Review of TAP Air Portugal flight Porto → Lisbon in Economy

introduction

My partner's father had wanted to go to Madeira with his family for several years, and we offered to organize this trip for his 70th birthday. The whole close family, about 10 people, will therefore meet during the All Saints holidays on this small island in the middle of the Atlantic.
We are the only ones not starting the journey from Paris, the flight offer is not really convinient on Funchal either, especially since our return is planned for the IATA winter season, which further reduces the offer. In our case, no direct flight to Funchal will therefore be a flight with a stopover and the only airline offering correct time combinations and affordable prices, was the Portuguese major TAP.

It was possible to combine Low-cost flights with Easyjet or Ryanair but it was not so interesting in terms of price once the luggage was added.

Unfortunately 5 days before the flight I received an email from TAP, our return flight initially scheduled for Tuesday November 1st and simply canceled and TAP very generously offered us re-protection on the flight of Friday November 4th in the morning with a departure from Funchal at 4:30 am, when I saw the email I laughed, nervously but I laughed.
This will give me the opportunity to call the TAP call center (for a long hour). To simplify the problem, TAP has canceled its only rotation to Toulouse on Tuesday and the flights for Wednesday and Thursday are full for the weekend of November 1. Only solution to allow us to be on time at work, leaving the day before.
Again not so simple, there are still a couple of seats available on the LIS-TLS but the FNC-LIS flights are almost all full except for the 4:30 flight.

The outcome of the discussion with a friendly and persevering agent will prove fruitful so we are re-booked on an FNC-OPO-LIS-TLS flight which allows us to leave around 8:45 a.m. from Funchal and only lose a little more 24 hours of holidays (and one night in a hotel). The only risk, and not the least important, is that stopovers are very short in airports that are extremely disrupted by delays linked to air traffic management.

Which gives us the following routing:

This connection between the two main cities of Portugal is the real backbone of TAP, which uses it as an inter-HUB shuttle / HUB feeder, to simplify the majority of passengers on board who are on transit. In fact, there are tilting trains which make it possible to connect Lisbon and Porto in a little less than 3 hours, even if a high-speed track project between the 2 cities would aim to reduce the journey time below the hour and a half mark.
The air offer is therefore limited to 10 daily TAP flights between the 2 cities operated by all aircraft in the fleet ranging from the Erj 190 to the A321neo. Before covid Ryanair also offered this connection.

On flightreport database you can find various report on Ryanair or TAP express but it will be the first report on TAP Airbuses. 

short transfer on Oporto airport

Freshly arrived from the morning flight of the TAP from Funchal on the island of Madeira, we follow the transit directions which should not exceed 150m. However, an obstacle stands in our way, a security check which only seems to be used for connecting passengers.
The departures display is posted above the queue at the checkpoint and the second flight is scheduled on time so much so that with the delay in Funchal this morning we only have 40 minutes left for the connection.

After having spent 15 minutes in the security queue and sacrificing a bottle of water for security reason, we are finally arriving inside the departures area of ​​Porto airport which has not really changed since my last visit in July 2018. You still find this huge hall full of shops. Unfortunately, there is a lack of seats in this terminal…

Well, there's a longue queue in front of our boarfing gate, it's just passengers on our flight who are already in the starting blocks, while boarding hasn't even started… I'll have time to take some pictures in the terminal + a passage through the toilets and the boarding will still not have been started…

Outside it is now raining and it's on a very wet runway that this Erj195 from Paris Orly lands.

 Ryanair operates many destinations from Porto and this Boeing 737-800 will soon reach Rome Ciampino.

Our second Airbus A320 of the day is already connected to the gate, it is CS-TNM a bird delivered new to TAP more than 20 years ago and even if the paint is probably not original it would need a good refreshment! It bears the name of Natalia Correia a Portuguese poet and intellectual.

This time boarding is finally started and the first and only time in this routing it we will be on time! Like the AF shuttle or the ponte aereo d'Iberia between Madrid and Barcelona, ​​it seems that this line has a special status on TAP network.

A check of identity + boarding pass and we are authorized to pass in the jetbridge to join the airplane.

This one remind me something! It is quite simply the aircraft which brought us from Funchal and which is about to fly off to Zurich.

Really long jetbridge but sufficiently glazed to allow a shoot fuselage.

On board TAP A320

We were warmly welcome by the cabin crew. We join our seats at row 6, these are “EconomyEXTRA” seats recognizable with their red colored head rest. These are the Recaro BL3530 model. Like BA on these Airbus A320neo, the cabin has been divided into 2. A part (rear) with low-cost type seats (Recaro SL3510 the same as Easyjet) and another with more than adequate seats for a European major.

Seats pitch is much better in the front with 33" against a poor 28" in the back.

And the seat also has some additional equipments, such as a phone/tablet holder, a universal AC and USB-A socket, a slight recline, an adjustable headrest and a coat hook. So many advantages that cannot be found on the seats located in the rear part of the cabin.

As on the previous flight, row 6 offers perfect seat/window alignment, which will make my reporting work easier, even though the rain is not of this opinion!

The ceiling light, probably modernized as it displays the ban on the use of electronic devices.

Boarding continues and a lady, not wanting to keep her handbag at her feet and wanting at all costs to have all her belongings into the overhead locker, which are as always stuffed. After having negotiated with the cabin crew during a couple of minutes, another passenger will propose to remove his own bag in order to be able to store our disturbing passenger belongings. The Karen who will, in the end, make everything re-open to our crew to recover a scarf!

Don't be surprise if cabin crew getting mad after that! The hostess will not hesitate to make a joke (in Portuguese) about the situation with the passengers in the row behind but no need to speak the language to understand the content of his facial expressions. However, she will always remain very polite throughout the operation.

This time everyone is on board, all the belongings are stored, we are ready for take off.

The safety instructions are presented as we are pushed back and quickly we begin our taxiing for a departure on runway 35. We can see the Air Transat Airbus A330 for Toronto.

 No waiting, it's our turn to get on the runway!

Our pilots push the engines to take-off power and our aircraft quickly climbs above the Porto airport facilities and an Easyjet Airbus A320 that has just landed.

 Our initial climb towards the north takes us away from the city of Porto but also from our final destination.

In order to solve that issue, our pilots will quickly make a U-turn to the left allowing us to see the beaches overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

Unfortunately the cruise will take place above a thick bank of clouds.

Although the flight is very short (about thirty minutes in the air) Bob's trolley will still pass through the aisle without making practically any sales.

It must be said that despite the fact that the menu is highlighting Portuguese food, its content is very poor and does not really offer Portuguese products.

 After these considerations and culinary reflections while flying above the clouds, our descent is already announced and quickly started.

 The route followed by our flight of the day, we did not have time to climb higher than 23,000ft.

We break through the cloud layer above the green Portuguese countryside north of Lisbon.

Before following the A10 motorway for a couple of minutes, which is part of the motorway network bypassing Lisbon.

The A10 ends at the junction with the A9 which ensures the northern bypass of the Portuguese capital.

The ground is getting closer as we now cross the Rio de Loures

Then the small towns of Unhos then Apelação built on a hill pass quickly under our wings. Some residents must really see the planes on their balcony!

We arrive above the airport area after crossing a final highway, the A36, which arrives from the Vasco de Gama bridge and bypasses the airport from the northeast.

Smooth landing on the Lisbon tarmac and rather slow braking on runway 21

Taxiing to our parking position it will be a bit long but I will only have a few views of the other parked aircraft, here we can make out the fuselages of a Boeing 737-800 from Enter Air and the confidential Airbus A330-300 from World2fly a Spanish/Portuguese leisure company.

 Bad luck, we parked alongside this TAP Airbus A320neo that had arrived a little earlier from London Heathrow.

As soon as our plane as stopped this movement all the passengers will stand on the aisle. Disembarkation, however, will begin soon. Being at the front of the cabin, I would be quickly outside. The cabin crew at the gate we will greet them with a smile.

I would be among the last to climb into the first paxbus which will be very stuffed. and I would find myself standing next to the annoying American passenger who will ram my leg with her cabin baggage which she could not keep on her knees (she was sitted) because she supposedly had a blood circulation problem… (she obviously did not look handicapped when it came to disembarking asap). A real Karen!

After a bit long but nice paxbus tour in the middle of Tap, Azores or other TAAG planes rather rare in France (sorry no photo I was holding myself painfully in balance with one hand because of the other turkey…) . We arrive in the Airside Schengen part at the center of the terminal.

Our flight to Toulouse is already visible but it is already showing a delay of more than 1h15 sign that our stopover at LIS is going to be a little longer than planned.

This is the end of this report, i wish you pleasant flight and I see you soon for a new routing! Cheers !