#31 out of 81 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings.
285 reviews
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.
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.
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.
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!
TP met the expectations. They would have to be really bad to do it wrongly in this short flight, and they managed not to. I guess that if the views were the flight's highlight it speaks of how okay the service was.
MAD was great, as usual, although being able to spend most of my time at the lounge turns me a bit biased. I have come to realise that the experience may not be as fun if I had to weather the dull terminal without that perk. The AENA Lounge was too battered and it felt crowded...but it was, as told, a big perk compared to what MAD offers if you don't go to the lounge, so I won't take it for granted.
LIS...meh.
The contributors of Flight-Report published 15 reviews of 3 airlines on the route Madrid (MAD) → Lisbon (LIS).
The airline with the best average rating is TAP Air Portugal with 7.2/10.
The average flight time is 1 hours and 34 minutes.
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2 Comments
Hola Chibcha!
Pretty decent Eurobiz experience for a 1h flight. I'll be visiting Lisbon for the first time in a few weeks and I can't wait! Though I won't be taking TAP.
I really like that the new TAP cabins, have tablet holders and power outlets + USB ports, at least in the forward sections since I know they have different seats in the back. It's a shame though to have a tablet holder but no streaming entertainment offered to play on said tablet in flight. I assume it'll happen at some point since more and more carriers seem to be going that direction. At least once European carriers have mostly recovered from pandemic financial difficulties.
I've always heard LIS is a mess and your report seems to confirm that. I guess I'll see for myself soon!
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the report!
TP offers a fairly decent product on their short haul flights. Nice views during the approach!
Regards
LYSflyer
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