Review of TAP Air Portugal flight London → Lisbon in Business

This is my flight report from London Heathrow to Lisbon with TAP Air Portugal in Business Class.
The flight duration was 2h05 and arrived with a delay of 1h18.
Check my flight report video:

Departing

I'm staff for TAP Air Portugal and I used my travel facilities to fly from Heathrow to Lisbon.
I booked this flight via a special website only for TAP staff, where I can book and change the date of the flights. I also check-in online, allowed for staff, but only 24 hours before the flight.
On the day of the flight I checked that my aircraft will arrive late in Heathrow because was delayed 1h30 from the previous flight (Milan-Lisbon) and because of that I only arrived at the airport Terminal 2, around 18h45, checked-in at Premium Check-in counter number D19 with no queue and then I proceeded directly for the security screening where I took around 5 to 10 minutes.
The gate, A19, was only announced at 19h15, when the aircraft arrived at runway 27R. After 5 minutes parked at stand 220.
The Aircraft operating this flight was the CS-TTD, an Airbus A319-111, with 19,9 years (First flight was on Feb 19th 1998) and his name is Amadeo de Souza Cardoso, a Portuguese painter from the end 18th century. This aircraft had the new cabin interior retrofit, equipped with Recaro seats. The business and economy plus seats had power outlet, adjustable headrest, support for tablet and reclined seat. The other seats, with green colour, had less pitch, were less comfortable and didn’t recline.
The boarding started first with the families with children and people with disabilities followed by Business Class passengers, Star Alliance Gold and Silver, TAP Plus and then Economy Class passengers seated between rows 14 and 24 and then from 5 to 24.





I was warmly received by a very nice crew. I seated on 1A and prepared me for taking-off. The business class on this flight was from row 1 to row 4. For the medium-haul in Business Class, the middle seat is blocked for more comfort for the passengers. My row was empty but I wasn't able to lay down because in the first row the arm rests are fixed.
I departed from runway 27L after passing next the emblematic BA's Concorde.
The flight was smooth and after dinner I spent literally all the time sleeping, trying to recover from the NYE at London.





For Business Class, TAP offered a dinner composed by a 2 option main course:
* Roasted Grouper with White Bean and Alentejo Pork Chorizo Stew
* Ricotta and Spinach Grantortellone Pasta with Chicken Carbonara Sauce
As appetizer was a smoked Halibut Salad and the desert was a Portuguese traditional Pudding with Strawberry Soup and Allspice.

The first main course option, the one I took, was part of the new program launched by TAP, called "Taste the Stars", where famous Portuguese chefs designed a special dish for the flight. This time was Henrique Sá Pessoa and I should congrats him because it was really delicious, almost with the tasting of my mom's food but on board an aircraft.





I arrived on runway 21 and the aircraft parked on a remote stand, near maintenance hangars, and then I took a bus to the main terminal. Because was a flight from UK, I passed the first thru the Passport Control but there wasn't any queue at that time.



Airline: TAP Air Portugal - Alliance: Star Alliance - Flight: TP357 - Route: LHR-LIS - Date: 2/Jan/2018
Check-in: D19 - Time: 18h50
Seat: 1A - Class: Business
Gate: A19 - Boarding time: 20h00
Scheduled Departure: 18h30 - Actual Departure: 20h18 - Runway: 27L
Scheduled Arrival: 21h05 - Actual Arrival: 22h23 - Runway: 21
Disembark: 22h40 via Bus to the main terminal.