TAP Portugal

Flew TAP from Lisbon to LGW on April 7. Great leg room new plane very courteous staff and regular/decent plane meal. I could not ask for more for such a short flight distance and such a cheap price.

I have flown to and from Brazil many times in the last year. Their airbus planes from Northern Brazil to Lisbon is old with seats falling apart and entertainment systems that don't work. Onboard service is horrible after the main meal is served cabin attendants disappear and if you press the service button they never appear. They serve alcoholic beverages with the main meal but you can't get a refill or an extra beer if you wish! Airport in Lisbon is horrible. In Frankfurt Lufthansa manage to board a 747 in 30 min but in Lisbon Tap takes an hour to board an airbus!

I bought a so called business class ticket from Sal Cap Verde to London via Lisbon. It was over 1000 euros one way and a night flight leaving at midnight arriving via Lisbon change of plane at 10.30 am. It was appalling! So called business class seats were ordinary economy seats on both flights. Food was very ordinary. No biz class check-in or priority boarding. Change of plane at Lisbon was awful with buses everywhere business lounge wasn't signposted and had to go through security twice at 05.30 am. No inflight entertainment to speak of just a central few screens and no headphones offered.

BCN-LIS in economy. No meal service is being provided by TAP only drinks and peanuts! I believe TAP is not being fair to full fare passengers who expect a meal service onboard. Service was good but meal service non existent.

LHR to LIS return. Outbound flight cancelled due to ATC strike. TAP call centre was closed so we headed to the airport early and the ticket office informed us we were automatically rebooked to the next flight there was a flight leaving in 45 minutes - they got us on it. Flight fine and included free sandwich and drinks. Return was fine there was a medical emergency which the crew handled well.

I use TAP in Europe on average 2/3 times a month usually very good staff usually much better than Iberia and with kids much better than BA. However just flown them Transatlantic and altogether a different experience - quite simply appalling. Firstly the airport VCP which TAP sell as São Paulo is actually in a different city Campinas. Onboard is a very cramped A340 with very limited entertainment all big screens in centre and no choice. Service dire though call button was faulty but answered 2 hours later. We upgraded on the way back and although better than TAP economy certainly lot of room for improvement given extra price.

LIS-SSA and GIG-LIS. In Lisbon the usual mess at the gate and need to take the bus to get to the plane even on an expensive long-haul flight. The seats are awful very small leg room and entertainment system in the old A330 is very poor. The food is ok but flight attendants just disappear after the meals. Overall experience is average.

LHR-LIS-EWR. A lot better than expected great food and plenty of drink on offer. No champagne on the New York flight good breakfast on the first leg. Great lounge in Lisbon if rather small - if price is right I would book them again.

Munich-Lisbon-Praia return. A serious improvement from last flights. Flights were on time connections worked well and the earlier departing flights to Africa from Lisbon make the journey shorter and much nicer now. Food was very good not much but fresh and well presented as it should be. Wine was - like always - very good. Nothing to complain about this time.

Return EWR-LIS. Aircraft spotless and comfortable. Entertainment System faulty both ways. Food quite decent. Crew efficient but indifferent to assisting the individual. Twice crew responded to my crew light by turning it off and walking past without a word. Do not expect anything but your meals and little else.