TACV Cabo Verde Airlines

Four internal flights. The planes were comfortable and clean and a simple service (cold water) was offered on these short flights. Three of the flights operated on time. The fourth (Fogo to Praia) ran with 75 minutes delay - no announcements or apologies were made. On that occasion the baggage unloading at Praia was very slow and inefficient. A consistent performance at the level of the other three flights would have earned TACV a higher score.

Of 4 internal flights 3 worked just fine. Straightforward check-in friendly staff and on time. However on one (Sal - Praia) they brought forward the departure time without advising our agent so we missed it and after lots of protesting and phone calls to the UK agent we got a flight 15 hours later. They're erratic but if you continually re-confirm it should be ok. This is a time warp airline though - industrial size mechanical scales at check-in (not used) and hand written passenger lists at Sao Felipe airport. We shared one flight with 3 crates of live hens.

Roundtrip in economy class from Boston to Sao Vicente with a layover in Praia. Both long haul flights between Boston and Praia were on-time and flight attendants friendly. The aircraft itself seemed to be second-hand - seat cushions and tray-tables were pretty worn. The inflight meals were very good. My flights within the country from Praia to/from Sao Vicente were a little bit delayed each way. I would recommend contacting the airline a day beforehand to double-check the schedule.

Lisbon to Sal in economy. Plane was a former Canary Islands charter that had yet to be re-painted but in good condition and comfortable. Crew friendly check-in slow food OK. I was expecting a fairly poor experience but found the flight to be far better managed than my return on TAP. I'd use them again.

Lisbon to Praia in business. Flight on time and food okay. But confirm other comments that the business class is just an upgraded economy. No space with just the middle seat left empty. Not worth the money in business class.

All domestic flights (5 in total) were on time the flights from Amsterdam to Praia and return however both had a delay of 15 hours each. The aircraft on the international flights was rather tired looking B757-200. Service is adequate but they could have come around more frequently with drinks. After meal service the service stops.

Lisbon to Praia. It was quite surprisingly not really late leaving (despite reputation). But business class was in fact economy-class seat but with the middle seat left vacant. And better (really quite nice) food! All in all not a very good business-class experience though there isn't much choice in getting to Cape Verde

Just spent 2 weeks in the Cape Verdes. Of six internal flights only ONE was anywhere near on time - ranged from 5 hours early (we missed it!) to 3 hours late. Schedules! Trouble is there is not much choice. The international one from Amsterdam Schipol is also not very good - business class was hardly more than a slightly bigger seat than economy. Wouldn't recommend.