Review of TAP Air Portugal flight from Madrid to Lisbon in Business

Introduction

Hola amigos!

This FR covers a trip to Paris via Lisbon. 

It was summer 2019 and I was stuck in Madrid. I didn't have much money and I didn't plan with enough time for my vacations so there wasn't much option. Luckily a friend offered me to stay at her place and I had a fair amount of Lifemiles, that were just enough for a reasonably priced ticket to Paris via Lisbon. The fun part: it would be in business… (eurobusiness, though…but still)

I had never flown with TAP, and I love their branding, so I was quite eager to check how they did.  

At Madrid barajas airport

I easily made it to MAD on the Metro…I had arrived with a lot of time before my flight, but I had no problem checking in. 
 

I love these retro boards…not as cool as the ones at FRA, but still…

So…20 minutes after arriving, checking in, passing through security I was at the Puerta de Alcalá VIP Lounge.

The lounge seemed to be quite battered and dated compared to the lounges at T4, T4S and T3. But it still provided amazing views of the tarmac and operations at MAD in this summer morning. 

While the offering was varied and generous…I settled with this for the moment. Check the ripped sofa (big big nono)

I had my breakfast as the earlier flight to Lisbon departed

This was the spotting highlight of the day…I remember thinking to myself, one day I'll score one of these flights ( LOL)

Or maybe one of these to a sandy beach in the Caribbean ?

Then my plane made it from Lisbon

Some minutes later I went down to the gate, were a mess had formed… eventhough I had priority boarding, there wasn't any clear signaling nor any willingness from the ground crew to let me in as it's supposed to be when flying in biz.

After some shameless line cutting, I made it in.

Boarding TAP's a320

I forgot to take a picture of the plane while boarding, but I did take this artistic pic:

Once I made it to my seat it hit me…this is eurobiz, so not what you'd expect (back then) across the Pond. But it was more than enough for this 1 hour flight.

While boarding was completed, I enjoyed the view to other european carrier's operating in MAD.

Boarding completed and now we taxied to RWY 36L.

Taxi and Takeoff

En route to Lisbon

After we took off, it is a fairly straight forward deal to Lisbon. 

We were then given these packaged oshibori

The seats were equipped to hold our devices and charge them…but I didn't bother with it

We were then offered our meal…that I washed down with a glass of white wine.

This was way more than enough for our short flight. Lovely

Salud!

Lisbon then came into view…

The southern bank of the Tagus and Montijo AFB and the Vasco da Gama bridge 

The views of the city are unbeatable

We then went into the Atlantic Ocean and ligned up with RWY03, which would bring us right over Lisbon.

We gently made it to our runway (ending the fun)….I had never flown to Lisbon and the sheer amount of big planes in hard stands was what caught my attention the most

We made it to a hardstand too…

And had to bus to the terminal…

Upon arrival…just a mess.
Nobody to direct us nowhere and I just made my way trying to follow the not to clear signage. 

Stay tuned to Part 2 of this FR, thanks for reading!