No matter what they do, some airlines just have a bad reputation. Flyers swear they'll never fly Spirit or Frontier again or warn friends to stay away from airlines near and far after one bad experience.
But few foreign carriers generate as much contempt as the Portuguese flag carrier TAP Air Portugal.
At Thrifty Traveler, we've fielded more concerned questions about flying TAP over the years than perhaps any airline. How could an airline selling $300 roundtrip fares (or less) to Europe possibly be pleasant? The seats and service must be atrocious like other notorious budget carriers, flyers believe. And then there are the justified concerns about customer service, especially after thousands of travelers fought with TAP over refunds throughout the pandemic – more on that later..
That's why I just put TAP to the test, flying to their hub in Lisbon (LIS) in business class and back home in economy. And if you ask me, all the angst surrounding TAP is overblown. I'd gladly fly them again.
With a new and modern fleet, a great network to fly throughout Europe, and incredibly cheap fares, it's time to get over your fear of TAP.
A Good Flight in Any Cabin
TAP Air Portugal has had a bit of a makeover in the last decade. The result is a modern fleet, with planes far newer than even your go-to U.S. carrier equipped with Wi-Fi, crisp entertainment screens, and new, well-padded seating.
For flights between the U.S. and Portugal, TAP typically uses either their Airbus A330-900neo or single-aisle Airbus A321neo – most under five years old, if that. And like most airlines you can fly across the Atlantic, there are two seat choices: Economy or Executive Class, TAP's name for business class.
If you ask me, these economy seats on TAP's A321neo were more or less comparable to any other airline I've flown between the U.S. and Europe.
Each seat was just under 18 inches wide, with about 31 inches of legroom. While that's not the most generous economy seating you'll find in the world, it's on par with what you can expect on most carriers. It perfectly adequate for the 7-hour flight from Lisbon (LIS) to Boston (BOS).
The seats weren't much different from any United or Delta flight I've ever taken overseas – except, in this case, everything was brand spanking new. The entertainment screens are large and crisp, offering ample distraction to get you from to or from Europe.
As you can see, my 6-foot frame fit easily into the seat, although it was definitely a little more snug with my backpack underneath the seat in front of me. We were served one hot meal after we takeoff and a sandwich and snack shortly before landing in Boston. Neither meal was outstanding, but they were just fine.
But depending on which plane you're flying, it's even better up in business class.
I flew from New York City (JFK) to Lisbon on TAP's A330-900neo, which is equipped with their best business class seats. These aren't just TAP's best seats – they're up there with some of the best seats you can find flying to Europe with a design similar to United Polaris and even Air France business class.
You'll generally find these widebody planes flying to Portugal from New York City and TAP's longer routes, including Chicago-O'Hare (ORD), Miami (MIA), Los Angeles (LAX), and San Francisco (SFO). With a 1-2-1 arrangement, every seat has direct aisle access, easily reclining all the way back into a bed.
It was a super comfortable lie-flat seat, had a terrific selection of food and drink, and included an amenities kit with headphones, some hygiene products, and even a pair of TAP-colored socks. The lie-flat mode of the seat was downright roomy, more than comfortable enough to allow me a few hours of good sleep on the short trip across the pond and arrive refreshed.
Both legs of the journey exceeded my expectations. While I went into these flights unsure, I now see TAP as a perfectly comfortable way to travel to and from Europe. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
The Price is Right
In the end, this is why people fly TAP Air Portugal: Low prices.
TAP has built its business by attracting travelers with the lowest fares possible. Along with ultra-low-cost carriers like Norwegian Air, they've helped lower the bar for what's considered a cheap flight to Europe. How cheap?
Search for flights to almost anywhere in Europe using Google Flights, and you're bound to find the lowest price is on TAP Air Portugal. We regularly find and send our Thrifty Traveler Premium roundtrip fares to cities throughout Europe on TAP under $300 – and sometimes closer to just $200. When other airlines are charging $600 or more, you can't beat that price.
Last year, we unearthed fares to Paris as low as $220 roundtrip. That's as cheap as it gets.
More recently, we sent our Thrifty Traveler Premium members a deal on TAP Air Portugal to fly to many European hotspots including Amsterdam (AMS), Dublin (DUB), London-Heathrow (LHR), Madrid (MAD), and even Rome (FCO) for just $243 roundtrip.
Flying to Europe just doesn't get cheaper than this. But even if you're looking to cross the pond in business class, it doesn't break the bank – so long as you're booking with points and miles.
Because TAP is part of the Star Alliance, there are plenty of airline programs you can use to book a business class seat to Portugal including Air Canada Aeroplan, Turkish Airlines, United, and more. To get to Lisbon last month, I utilized an incredible sweet spot to fly to Europe using points and miles.
While Avianca LifeMiles typically charges 63,000 miles each way for business class, there's one exception: Flying from New York City (JFK) to Lisbon (LIS), it's just 35,000 miles!
While Avianca isn't our favorite airline to work with due to a somewhat clumsy website and some less-than-stellar customer service, it's worth it for this price. Consider this: Flying economy on this same flight costs 30,000 miles. For 5,000 miles, you can get a great meal and a lie-flat seat!
The best part about this is that it's incredibly easy to earn the LifeMiles you need to book with credit card points. LifeMiles is an American Express transfer partner, Capital One transfer partner, and a Citi ThankYou points partner, too. That means transferring 35,000 points from the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card American Express® Gold Cardor the is all you need to book.
Routes to Get to Europe & A Stop in Lisbon
Beyond its cheap fares, TAP is all about flying you from the U.S. and connecting onward to pretty much anywhere in Europe – with a pitstop in Lisbon.
TAP Air Portugal and its brand new fleet of planes fly to 10 cities in North America, including:
- Boston (BOS)
- Cancún (CUN)
- Chicago (ORD)
- Miami (MIA)
- Montreal (YUL)
- New York (JFK)
- Newark (EWR)
- San Francisco (SFO)
- Toronto (YYZ)
- Washington, D.C.-Dulles (IAD)
And thanks to its position at the entryway to continental Europe, it's a great option for fliers weary of long-haul journeys. From the East Coast to Lisbon, flights typically clock in at just six hours or so.
From there, TAP connects fliers onto tons of European cities, including pretty much ever major popular destination throughout western Europe. In addition, TAP is a great way to travel to the Azores (see why we love the Azores) or the Canary Islands, with roundtrip flights from Lisbon starting at just $67!
But it gets even better…
TAP Portugal's Stopover Program
One of the coolest features of TAP's is its Lisbon and Porto stopover program. En route or on the way home from your European destination, you can build in a multi-day stopover anywhere from one to five nights … without any additional fees!
This program is great for two reasons. First, you're getting to visit one of our favorite, budget-friendly countries at the beginning or end of your trip. Lisbon is an incredible yet underrated city that should be on everyone's list.
And second, it likely doesn't cost you a euro more to do it!
On TAP's website, just type in your departure city and the destination of your choice, and the system will tell you if you can build in a stopover. I wasn't able to squeeze one in on my latest trip, but if I had to do it again…
This itinerary would fly me through Lisbon (LIS) to Madrid (MAD) on April 21, give me a week on the ground in Madrid, and then the ability to spend two nights on the ground in Lisbon before my flight home on April 30.
Just think about it this way: If you could add an extra night or two in another European city to your itinerary for free, would you do it? You know the answer.
Customer Service is a Concern
If you have a negative view of TAP Air Portugal – or have heard from someone who does – it probably has something to do with their customer service.
TAP earned its place on many travelers' personal no-fly lists when it refused to issue refunds after canceling flights as the pandemic first struck, violating federal rules regarding refunds. The Portuguese airline was the subject of more than 5,000 complaints to the Department of Transportation regarding refunds, according to data from the department – second only to Air Canada, a much larger airline who was hit with a major fine last year for repeatedly breaking refund laws during COVID-19.
Many Americans have had a hard time getting through to TAP's customer service when they need to change or cancel their flights, too. After initially booking one leg of my TAP journey, I had to make a small change to my itinerary and did so on TAP's website without any issue, however.
If all goes well, I think those potential customer service headaches are offset by the low fares you're getting from the airline. Then again, nothing went catastrophically wrong on my journey. If something did go wrong, it might have changed my takeaways from this trip.
Bottom Line
Forget what you've heard and take it from me: TAP Air Portugal is a perfectly comfortable way to travel across the Atlantic.
Is it the best airline in the world? No. But neither are any of the other carriers flying to and from Europe, either. TAP's customer service can leave a lot to be desired, and that's worth keeping in mind when you're booking.
Whether you're flying economy or up in business class, TAP's in-flight experience holds its own against other transatlantic airlines … often at a fraction of the cost.
Totally agree with you on TAP- brand new quiet planes. The stop over is a nice perk. I want to return to Porto and will want to try TAP. One thing I did find is their website is a little quirky and not always intuitive nor in US dollars. Hopefully they have fixed that. But I agree that they are worth the hassle and plan to check them out in 2023. I was in Portugal March of 2020 and the Lisbon airport was being remodeled. But Portugal is a great destination- inexpensive, gorgeous architecture, great history, friendly people, and great food.
Well good luck with that! That is if customer service is less important to you than the fleet, and if in-flight food totally sucks and if airport staff total lack of cooperation is not an issue. Let me explain. I have read all the bad reviews about TAP but I wanted to give it a chance myself. I flew with TAP end of June. The fly to Lisbon was uneventful rather pleasant if you leave aside that the food sucked and the flight was delayed. The flight attendants were also pleasant. The return was a nightmare due to a total lack of service. The 5 star hotel we stayed at EuroStar Das Letras gave our luggage to another guest of the hotel the afternoon before the day we were to check out. Not wanting to leave without our luggage we decided to stay to make sure that the hotel was taking the appropriate steps to locate our luggage. Way 24 hours before the flight I attempted to reach TAP by phone to change the flight. I was able to reach a customer service agent 3 hours after the call. I stayed 3 hours on hold to make sure I would reach someone. Well into the call after the agent told me about the fees associated with the change the call got disconnected. No one called me back even though they verified my call back number with me. Since that call I repeatedly tried to reach the TAP line and called without stopping 9 hours by then I was advised that I could not change it over the phone and that I had to go to the airport. We took a taxi to the airport and while I was waiting in a long line of about 80 people with 2 service agents I attempted to call the phone line again not wanting to have the flight depart without my change. The phisycal line never budged and when I finally reached the phone line the flight had departed and I had to go make another line because I was advised that I had lost my ticket and needed to buy another one. $1500 later I went back to the hotel. My luggage was returned by the person who had it no thanks to the hotel since they never called me to advise the luggage was returned. To avoid any complication the next day, I paid an extra luggage fee online (site totally not user friendly ) I got a confirmation of payment which I took a screenshot of. Next day I go to the airport and they could not find evidence of the money I paid and I had to pay the fee a second time. My credit card company gave up on contacting them and debited the fee I disputed. Since then I have been unable to get my refund from TAP. I pushed my luck and flew TAP again this 24 of December. As usual the flight to Lisbon was uneventful. Food still sucked. During my return the flight was delayed 3 hours and this time I learned the lesson and paid for the extra luggage at the airport except that the flight was supposed to leave at 10:15am and only found out that the flight was delayed after I reached the airport at 6am. 3 hours delay. The aircraft got there but then the line at the gate was long. I understand there is an extra layer of security at the gate. To my surprise though there were two extra agents at the entrance of the gate with a scale not a measuring tool but a scale. So they have you place both carry on and hand bag together and both must not exceed 12 kilos. Both! My carry on and handbag was in excess by 3 kilos and I was asked to pay 165 euros for an excess in a combined handbag and carry on! Where does it say it at the airport or anywhere by the checking counter? No where! The website does indicate that they would charge for excess from 106 euros. It does not say combined handbag and carry on. It does not say from what weight to what weight and the charges that would be assessed according to the weight. They decide at the gate what they will charge according to their mood. In all, the flight was delayed an extra hour to give them time to charge passengers. They must have collected about 10k in excess carry on and handbag fees. Meanwhile my excess luggage went with 10 kilos underweight. Oh and you would think that your carry on is too heavy to go in the overheard bin and that after you pay 165 euros for 3 extra kilos they would check in your bag as they tell you they will? No! You bring your carry on with you on board! Had I been advised at the checking counter I would not have excess in my carry on. Given many people put in their carry on what they think is most important to put in their checking bags. I decided then that I would start a boycott of TAP and I will. This is an abusive practice to collect funds from passengers illegally! Not that Portuguese care about what is legal or not! In all, TAP is still doing bad after they were rescued by the Brussels agreement and they came up with a way to steal passengers. As I was documenting the events at the airport I took a picture of the scale (being in the legal field I know the law) I took care not to take anybody but the scale in my picture. A rep came rushing to me screaming and forcing me to show the picture saying she was in it! After I complied I just hoped she felt ridiculous but she kept on ranting. So if after that you don’t care and still want to take TAP you know what to avoid but it’s people like you and I that are willing to take the risk that incite airlines like TAP to continue their abusive practice! BOYCOTT TAP and put an end to their practice!
Their website is very clear about the dimension size, AND WEIGHT, of each carry on.
Dear Louise: Apparently you have managed not to read the literal HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS of bad reviews of this airline on every major flight review sight? Perhaps you’re a paid SHILL for TAP? As is stated over and over and over, the problem is SELECTIVE ENFORCEMENT, you MORON: all sorts of illegal chicanery to force people to pay more when boarding (last minute weigh ins, different enforcement for different passengers, ad infinitum.)
They make it clear, up charge but have a very scammy policy. They up charge on every additional bag, above the first bag’s costs and carry some of the highest baggage fees I have ever seen. Additionally, on my latest experience with them, they told me to allocate weights between bags at checking in. I did so and kept my two check ins and one carryon under the limit. Only to have the attended weigh my carryon prior to boarding. In combination with a personal item and an airport purchase. Then charged me €125 for 3kg overweight. A difference that could be made up on the check in bags. Note, as a management consultant I have flown in over 20 airlines from over a dozen countries. TAP has hands down the worst customer service I have experienced.
Keep trying to fly TAP on budget until your TAP flight is either cancelled or delayed and there is literally no way to get your money back or get rebooked. When you have gone through that horrific experience and stuck in the airport while booking the last-minute flight for a full fare economy, let me know how you feel about TAP. The problem is not their inflight service but the customer service in response to their once a while delay and cancellation. TAP will absolutely take your money and leave you high dry, no apology or voucher, unlike Southwest.
Certainly the worst European long haul airline and awful customer service. If you can avoid it do it. They cut costs in every corner, cheap meals, serve you drinks in a shot glass, are scam artists with excess baggage costs. Seats are uncomfortable and customer service rivals some of the worst of all airline. BELIEVE THE HYPE, if you can AVOID Tap.
You get what you pay for….IF YOU’RE LUCKY!
They lost my wife’s walker and after two days found and shipped to us in Rome. However, the refused to deliver to our hotel saying that it “wasn’t convenient!” I had to take a taxi from hotel to the airport and pick it up
R/t cost of almost 100€ and no reimbursement. Think twice before flying on TAP….. you’ve been warned!
TAP may be a good deal and have nice planes. But they have defrauded hundreds of thousands of folks out of their hard earned money. They have provided no refunds for all those folks whose flights they cancelled during the pandemic. My wife and I had flights booked on June 18, 2020 and have yet to receive a refund, after emailing and calling, and all but begging them to abide by the EU regulations that require them to provide refunds. And we are far from alone in this. Check out https://twitter.com/TAPair_Lawsuit to see how many folks are affected. I do not trust TAP to care about their customers. If you fly them, you better hope you don’t have any issues or you will be SOL.
Thanks so much for taking the TAP risk 😉
I am one of those who is still caught up in an issue regarding a flight I booked , they cancelled and forced a credit on me instead of refund. They said I requested the credit in instead of a refund (false).
That said do you have any comment on their policy regarding cancellation within 24 hours. Their fare conditions STILL state that if you cancel within 24 hours you must pay $45 fee and they will only issue a VOUCHER — NO REFUND. From the website “Request for refund within 24 hours is subject to a USD 45.00 fee and the refund will be given in the form of a voucher where the fee will be deducted. The voucher is non-refundable and must be used for the purchase of TAP tickets within one year after its issuance.” That is still not in compliance with DOT rules so I do question how that is allowed. Maybe you could test that out for us as well…just kidding.
Correction to my previous comment – Two itineraries: I cancelled one within 24 hours of booking and was forced to take a credit even though I was told twice over the course of 12 months I would receive a refund to my original form of payment. My travelling companions and I did receive a refund within 3 months for the second itinerary when TAP cancelled those flights.
I just booked with TAP, only to realize that I may have paid for a ticket that doesn’t have an option to select a seat. Will my husband and I be able to sit together??
I also was owed thousands of dollars in refunds for 6 flights that TAP cancelled. I had spoken to customer service over 40 times, every time being told, yes, they see I’m owed a refund, and no, they don’t know when it will be sent. My card card company ( CapOne) also refused to make this right, violating federal rules, After almost two years of fighting, writing and driving myself mad, I filed a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a US Federal agency. In less than a week CapOne refunded all my money…lesson learned; don’t wait for people to do the right thing. I wouldn’t fly TAP again if it was free…..
I guess I got lucky. My ORD – FCO flight on TAP coming up in March 2022 was cancelled and they changed the return flight to a day earlier. I contacted customer service by phone (and though a long wait) the woman processed a refund (met cancellation policy requirements) to my original form of payment (CC) and sent it up (to who knows to who) for approval. About three weeks later I notice my CC had the $1600 credited back to my account.
My husband and I had business class tickets on TAP for a flight in August 2021 that we canceled. We purchased the flexible fully refundable for “any reason” tickets because of the pandemic. They refused to refund our tickets and offered a travel voucher good for one year. We immediately contacted our credit card company Citibank American Airlines MasterCard. We had a full refund within two weeks. We travel a lot and find when a credit card company opens an investigation it is very helpful when seeking refunds.
I love TAP. I, too, had a flight cancelled due to COVID in early 2020. I was able to re-book using my credit when I was ready, late in 2021. I flew business class, and could not have had a better experience. I will definitely fly TAP whenever available, and will be flying again in October. Please try to understand how difficult COVID was on EVERYONE, especially in the travel industry. I feel like we are very lucky TAP survived.
I have also been waiting 2 years for a refund from TAP from a cancelled flight due to COVID. I have filed a complaint with the DOT. Called monthly, posted on Facebook. Someone on the unsatisfied customer page posted a list of over 150 email addresses to TAP employees. I am now sending multiple emails to anyone that I can. How can they stay in business if they are stealing from their customers? I have still not gotten my refund. Thanks for the suggestion. I will try to consumer financial protection bureau.
Tap is by far the worse airline. I don’t care how much they offer a stop over in Portugal. Their service is trash. I will never take this airline again. Even if its free
By far the worst airline I have ever dealt with. Canceled our $1200 flight cross continent flight with no refund. Left me stranded in the streets of Paris. Terrible customer service, no sympathy or solutions. Will never use again, cheap for a reason!
I just flew with them from London to New Jersey and I totally agree with you. Horrible experience; I’ll never fly with them again.
I will never fly TAP again. Nothing to do with canceled flight and delayed flight (These days they are pretty regular things) and everything to do with the worst Customer Service I have ever experienced. TAP cancelled our outbound flight and never notified us (not a txt, call, email). I found it out because i googled the flight no. to see if it was ontime. on the inbound flight from ams to ewr with a layover in lisbon, the first leg of the travel was delayed and we were told by the flight attendant that we would have about 40 min to go through customs in lisbon and make it to the gate. miraculously we arrive at the gate that TAP was still boarding passengers. We were group A and they were boarding group B. When we get to the front of the line we are told that they cancelled our tickets and gave our seats to others. why? no explanation. both legs of the travel were with TAP so they knew we were late but we landed and we were coming. they then put us at the end of the Standby passengers. needless to say we do not make it. they told us we would get some compensation (and specifically NOT travel vouchers) for the mistake they made: true and behold we can only get a voucher to fly TAP for a very small amount …. NEVER AGAIN!
TAP AIR SCAM. They aloud my carry on on my first flight and then on my second flight to NY they extorted every American a 125.00 to allow the exact same carry on. They extorted one poor mother 500. They waited right before boarding to pull this scam. Will never fly this airline again
I just had a similar experience flying TAP air leaving Portugal to get to NY, they were charging me €125 because my carryon was “overweight” and they wanted to check it in which I had no issue with them doing since my ticket that I booked already allowed me 2 free checked bags. I just found it weird given that I had the option to electronically check in therefore bypassing the check in agents at the airport and going straight through security and then my gate, so imagine my surprise when they asked to weigh my bags (carry-on and personal) and wanted to charge me and then wouldn’t let me check in my bag when I went back to the beginning with the check in agents and time to spare before my flight departed. Moral is don’t fly TAP and if you are leaving Portugal just know you have to have 10kg for carry on and 2kg for personal and they are strict with this.
So you had a ticket that allowed 2 free checked bags, and they wanted to check your carryon because of the weight and charge you $125? Did they charge you $125?? Or were they able to just let it count as one of your two free bags? I fly with them in two weeks. I am worried they will make me check my carryon. I won’t be checking a bag. So if they make my check my carryon will they allow it free since it can count as my free checked bag or will they charge me a gate check fee and checked bag fee??
I had a similar experience. I had a connecting flight and the first flight they allowed me to board with no issues, but the second they charged me extra because they claimed that the items I bought at the airport (clearly from there, in a plastic bag) had to be added to my total carry-on weight. I’m still fighting with them via email one month later trying to get a refund but they won’t budge. It’s ridiculous.
Tapairportugal is the worst company in the world. We had bought tickets in October 2020 and we wanted to be refund because we could not travel due to the Covid, and they laugh at us saying that they will refund us without ever doing it!!! They are dishonest scammers. Never buy plane tickets with them. They don’t respect their client. It’s really frustrated! DON’T EVER BUY TICKETS WITH THIS COMPANY!!!!
Worst airline I’ve ever had the misfortune of using. They forced me to gate check my carry-on bag because they overbooked their flight. Then they lost my bag for my entire trip. That bag had all my clothes for the week, including a tuxedo for my brother’s wedding. I had to spend hundreds of dollars are replacement formal wear. The people at TAP couldn’t care less that they lost my luggage. When I called, it was one bored customer service rep after another telling me they couldn’t help me, giving me other numbers to call that couldn’t help me or saying they were going “transfer me to another department” & then hanging up on me. I only managed to find my bag by going to the airport at the end of my trip & manually searching the lost & found. I never received any help, accountability, or even an apology from the airline. In fact, I’m still getting emails from them about how they can’t help me, which indicates that they don’t even know I managed to get my bag back from them without their help. TAP is a disgrace & you should literally use any other airline instead of them. If I can convince even one of you readers not to fly on their awful, incompetent airline, I’ll consider it a good day’s work.
You are doing your readers a MAJOR disservice by recommending this airline. They have defrauded thousands of customers out of money for cancelled flights and lost luggage. Yes, COVID was hard for everyone, but it’s been over two years. Further, they are STILL cancelling flights and keeping customers’ money. Facebook groups like TAP Refunds are full of thousands of desperate people and families who have lost substantial amounts of money and have been struggling for years to recoup something. I’m sure you got free flights or some other incentive for writing this, but I sure hope people read the comments before more of them lose their money. A $300 flight is no deal when they cancel the flight and keep your $300.
I cannot help but comment on this article.
Yes this airline is cheaper than others but honestly at the end of the day we had such a disastrous trip first time with them and the customer service was so very bad and I mean absolutely atrocious on so many ways and areas of this journey that I will gladly pay $600 more to fly any other Airline to avoid TAP (which stands for “Take Another Plane” and not transportes aereos Portugueses)
I urge anyone who has had a missed connection or cancelled flight because of TAP to go to a site called AirHelp to try and get a settlement up to 600 Euro per person. They will fight for you – of course there is a fee for it but from a satisfaction level it’s so worth it and you pay nothing if they don’t win it for you. I highly recommend the use of this we site and service.
At least with Ryan Air or Easy Jet you know what you are getting – paying for extreme budget and that’s what you get. I have flown both on several occasions and it was never close to my horrid experience with TAP.
BE AFRAID TO FLY THIS AIRLINE – My flight was also cancelled on the day of departure and the soonest they could rebook me was 2 days later (which I declined). I had to a hotel room at short notice (high prices), take a 7 hour bus ride to Lisbon, and I missed a food tour that I had already paid for.
Now I’m getting pushback on a refund. They issued me a voucher on their airline when I asked for a refund. The customer service is TERRIBLE. They provided inaccurate information, conflicting information, and did not provide other information that was required to complete the claim.
Their customer service is terrible and they are highly likely to overbook your flight. Leaving Lisbon, every gate we passed and half a dozen angry customers who had been bumped. In my wife’s case, she was 5mo pregnant and in a lot of discomfort with an international connection and they did nothing to assist. They were very dismissive and slow to resolve.
For me they just tried to charge me excess luggage for my two connecting flights that were with another airline with which I had status as was eligible for free additional luggage. It took two hours to get them to just charge me for the tap flight to London where I had the privilege of having to collect my luggage and recheck it…for free.
One of the most disorganised airlines I’ve dealt with.
Enjoy there new planes and cheap flights but you may well not get on and they’ll find other ways to take a clip.
Oh, be afraid! People should believe the hate. I read your post before flying TAP 2 weeks ago, and thought, hey I should be OK too. Wrong! While the hard product is pretty good, it in no way makes up for the airline’s complete lack of professionalism and responsibility to their customer. There is zero customer service when an issue arises with TAP, and that is a deal-breaker. First it was a 3 day baggage delay on my flight over, which we survived and the bags eventually arrived. But, on the return TAP was so late on the first leg that we missed the connecting flight, and they left us stranded mid-trip in Lisbon without a hotel, transportation, or food allowance. This is their responsibility, but they shifted the burden onto us to find and pay for our own expenses … and then file a “complaint” to get reimbursed. Well, they never get back to you, and have an atrocious record for paying for their liabilities. WHEN you have an issue with them, they will burn you and shirk all responsibility.
I just made reservation on TAP for one way flight EWR via LIS to FCO Rome. A few hrs after I booked I decided I wanted to change to different flight times same route same date. Website had a button to change flight but actually would only let me change date .I called customer sevice..waited on hold 40 mins for the ‘change dept’ . Rep was polite and did change my flights but when I asked him to confirm the Top Executive seats were all lie flat and i requested 4B and 4E the ‘throne’ lie flat seats and he said only rows 1 and 5 were lie flat so he booked us on 5A5B which areside by side. Later I noted on TAP site seating chart and onseat guru all rows in Executive class on an A321LR are lie flat . To further confuse the issue the TAP site list of flights had my flight as anA321LR and the seating diagram showed all lie flat seats, the plane type that was shown on my booked flight summary was an A321neo,not an A321LR. TAP site has list of seat confiurations showing A321neo had only std. Recline seats but A321LR has lie flat. So I called customer service,this time selecting phone menu option problem with website and shortly got a rep who after checking on it said that flight is in a A321LR and all 5 rows are lie flat. She changed my seats to the 4B,4E we wanted. TAP needs to fix these things on their website. I chose TAP as least expensive lie flat seats.After all I have read about TAP, I can only hope this flight booked for Oct 2023 goes smoothly and we get to Rome with no drama with the seats we booked .
Regarding the on board services and crew kindness and everything i have nothing to complain about.
But when i was about to board the plane to go to Boston, i had some issues which actually make no sense, first of all i was boarding in Lisbon and there i was pulled out of the line because American people had priority boarding, NOT SAYING THE BOUGHT THE PRIORITY BOARDING, i mean all the American passport holders were allowed to board first, because they called it like that on the speakers. And without showing covid passport but thats a differente thing.
When i was flying back from Boston to Lisbon, the same exact situation happened.
I find it quite absurd to go through this whether in Europe where im from, and the States…
And of course i am still waiting for them to answer my email regarding this…
It’s been about 8 months now since our cancelled flight with less than 2 hours notice and we still have yet to see any compensation from TAP even though I’ve agreed on an amount with their agents and provided the transfer information. I also just waited for over an hour without being able to speak to a single customer service representative and I was hung up on and asked to review my experience. This is the worst customer service I’ve ever experienced in my life! I would rather have paid double for a better flight because it wound up costing me more than double to rebook everything at the last minute at significantly higher price. They ruined our honeymoon and put us in a significant amount of debt and now I can’t seem to get any help just to get this case that’s nearly a year old now handled. I even had to fight tooth and nail with them when they initially gave us a bogus flight voucher that Delta told us wasn’t paid for and was simply a “reservation” and we had to request compensation from TAP later which we couldn’t afford to do at this point. DON’T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE THINKING THIS WON’T HAPPEN TO YOU! I also ignored previous reviews and read articles like this to try to justify paying a lesser amount for our flight! AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE!
The fleet is fine. The prices from the US may be fine, but for a 3.5 hour flight from Prague you’ll pay the same for a flight that’s twice as long to the US. The biggest issue with them comes with their systems. The website and app are an absolute nightmare to use. Logging in, connecting your miles account, adding things to your booking (if it even keeps your booking connected to your account) … it’s all an absolute joke. And from Prague they’re pretty much the only option for a direct flight to Portugal.
We researched TAP before booking our trip and saw some of the warnings about the airlines. The fare was very good. Our outbound flight to Lisbon was absolutely fine (plane, service, on time) as was our ongoing connecting flight. Last week, we had a death in the family and needed to return from our trip early. At this point, the deficiencies in the website and the very poor phone service became apparent. Even though it was clear there were seats available on our preferred flight back (using their website), we told told that no seats were available. They provided less desirable options with a fare fee change of $1600 per ticket. (The original ticket was $1000). We had purchased a Plus fare, which allows refunds, so we decided to cancel the return, and go on another airline. Again, the website was unhelpful–we wanted our refund to go back to the credit card, and the website was forcing us to choose a voucher. So another phone call to Lisbon to ask the agent to process the refund to the credit card. Just today, we got email confirmation of our refund to a VOUCHER! I’ll try again today to see if I can correct it. Bottom line for us is that the flights and fares are fine, but you are rolling the dice–if you have any issue that needs to be addressed, you will be frustrated by their very poor systems and customer service.
You must be getting paid a lot of $$$ from TAP to write this post. Tap makes it extremely difficult to get any refunds, even on fares that are supposed to be fully refundable or canceled within 24 hrs of completed booking. The website is designed not to allow refunds back to credit cards and the customer service reps misrepresent the status of said refunds. The customers only option is to contact the credit card issuer (bank) to stop payment to the merchant (TAP) and credit payment back to the credit card because the merchant (TAP) has committed fraud upon the consumer. I am an attorney that previously represented banks so I know first hand this is consumer fraud perpetuated by the merchant via refund processing delinquency.
TAP Air Portugal are an awful airline. As many many others have experienced. They have a reputation for not maintaining their aircraft and, thus, having to cancel flights at short notice. We were left on the runway for 1.5hours before our flight was cancelled. We we given another flight 5.5 hours later to a different airport to the one we bought a ticket for. TAP are refusing to reimburse us for the additional cost to us. Horrible experience with this horrible airline. They are incompetent.
They used be be ok but now I’ll never fly TAP again. They’ve singled me out and took my bag saying it wouldn’t fit in the overhead bin at the Lisbon airport. We checked it and it fit in the carry on tester bin but they still insisted I check,saying it wouldn’t fit this plane.
The guy in front of us had a bag that was bigger than ours and they didn’t even ask him if he wanted to check it.
Yet they came to me 4 times and still took my bag dispite me pointing out I that I had my medication (impossible to replace on our trip if anything happens) in it and didn’t want to part from my bag.
Now not only an I going to be super anxious the entire trip hoping they don’t lose my bag , it’s also an international flight so I have to wait I baggage claim which is another reason I didn’t carry a checked bag.. What is the point of specifying luggage weight and dimensions if they are going to just disregard them when they feel like it. Never flying them again.
I’ve never actually written a review before but this company needs to be shut down, acquired, or completely rebuilt from the ground up. Never in all my life have I been hung up on by customer service and with this airline it happened twice. My flight to Funchal, Portugal from Lisbon was cancelled due to inclement weather. The next flight to Funchal would not be until after my return flight from Funchal to Lisbon, ergo I would not be able to take the return trip as all flights to the Island had been cancelled. With no way to get to Funchal I called TAP air customer service to modify my trip or get a refund for the flight. After spending two hours (yes 2 hours) emailing and trying to get to the correct customer service representative I was told that that no refund would be offered and that no modification was possible within a 7 day window. I explained the situation about weather conditions and the lack of outgoing flights and was met with consistent scripted responses that they could not assist me with a refund or modification and if I would not be on the flight that there was nothing they could do. I asked several times to be connected to a manager and was again shut down by scripted responses informing me that Management is not allowed to assist with customer service. This ultimately led to the customer service rep hanging up on me and a second attempt at this process resulted in the same exact thing happening. This company is criminal and nothing short of scam, they will not assist you, they will not help you, and they will not accommodate you. I am Portuguese, my family and I fly there about once a year at minimum. We normally fly Air Lingus or Ryanair but took a chance on flight time that worked for us. HUGE MISTAKE. I will never use this airline again. If I convince even one of you reading this to not fly TAP Air Portugal and use a different airline I will be glad to have saved one person the trouble.
Airline is dishonest making addition charges upon check in, mine was $1000. Also, forced into assigned seating for $200. Never again. They get family and friends to write outstanding reviews.
Don’t fly TAP Portugese airline!!!
We have purchased 1pm flight from Lisbon, Portugal to Seville, Spain (3 tickets cost us 675.45 EUR) which out of three flights available on the 15th June 2023 was the most expensive flight, more than double the price of any of the two other flights. The other two flights at 7.25am and 10.25pm, were inconvenient. On 26 May 2023, TAP airline informed us, via email, of the cancellation of our 1pm flight. We were given options of the two other flights, 7.25am or 10.25pm. 10.25pm flight on the day we were advised of cancellation would cost us around 314 EUR for 3 tickets. The difference in price of 362 EUR was not even mentioned in the TAP email. I am still fighting with the TAP airline for the refund and I would add to the above mentioned amount 50 EUR we charged for the late check in in Seville. In addition, we demand compensation for all this stress and inconveniences caused by TAP. Their response when we managed to speak to them on the phone was “Wait for our email, it is still “Under analysis”. This “customer service” is unacceptable!! Charging much more for a flight and then bumping down to a cheaper flight, without refund difference is unethical and unprofessional. I was expecting more from a Portugese airline.
Flew TAP yesterday and it is so therapeutic reading these comments!
My #1 complaint is that they canceled our flight from Bilbao to Lisbon **with no notification**, even though my husband and I had provided contact information through their website. Eight hour wait in airport for rebooked flight, not to mention the domino effect of missed flights.
I’ll leave out the other things that went wrong — but canceling a flight without a notification is pathetic for any carrier, regardless of what you’re paying for a ticket. Nice planes doesn’t make up for that.
If you are now checking the possibility of flying with the TAP airlines, read the following post, and then consider it again:
We were supposed to fly with the TAP airlines, unfortunately, two weeks before the flight, a completely difficult health problem arose, two weeks before the flight date, we only asked, in light of the circumstances, to postpone the flight.
A week after the planned date, we wrote a letter and explained the situation, we also emphasized that if the price on the new date is higher, we will pay the difference, we didn’t ask for a refund, we asked for a postponement, that’s it!
For over six months we waited patiently for TAP Airlines to look into the issue, in the end we received an answer, they cannot give us an alternative flight, while adhering to the company’s regulations, without considering the human side, in this case.
There are many airlines companies, in the end they all fly the same planes and reach the same destinations, the difference is in the service, we as consumers are entitled to receive the best service for the money we pay!!
Therefore, you, as a passenger, find yourself in a crisis, and you need good service, you need someone who will listen to you, you need someone who understands the problem, you need someone who will consider it carefully in order to give you, the passenger, the best solution, it is very important to choose the airline company correctly.
At the TAP airline they failed big time!
Be smart, and learn from the experience of others, we will still fly to Portugal, but not with the TAP airlines, that’s for sure!
Stop scamming people, whoever wrote this original post. TAP is the worst airline I’ve ever seen. Total trash and they need to go out of business as soon as possible. The writer is for sure getting paid by the airline.
Totally agreed. When I’ve read this, that was the first thought came to my mind that the writer is getting paid to writer this. The most awful flight ever. They should definitely get out of business soon.
Same thoughts, shame on you Gonar, you are a unethical person
I join others in not ever flying TAP again. We booked business class flights to Lisbon from Miami in June. The flight over was uneventful, but when we arrived at the Lisbon airport for our return flight, we were told that they no longer had business class seats for both of us — only one seat was left. The agent was unapologetic and even rude. My husband and I agreed that one of us would take the business class seat, the other would fly in coach on condition that we be reimbursed for the difference in price between coach and business. The day we returned home I used their website to provide all information required for a refund. 3 months later, and after repeated attempts at contact, we have not heard a word from them
Totally wrong. We bought our ticket but my husband was on standby, because they overbooked the flight, and very easy told us the reason is that the airline needs to make money. They were at the gate even feeling themselves so reasonable and told us because we booked very early and relatively cheap! Considering that we have paid like around the double of price for a flight with easyjet!
One year later and TAP continue to amaze with terrible costumer service. We were stranded in Lisbon with no solution, after a change in tickets over the phone suddenly became an unexplained cancellation. I feel the angst is quite motivated if you ask me and will hopefully never use TAP again 😉
We just flew business class on TAP from Miami to Lisbon yesterday. Check-in was smooth, with no issues. The plane is new, beautiful and clean. Very comfortable and food was delicious. Entertainment on board was okay and the lay flat bed was comfortable. We landed on time and baggage claim and customs were both easy. We would fly them again.
Maybe once you are on the plane it would be fine, but after an experience with booking where Air Portugal tried to charge me $250 for 1 checked bag each for my wife and I from Boston to Milan, and then finding out that charge was just for only one direction even though it said “from Boston to Boston)” (misrepresented on the website and not discernable from the receipt). I cancelled the flight within 24 hours ( over many hours being disconnected over 10 times by phone- i was unable to cancel via the Web). Then they charged me $250 cancellation fee (not legal in the US within 24 hours), not even notifying me that they had approved the cancellation. When I tried to check the status of the refund, it said only an refund had been issued but failed to say it was not a full refund (quite deliberately I believe). The only way for me to know what they refunded was searching out my credit card statements online. I will never consider using this airline in the future, because I expect honesty and at least a little respect.. Hopefully I will get the rest of the refund through my credit card. Beware! This all occurred just over New Years to now, 1/6/24
I recently had a dreadful experience with Tap Portugal Airlines that left me utterly disappointed and frustrated. Not only did they fail to provide adequate customer service, but they also engaged in what can only be described as blatant theft. Upon arriving at the gate, I was informed that my carry-on bag and personal item exceeded the weight limit by a mere 2kg. Instead of providing a reasonable solution or allowing me to redistribute items, they insisted on charging an exorbitant fee of 120 euros. What’s worse is that I was entitled to a checked bag, which they conveniently failed to mention until the last moment. It felt like a deliberate scheme to extort money from unsuspecting passengers. Needless to say, I will never be flying with Tap Portugal Airlines again, and I strongly advise others to steer clear of their deceptive practices.
Totally incorrect and biased view. TAP Air is singley the WORST airline I have flewn in Europe. Their luggage allowance is the smallest of all the european airlines I’ve flown. Even the extra-cheap EasyJet allows more hand luggage allowance than TAP portugal. Staff is extremely rude and doesn’t even care to reply when I ask them questions, and they have only one check-in window in the airport I flew in Naples. I don’t understand why any one would choose TAP over other options. No matter what kind of airline you are looking for, TAP is the most awkward choice. Wouldn’t recommend.
What a terrible experience flying with my 15mo baby!!! after thoroughly reading policies on their website, my wife and i felt it would be best to book our daughter, Olivia, her own seat and use her faa/tuv approved cybex aton car seat, which is listed as a requirement on their website for children under 2yo flying in their own seat. after getting her all set up the flight staff informs us that for takeoff, she must be on our lap using their provided lap belt and the seat must be stored in the overhead bin. this was just the start. so we abide and thankfully the cybex is very compact/lightweight and fit nicely in the overhead bin. another family had to take their seat off the plane and gate check it since it did not fit(side note: they lost this seat and delayed the bus transport to the gate wildly when we got to LIS) anyways, moving on… we get through take off and the seatbelt sign goes off. ok great. now we can get set up. install the car seat in the window seat and followed all the rules of the seat and the of TAP policy. flight attendants come over and inform us that we cannot use the seat during the flight. we explained that as per the policy on their website the seat is a requirement. the seat is approved for use on planes and she meets the height and weight requirements to use the seat. they didn’t even consider checking policy and the head attendant named VERA rudely reiterated we can’t use the seat and walked away. ok meal time! the flight staff provides us with crew pillows and blankets and asks us not to remove them from their plastic packaging… yeah right lets have the baby sit on an ice rink while trying to eat. we take everything out of the plastic and we build a pillow and blanket booster seat and strap her in… chicken or pasta? nope! they initially decline to give Olivia a meal. they have baby food for her… we explain to the flight staff that she doesnt eat baby food, she has very useful teeth, has a full fare ticket and is entitled to everything that a regular passenger would get. after some convincing they oblige. looking back on this indicates that no flight staff on board has consulted the flight manifest. they don’t know that Olivia has a full fare ticket. maybe they think we are trying to “steal” an open seat and use our car seat? idk… anyway we get through meal time they dim cabin lights and its time for sleep. we convert Olivias pillow booster to a pillow basinet. even got her seatbelt on in case of turbulence lol… how in the world is this safer than flying in a crash seat with a 5pt harness on. the seatbelt sign comes on an hour or two later. crew comes around checking seatbelts. they inform us we have to wake the baby up and strap her to our lap. my blood pressure is now through the roof. me and my wife go back and fourth a bit with them in both english and portuguese and they hold firm. baby has to be on our lap. poor girl cries for just about the remainder of the flight it was awfully warm in there i was wearing along sleve tshirt and vuori pants, so with that, my high blood pressure and general rage at this whole experience the baby was very hot too. im sure the other passengers were thrilled we werent able to use the seat we paid for which she sleeps soundly in…. we get through it. now its time for customer service. i call while in portugal there is an option for complaints in their phone system. well thats not where you make complaints. thats where you check status of complaints. new complaints? that goes through the website. ok so i go to the website. not very usefull either. there is one option to apply for a refund, which i try but cannot do because the flight has already happened. i guess this is for flights in the future. so i find the complaint area, tell this story. they respond that they cannot refund. “the services have been fully utilized by your co-passenger” i respond that the services were not utilized at all and that i was forbidden to use the seat that we paid for. they copied and pasted the same email response and sent it to me again. they are offering 2500 of their miles for the inconvenience for a mileage program i do not have. and 2500 miles is just about useless in any flyer program. i should note that my return flight was great. we utilized the seat the staff was lovely the baby slept and ate well. we simply had untrained staff led by an untrained leader on our flight. a bad and potentially dangerous combo! my wife an i travel to portugal to visit family multiple times yearly. they also come to visit me as well and have a great network of portuguese friends and family who do the same. my wife works in the travel industry, and i grew up in it as my father was a united employee for 36 years based out of newark… so we have a lot of business with TAP and in general do a lot of traveling. United has the same routes but are usually a bit pricier. they are also flying a much nicer 787 dreamliner on those same routes while TAP is in an a320neo. moving forward i will likely spend more to avoid dealing with TAP. their customer service is trash. their staff are trash, and honestly the one thing i used to look forward to was the food…. that also has gone down hill…. just a really bad experience. and ive had other lousy airline experiences with them but none that warranted reporting. i work in customer service and it pains me to do this. but after a complete failure on their end its all i can do. SPAM THE INTERNET WITH BAD REVIEWS