Input/Feedback on Flying TAP

Caveat: I've flown TAP several times, always short- and medium-length flights (not trans-Atlantic) but have followed them for a while.

TAP is a slightly unusual airline, although maybe less unusual than you might think. Not well known by Americans. They are a legacy, old-school, national carrier – Portugal's own flag carrier. So in some ways, they're like any legacy old-school carrier. Big network of flights, you can fly TAP all over the world (South America, North America, Africa, short-haul all over Europe). They have modern, new planes (not all of them are though), even a nice business class with lay-flat beds on efficient, brand-new jets. But they also offer rock-bottom prices and sometime behave like "low-cost carriers"; sometimes their service can be minimal or spotty -- they have "unbundled" some things as cheap-o airlines do.

In truth, TAP follows a kind of hybrid model, between big old legacy airline and small cheap cut-rate airline. This model exists more in Europe than it does in North America. Aer Lingus (Ireland's national airline) follows a similar hybrid model.

I like TAP. I've never had any issues with them. You can often catch surprisingly low fares on them, but you do need to be aware that the low fares may come with "unbundling issues" (eg you pay extra for anything other than minimal baggage, maybe you pay to pick a seat, etc). It depends on the ticket you choose. Just don't expect more than is specified for your ticket -- pay attention to what is and is not included, what might be extra. The details should be easy to understand, it's all on their website, just don't assume you'll get things that are not specified.

I had to cancel some flights on TAP during the pandemic, they answered the phone quickly, were easy to deal with, and refunded my money as promised. I've received what I considered good service, but of course I've seen others complain.

I would fly TAP again without any hesitation, but anyone contemplating flying with them needs to read the ticket details and limitations carefully (this is increasingly the case with any airline).

Hope that helps. Portugal is lovely, you will enjoy your time there.

I flew on TAP in December 2019 and had a good experience (International flight).

I know that the airline had issues during covid and was not refunding canceled flights as required. That may be part of the bad reviews. Below article around the issue.
https://www.elliott.org/airline-problems/what-should-you-do-if-your-airline-wont-refund-your-ticket/

I'd fly TAP again.

TAP has been my preferred airline since moving to Portugal seven years ago. I’ve flown with them throughout Europe and a couple of times to the States. I’ve always been pleased with the actual flights and never had a problem until this last spring.

They cancelled a flight and I have still not received my refund. Thankfully, it was just from Lisbon to Valencia so not an enormous amount of money. But, it has made me aware of the downside of TAP. That said, I will likely fly with them back to the States at Christmas as the international flights never seem to be cancelled. In June 2021, my flight from Lisbon to Chicago had 27 people on the entire large plane! 27! It wasn’t cancelled because the flight attendant said it would be mostly full flying back to Lisbon.

I flew TAP airlines in July 2019 and June 2022 on direct flights Boston to/from Lisbon. They are flying new jets with seating 3 and 3 in 2022. I liked the old 2-4-2 arrangement in Economy in 2019. Note that the seats for Basic, Main and Classic tickets are narrower than those in Plus (comfort, seats will be in red on the map). So if you are a bigger person choose business or plus seats.

Basic seats no checked luggage, Main 1 checked bag, Classic and Plus 2 checked bags. Compare cost for your luggage when comparing basic ticket if you need to bring checked luggage. Carry on luggage is limited to 8 kg and they did weigh our carryon bags at counter in Boston, not gate. They did not weigh our Carry on luggage on the way home at counter or gate. Checked luggage is limited also 22 kg or similar.

I would fly TAP again. They did adjust the times for our flights but only by 15 minutes. I found the time adjustments when I checked our tickets online, we were never notified. We had a delay of 30 minutes flying home from Lisbon at the end of June, but nothing like the rest of Europe was experiencing. At Lisbon airport I have only ever been deplaned and boarded via moveable stairway and bus, never directly to terminal. This adds time to boarding process, it caused us another 30 minute delay just in boarding bringing our total delay to 1 hour.

You are well fed. Food was similar 2019 and 2022. Beverage service was better in 2019, but now attendants are limited to 1 aisle. It's not as easy to have the attendant on the other side run to get something if cart near you is out of stock. Perhaps they were just limited in stock. I remember drinking more wine in 2019 thoughout the flight and for free, but I had 2 seats to myself and no spouse. On the way home in 2019 I got assigned a seat in the rear of the plane, so by the time the meal cart came there was only Cod fish left. I will not eat fish on an airplane since I saw the movie " Airplane". So I gave my meal to my seat mate and attendants gave me more salads and bread. So if you care about your location on the plane or sitting next to your travel mates then pay for the seats or book Classic or above ticket.

Happy Travels!

David and agua, really helpful detailed info in your responses, thank you.

Hi All,

Thank you for all the replies, and to include all the detailed information. It is VERY much appreciated and helpful.

We moved forward with booking our trip via TAP last night and are very excited! This noted though, we did have an issue with their web site when finalizing our booking. In order to get a discount ($36) off the total price, you had to log in, or set up a TAP account to log in, as you checked out. As we haven't flown TAP before, we obviously didn't have an account, so needed to set one up. Unfortunately, they were (and perhaps still are today) having a technical issue with their account set-up function ~ and in the time it took to call and try to trouble shoot with a "live" representative, which was unfortunately unsuccessful, the fare went up, so between not being able to get the discount, along with the fare increase, the total fare cost us an additional $100. I plan to address it in writing with TAP today to see if they will give us any consideration. We shall see. Otherwise, the TAP representatives we spoke with in trying to initially resolve the technical issue were very pleasant to interact with, and with no communication difficulty. And bottom line, we're still glad we booked our fare with TAP.

Again, thank you to everyone for taking the time to share your input and experiences. It really helped our comfort level in proceeding with booking our flights with TAP. And thanks for the well wishes on the trip. We will be flying into Lisbon, where we will base for a few days before renting a car and heading north through Portugal, and ending in San Sebastian in Northern Spain, with several destination stops in between. Already so excited!

Jeff

Sounds like a lovely itinerary, Jeff. Northern Portugal and the northwest of Spain are under-appreciated and spectacular regions with lots to see and enjoy. Lisbon's airport is manageable, much easier than dealing with mega-airports. You will have a blast.