Has anyone flown TAP airlines to Portugal/Spain?

Posted by Martha (California) on 07/06/22 08:16 PM

I am just wondering how strict they are about the size of carry-on bags and personal items. The measurements they list seem to be smaller than TSA-approved carry on and personal item sizes that we already own.
My family and I are trying to travel without checked luggage, but don't want to buy all new luggage to meet the measurements TAP is listing. It has been my experience in past travels that airlines don't weigh or measure carry-ons as long as they look the normal size, but I have not flown internationally on this or any other airline in about 5 years.

Please let me know about any recent experiences on TAP. Thanks!

Posted by jkgaliger

07/07/22 12:09 AM

100 posts

Flying economy plus, a normal back pack or my wife's 18" x 18" bag that fits under the seat. along with a bag that could fit easily in the overhead. Straight economy was much tougher flying out of IAD or returning in May.

Posted by Catherine

Florida

07/07/22 03:28 PM

48 posts

We flew TAP fall of 2021 in business class. I have an old Rick Steves bag that is 22x14x9. They didn't even look at it. It doesn't look that much different from my husband's Rick Steves' bag which is allegedly the same size, but it is smaller - probably 21x14x9. We really liked TAP and would fly again.

Posted by David from Seattle

Seattle, WA, USA ☔️

07/07/22 03:58 PM

6790 posts

We also flew on TAP last year, from Lisbon to the Azores and back, also in business class. Our experience was great and we would use TAP again with no hesitation. It was business class, so we had generous luggage allowances, so not a good example for your question.

All that said, something to be aware of: TAP is kind of a strange airline, in some respects. They do not market themselves as a "low cost carrier" (a la Ryanair, EasyJet, et all). But they sometimes act that way. There are a lot of European airlines that have quietly adopted a hybrid model, sometimes behaving like a legacy "national" airline, sometimes adopting the ways of cheap-o airlines. IME TAP is one of those. So, if flying TAP in coach, I would expect them to be fairly strict about bag limits (one of the hallmarks of low cost carriers). You might get lucky and they might be lax in enforcing their stated limits, but I would not count on that.

Lots of European airlines have (to us Americans) surprisingly tight limits for bags. They often (though not always) enforce those limits so be prepared.