Review of EuroAtlantic Airways flight from Lisbon to Maputo in Economy

Achievement unlocked

Hello and welcome to another brand-new series! 

This series will cover my trip to South Africa, involving 11 flights (7 FRs), 7 airlines, and many, many mistakes and unforgettable memories. I'll get to all of those as the series progresses. 

But first, we start with the catalyst for this entire trip. I was browsing through Google Flights at 11 PM, just slapping random places into the search engine and seeing what came out (you know… completely normal behavior… right?) I do it occasionally when I'm bored and 90% of the time it yields nothing, but, if you're lucky, you get something special for that final 10%. That's how I stumbled upon this flight, going Lisbon-Maputo-Johannesburg for €345 roundtrip on LAM Mozambique. The fare isn't too special in itself (you get flights to Jo'burg for €300 somewhat regularly) but when it's on LAM Mozambique? That's what makes it special. 

LAM Mozambique is the flag carrier of Mozambique and they re-introduced the route between Lisbon and Maputo in December 2023 after a 12-year hiatus. It's the airline's only long-haul route and since they don't actually have any planes capable of flying that route, they're wet leasing a Boeing 777-200ER from EuroAtlantic (a Portuguese carrier specializing in charter/leasing operations). So yeah, it's quite an interesting route and I had no idea what to expect going into it. 

I aim to offset all of my CO2 emissions from flights. All emissions are calculated using the ICAO Carbon Emissions Calculator and I will be funding projects approved by The Gold Standard. The CO2 output for this flight is:

LIS → MPM → JNB: 554kg
Total for 2024 (so far): 1842kg

video report

Here's the video version of this FR. It's got the same thing content-wise. 

Lisbon Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS)

The entrance to the airport - I just came off a flight from London, the arrivals area is very crowded behind me. 

This airport actually has 2 terminals. T2 serves only LCCs (apart from easyJet) with the rest all departing out of T1. A free shuttle connects the two terminals together. 

And here's the check-in area upstairs…

… it's technically 4 areas (lettered A-D). 

Queueing for check-in. When I checked in, the staff member asked if I wanted my luggage to go to Maputo or Johannesburg, which is quite an unusual question considering I only have a 3 hour transfer. It did foreshadow a rather… interesting… time transiting through Mozambique. 

Security took around 5 minutes and here's the duty-free area. 

And there's also a food court. This airports reminds of Stanstead & Gatwick, my most hated airports. There's a lot of similarities: it uses the call-to-gate system (A.K.A the guess-the-gate system), it's very crowded and there's massive queues for everything. Unbelievably, T1 isn't that bad compared to T2. I flew out of T2 on my final flight of this trip (no FR) and it was so crowded I physically couldn't walk anywhere without getting pushed around - it was like walking around in Old Delhi in India (if you know… you know). 

But it actually isn't my most hated airport (Stanstead still retains that prestige), mainly because you get some nice views of the apron - when your gate is announced and you can escape the mess that is the departures lounge.

See that plane on the left with the blue tail? That's our plane. Don't worry, I'll get a much better photo of her during boarding. 

The non-Schengen gate area. 

The terminal is quite unique here as it sticks out on either side of the parking stand. It means that you get really close to the planes - you can't really tell in the photo as I used my wide-angle lens on my phone. Anyway, here's a TAP Portugal A330-900 (CS-TUJ) heading to Belo Horizonte (CNF) in Brazil. 

A photo of the seats here. You can see another TAP A330-900 with the 100th Aircraft sticker (CS-TUI) heading to Sao Paulo (GRU). 

the flight

Flight time to Maputo will be 10 hours and here's our route. 

And here's our plane parked on a remote stand: 

Some information about our plane:

Type: Boeing 777-200ER
Registration: CS-TSW
First flight: 1 December 2003
Age: ~20 years
Config: C30/W24/Y239

Wearing the 30th Anniversary sticker, she was delivered to EuroAtlantic in August 2022. Before that, she flew with Alitalia for her entire life before being withdrawn by flag carrier in 2021. 

Fun fact: This is my first time open boarding a wide-body since 2012. That was in Doha, Qatar when it was still the old international airport. I was 9 at the time and remember absolutely nothing except 'Wow! Big plane!'

EuroAtlantic didn't touch the cabin at all so to put it simply: we are flying on a LAM Mozambique flight operated by EuroAtlantic with an Alitalia cabin… simple! 

Another photo of the tray table and IFE. 

On each seat is a bag with a blanket, an amenity kit (which we'll look into later) and a pair of headphones. 

The legroom is decent although there is that annoying IFE box which does reduce the amount of space you get quite a lot. 

First views out of the window with another TAP A330-200 (CS-TOP) heading to Fortaleza (FOR), Brazil. Yeah, there's a reason why Lisbon's the main European hub for flights to Brazil. 

I forgot to mention, we boarded 1 hour late due to "operational reasons", that delay reason will come up a lot on my return leg. 

Pushing back 1 hour 25 minutes late. 

Takeoff!! Bye bye Europe! 

Climbing through the clouds. 

One last photo before nightfall. 

Lets have a look at the contents of the seatback pocket, which includes an air sickness bag…

… an a safety card. No inflight magazine on this flight (although LAM's Q400s does come with one). 

Photo of the amenity kit. I'm very surprised that LAM gives out amenity kits, although I didn't get one on my return, so I'm not sure what's going on there. 

Shortly after that, the crew came around with dinner. Now, I'd say I'm quite good at juggling airplane food around a tiny tray table, but this one? I admit defeat, so I'll photograph the main, eat it, then worry about what's in the box. 

Ohh boy… where do we even start? There are two options, fish or chicken. I chose the chicken because the fish smells horrible, it's so bad you can smell it from the galley. To say it's underwhelming an understatement. It's basically a chicken breast fillet with 6 potatoes completely unseasoned apart from that tiny bit of gravy on the right. The only positive I can say about this is that it's edible - you won't enjoy eating it, but at least it won't make you sick. 

Alright, having finished the main, I can put the container on my lap and open the box. I have no idea why they gave out a box rather than a tray, it makes it so annoying. It includes a bun, some jam/butter/salad dressing, a mousse…

… and this. I'm not sure if it meets the criteria to be described as a 'salad' but… sure. And yes, it's completely unseasoned. I guess they want you to add the salad dressing yourself, which will probably still end up tasting terrible. Needless to say, I didn't bother and left it. 

Oh and by the way, they didn't give out a spoon, so you have to eat the mousse with either a knife or fork, which is just frustrating especially when it's so runny, as the photo shows. 

I actually don't know how to review that meal. It just isn't in the same category of 'bad' as most airline meals that can be described that way (cough cough Lufthansa). The only word that can truly describe it is 'grim'. Also I'm not sure who's responsible for this, EuroAlantic or LAM, either way, they most definitely approached Cateringpor (the company that made this) and asked for the cheapest possible meal that is edible. 

Anyway, lets have a look at the IFE before I go to sleep. The IFE uses a single-jack, which is the same as the headphones that's given out. Interestingly, however, they also gave out a double jack adaptor. The last time I got one of those was on Hainan Airlines in 2015. I still carry it around with me and use it on my own headphones so it's very nice to have a spare. 

There is a grand total of 15 movies and about the same number of TV shows consisting of popular Western/Hollywood options. Despite the small selection, it's not too bad as it's all fairly recent popular movies so you'll at least find something interesting to watch/rewatch. 

There's no route map available unfortunately. 

Oh by the way, that IFE software is the same as you'd find on Norse Atlantic.

After that I slept for 3-4 hours and watched a movie.

Sunrise somewhere over Zambia. 

Shortly after, the crew came around with breakfast. It's 4 slices of kiwi fruit, a croissant and a piece of chocolate bread. I would say that this is terrible considering that it's a 10 hour flight but looking at the quality of dinner, I'm just happy to get something that's edible. 

Descending into Maputo.  

Nice views of the Komati River.

On final approach over Maputo. 

Welcome to Mozambique! We arrived 1 hour late. 

Maputo International Airport (MPM)

(Below is a fairly long paragraph detailing my transfer here at MPM, TL;DR at the bottom). 

I've always wondered when constructing these crazy, stupid itineraries if anyone else is insane enough to do this before. I kinda have this mini-goal of constructing an itinerary so bizarre that the staff/locals have never seen. It's obviously not something I think about when coming up with trips but I'm curious if I can do it one day. Turns out, achieving that goal is a lot simpler than I imagined, all I had to do was to transit through Maputo. Here's what happened:

So I had around 2 hours here before my next flight to Johannesburg. When I exited the jet bridge, there was a very kind member of staff holding a transit sign. She then directed me to immigration and told me to wait for her at baggage reclaim, which I wasn't expecting at all. Luckily, I do get visa-free entry into Mozambique, although you have to wait in a separate line so they can double-check your itinerary and pay the entry fee before heading to immigration and get your passport stamped. 

The staff there was very kind to allow me to go to the front of the queue (after I told them I was transiting). The immigration officer looked at my 2 boarding passes, asked me if I was staying here (obviously not) and if I was going direct to Johannesburg (obviously yes). He then spoke to another person for a minute or two before informing me that I don't need to pay the entry fee or get a visa/stamp - a nice surprise! I was then led through immigration by the transit lady (who had to spend another minute explaining to the officer stamping passports why I don't need a stamp) to the baggage reclaim area. 

It was at this point that it became very clear that I'm the first person (at least recently) to have done this, so I was super concerned if my bag was going to Johannesburg or if the crew just dumped it all on the baggage reclaim belt without checking the tags. Sadly, the lady didn't give me any time to check so I had to trust that the ground crews knew what they were doing.

And here we are at the check-in area. It took around 30 minutes for me to get here. The transit lady basically led me here and left so I'm (technically) in the country illegally, which is probably a loophole in the system.
 

TL;DR - I'm the first person to transit through Maputo internationally, the staff had no idea what the rules regarding international transfers are. After 30 minutes, I'm allowed through immigration to the landside area with no visa or entry stamp. 

But no, the story isn't over yet. After I checked in (again) and passed through security, I now had to explain (in English) to another 2 immigration officers why I don't have an entry stamp in my passport. I basically stood there for 10 minutes repeating "no stamp, transiting from Lisbon to Johannesburg" and waving my 2 boarding passes while they flicked through my passport for the 10th time. It was only after I explained (and translated) every letter on my boarding pass that it finally clicked and they allowed me through. I was so relieved… until I realized that I had to go through the same thing in 2 weeks when I'm leaving. But that's a problem for future me to worry about. 

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that story. I'll end the FR here, I've got a couple domestic flights here in South Africa so thanks for reading and see you there! 

P.S. Yes, my bag did arrive safely to Johannesburg, to my relief!