In a nutshell
- In this TAP Portugal airline review, we share our personal experiences and tell you honestly whether the airline is worth booking.
- TAP Portugal is Portugal’s national airline, flying to a wide range of European and intercontinental destinations.
- We cover how booking and check-in work, what the legroom is like, and what food and drinks cost on board.
- We also list TAP’s key European departure cities and give you our honest verdict on flying with TAP Air Portugal.
Our Flights with TAP Portugal
We’ve flown with TAP twice and are sharing our experiences with you here.
Our first flight took us from Fuerteventura to Lisbon, and then we continued from Lisbon to Hamburg.
The flight from Fuerteventura to Lisbon was operated with a small aircraft: an Embraer 190. The flight to Hamburg took place on an Airbus A321, which means this TAP Portugal review covers two different aircraft types from the airline.
Booking
We booked directly through the airline’s website. It was straightforward and hassle-free.
All major credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express) are accepted as payment methods. You can also pay with a debit card (e.g., Maestro), PayPal, or even bank transfer.
Depending on the route, you’ll be offered different fare options at the time of booking. The cheapest fares include carry-on luggage only — though at 8 kg plus a personal item of up to 2 kg, that’s already pretty generous. Higher-priced fares include checked baggage (one piece up to 23 kg), seat reservations, and in some cases the option for a free rebooking or cancellation.
We each booked the Classic fare, which includes checked baggage and seat reservations.
TAP is a member of Star Alliance, so with every flight — except the cheapest fares — you can earn Miles & More points.
Check-In
Check-in is done online and was equally straightforward. Tickets are provided as a PDF for printing as well as in digital format.
Dropping off luggage at the airport went smoothly. Fuerteventura wasn’t busy at all — there’s only one flight per day to Lisbon from there.
But even at the large Lisbon airport, everything moved surprisingly quickly and efficiently. There are numerous self-service bag drop points where you can drop off your luggage without standing in a long line.
Seats and Legroom
On both flights, we reserved seats in the front section of the aircraft at the time of booking. The small Embraer 190 had a 2×2 seating configuration, while the Airbus A321 featured the standard 3×3 seating arrangement.
We were seriously impressed by the legroom. For medium-haul aircraft, there was genuinely a lot of space in front of you — you could even stretch your legs out comfortably.
Food and Drinks
Drinks and food are not included in any fare and must be purchased on board. That said, the prices are not unreasonably high.
A bottle of water costs €2.70, and so does a coffee. It’s only instant coffee, but it actually tasted surprisingly good.
For food, there were various sandwiches for €6.80 each or a lasagna for €7.50. The lasagna was okay — think typical frozen lasagna from the supermarket.
There are also various small snacks and of course a selection of alcoholic beverages.
TAP Portugal Destinations
TAP offers direct flights to Lisbon from a range of major European cities, including:
Direct flights to Porto are only available from Zurich and Luxembourg. The Portuguese islands such as Madeira or the Azores require a stopover in Lisbon — which is actually a great excuse to explore a few more highlights in Portugal before heading to one of the islands.
TAP is also worth considering for intercontinental flights to Brazil and West Africa. There are plenty of connections with one stopover at Lisbon Airport.
Our tip: For these kinds of flights, TAP offers a Stopover Program that lets you spend a few days in Lisbon before continuing on. That way you can take in the best sights in Lisbon while you’re at it.
Our Verdict
Our TAP Portugal airline review comes with a clear thumbs-up — we were really pleasantly surprised. There was nothing that bothered us. The legroom and the friendliness of the staff were noticeably better than on most European carriers we’ve flown.
We can wholeheartedly recommend flying TAP as a way to get around for your trip to Portugal or any other destination.
Extra tip: If you ever experience a flight delay, our article on flight delay compensation gives you tips on how to get your money back.
