Boston/New York and Lisbon?
(Tip of the hat to Peter)
The truth is TAP Portugal service is MUCH BETTER than the service of any other US airline especially on transatlantic flights. The new cabin improvements may place TAP at par with other major European airlines.
TAP brings new A 330-200 aricrafts to these routes. In business, they will use full flat seats in 1-2-1 configuration. They will also have economy plus with 34 seat pitch and economy with 31. The other long haul planes will be retrofitted in 2017. TAP is nothing amazing but it is probably the only european airline offering a true free food service onboard in its european routes along with Lufthansa and Swiss and is constantly...
TAP brings new A 330-200 aricrafts to these routes. In business, they will use full flat seats in 1-2-1 configuration. They will also have economy plus with 34 seat pitch and economy with 31. The other long haul planes will be retrofitted in 2017. TAP is nothing amazing but it is probably the only european airline offering a true free food service onboard in its european routes along with Lufthansa and Swiss and is constantly ranked among the safest European companies to fly along with KLM and Finnair. And for transatlantic service they are just much better than any US carrier service wise. The Newark service will also operate daily and Miami will have 7 frequencies during summer time as well, reducing to 5 weekly during low season.
United is also starting WAS-LIS which is pretty cool although it looks like this flight will be only during the holidays period. TAP has ordered 12 new A330-200 Neo and several A321 which they plan on using on several of their transatlantic routes, increasing the number of US cities they will fly to 10 in the next 2-3 years.
Great news, my Parents use an unreliable airline called SATA to get from Boston to Portugal, and they make the trip twice a year. If the price is right, they may swich to TAP.
You forgot to mention Turkish and Qatar airways amongst new entrants to BOS
As a BOS based flyer, I continue to be thrilled with Massports expansion efforts at Logan. It is fantastic all the new service it is bringing us. I hope all the economics work out for these flights and all the rest.
In response to an earlier comment, TP will arrive at Terminal E in Boston but depart from jetBlue's Terminal C (just like EK) to facilitate connections and help keep Terminal E from busting at the seams until the E expansion happens.
I'll be heading to Lisbon (from New York) one week before this flight debuts... the flight time out of EWR is really inconvenient so this flight time would've been perfect... oh well.
@Lucky - did you ever publish your full trip report on TAP? Didn't you fly them to Lisbon last year? Anxious to read about that in full.
They're bringing two new A330s into service and beginning a retrofit of the existing fleet with Stelia Solstys lie flat seats:
http://www.tapportugal.com/Info/en/about-tap/tap-group/the-new-tap?
I think you mean Azores Airlines (https://booking.azoresairlines.pt/rzoweb/app/booking?lang=en) and with some TAP in the mix?
Because Sata Internacional is gone. Now it's Azores Airlines.
Went to check it and it stars around 275€ oneway ticket.
Details of these seats: http://www.voeazul.com.br/azul-xtra
I believe these will be operated by the 2 A330 TAP is getting from Azul. If so these offer full flat staggered seats in business class in 1-2-1.
Lucky, how about that trip report? Will we get it?
We flew TAP from Newark to Lisbon in coach because we really wanted a nonstop.
Even with such a short flight, it was pretty miserable and I wouldn't do it again. Fortunately, we had booked out hotel for the night we were flying so we could be guaranteed to check in at 7 and get a long nap. We did love Lisbon and southern Portugal for a winter school break and would highly recommend it.
Kind of disappointed TAP didn't add ORD. Seems like a logical addition considering the potential for connecting flights. Any idea if they are considering adding ORD in the near future?
This is happening because Brazil is imploding and TAP was running a lot of frequencies to Brazil. It now has a lot of airframes to redeploy from the trash yields Brazil is generating (GRU - MCO/MIA is $380 r/t pretty much this entire year - shows you how much cash big market leaders like AA/LATAM must be losing there).
TAP is nothing special. I really don't think the EWR/BOS/JFK-LIS flights are worth ponying up for J. Portugal is an amazing country. Enjoy it!
TAP served Boston for years in the 1980's and 1990's. Those flights were operated using L1011. The title should be TAP returns to Boston and JFK.
What's the target market for the Miami flight? There isn't a large Portuguese community in South Florida, why was this one of their only US destinations?
TAP from JFK and BOS is also very cool if pax are interested in traveling to some exotic African locations including much of West Africa and Portuguese southern africa (Mozambique and Angola, but good luck with the visa situations). It will be cool to have a one-stop way to get to Cape Verde, Sao Tome and some of the other more exotic African locales that were once Portuguese. Nowadays, it seems like SN has much...
TAP from JFK and BOS is also very cool if pax are interested in traveling to some exotic African locations including much of West Africa and Portuguese southern africa (Mozambique and Angola, but good luck with the visa situations). It will be cool to have a one-stop way to get to Cape Verde, Sao Tome and some of the other more exotic African locales that were once Portuguese. Nowadays, it seems like SN has much of the US-Africa markets, because through my observations at JFK and IAD, much of SN's customers from the US continue to Africa, and SN caters to the Africa to USA customer base by timing the flights as such
I've flown TAP a few times, between Portugal and Brazil. Business class seats, as you say, are angled, very angled, and not really flat. To add to the injury, most of the fleet does not even have video on demand (there is video, but not on demand). So, I avoid TAP, except for day flights, in which the angled seats are not as inconvenient.
On the other hand, I read somewhere that TAP is expected...
I've flown TAP a few times, between Portugal and Brazil. Business class seats, as you say, are angled, very angled, and not really flat. To add to the injury, most of the fleet does not even have video on demand (there is video, but not on demand). So, I avoid TAP, except for day flights, in which the angled seats are not as inconvenient.
On the other hand, I read somewhere that TAP is expected to receive a couple of Azul's A330s, which have brand new interiors, with lay-flat seats on a 1-2-1 config. I don't recall details, though.
I am surprised this did not happen sooner. There is a large population of Portuguese here in MASS.
Now they have to do something about Terminal E. Air side is about to burst at the seams.
Hey Lucky does this count as one *A award?
SK LYR-OSL-ARN, ET (B77L or B787) ARN-VIE, Air China A330 VIE-BCN, TP BCN-LIS-JFK