Boarding- Good Seat Comfort - OK Crew - Good Food - Mediocre On Time - Very Good
Boarding experience was awful. TAP claims I did not have check in luggage with tickets. I went 3-4 check in agents until I finally found a helpful kind agent who checked in my luggage with no fees. On top of that our flight was over 2 hours delayed with barely an apology or explanation.
We flew TAP last October from Newark to Lisbon. The meal was bad. This flight had good food. Also, this flight was delayed. There were TAP employees waiting at Lisbon to make sure we made our connecting flight. I find the TAP website and app frustrating, but the service once we reached the airport was very good
Terrible flight attendant attitude. Average 3-star hotel employee has better hospitality skills. Business class seats are literally a joke. TAP executives should ride business class in other airlines to develop some rudimentary sense of what business class is.
First, communication was terrible. The gate on our ticket was not what was reflected on the airport screens and TAP personnel were not present at either gate to answer questions. The flight was delayed and there was no announcement. Also, there was an equipment swap to a smaller airframe which affected our level of comfort. The root of all these issues was as a lack of communication. With air travel in foreign countries already being a stressful affair, lack of communication needlessly raises the level of difficulty.
The flight staff was nice enough but the seats were not up to business class standards. The food was also not something I would get on any day. The seats we had were right up to the galley and the crew were very noisy with their chatting the entire flight which woke us up after we fell asleep and we could not get back to sleep due to all the chit chat! The flight was delayed and we were in transit for less than an hour in Lisbon yet there were no TAP staff anywhere to be found to assist pax who were worried about catching our connecting flight. Another thing that was poor in service was that, if TAP flies out of Rome at 5.55am, TAP should have a lounge open for your Business Class pax. We were told that the lounge opens at 5.30am yet TAP's flight is scheduled to leave at 5.55am. Why offer a departure that early when you don't have lounge open by at least 4.30am? It's been a very disappointing experience with TAP and we paid for Business Class. It is at best a Premium Ey class on better known airlines like Lufthansa, British Airways, United. It's at best sort of comparable to Economy class on Singapore Airlines but I still think Singapore Airlines Economy class service is better apart from the seats.
Our flight was delayed an hour and take-off was also delayed. Then our luggage was misplaced upon arrival causing a lot of stress snd more delays. We arrived at the hotel almost 5 hours later than anticipated and had to cancel our plans for the day. Overall a very bad experience. We will not travel with Portugalia in the future.
All of my clothes were completely soaked and wet when I got to my destination. The airline was careless and left my bag on the runway during a rain storm. Very disappointing! On the connecting flight in Lisbon we were made to wait on a bus crammmed in for 20min and standing. Unacceptable Very poor experience and most of my belongings ruined!
Most important was the effciency - on-time take-offs and landings, no missed connections, baggage arrived correctly. Friendly & professional crew. Less important was food/drink. Pretty spartan, but we'll know next time and bring our own stuff.
I needed to add "Special Request" meal for myself and my trveling companion,and I ended up having to call their Customer Service. It took a while to get through but eventually I connected with a very proffessional and nice representative who took my request. In the middle of the conversation we were disconnected , as I was trying to all back, the TAP representative actually called me back and confirmed the special request for meals....he called me back from Portugal ! I was absolutely amazed,because that does not happen here in the USA. Perhaps some of the other airlines can learn from TAP's Customer Service. TAP's website at times can be difficult ,such as adding my TSA number. Ended up having it added at the TAP desk at the airport.
