Review of TAP Air Portugal flight from Lisbon to San Francisco in Business

Background

This series covers a recent TATL trip. For the return journey, I opted for TP due to their very low fares. TP offers 6x weekly service LIS-SFO, which is also the longest route in their network. Their other US destinations are BOS, NYC, IAD, MIA, and ORD. TP's reputation has quickly become that of a leisure carrier and it definitely has those vibes throughout. That said, they offer a really good value with a decent product that has seen some minor improvements over the last time I flew them back in 2022 on the reverse route (here).

Routing

This report covers the flight from Lisbon to San Francisco and the TP Premium Lounge.

Arrival/Security

I booked a ride to the airport since it was raining and was dropped off at 07:35 outside of the airport. Inside, we arrive at the central hall.

The giant FIDS.

My flight is on-time with check-in in A (as it is for all TP flights), but since my bag is already checked to SFO and have my boarding pass, I'll head straight to security.

The airport is busy in the morning, which is not surprising since the major TATL departure block is in the late morning.

I'm eligible for Fast Track, which is accessed through this little hallway off to the side.

I will clear security in less than 5 minutes and then head upstairs.

The duty free march first.

Then into the belly of the beast where all passengers congregate to await their gate assignments.

TAP Air Portugal Premium Lounge

I will head upstairs first and visit the Premium Lounge. There is also a new lounge after immigration in the non-Schengen zone, but I did not stop by due to the long lines at immigration.

The lounge was not too crowded at this hour and the table seating along the windows was still wide open.

There is a bar on one end along with several coffee machines.

Seating in the back corner.

The other end of the lounge has the small buffet area with limited hot options.

I already ate at the hotel so just a small sampling of their offering.

The lounge does offer tarmac views, but not much to see in the rain other than this TP A320 that needs a new paint job.

Pre-Flight/Boarding

Heading back downstairs.

Immigration was an absolute zoo and it took forever to clear into the non-Schengen area. They have 2 separate lanes (one for passengers that entered the Schengen zone through LIS and one for passengers that entered in other ports, which is much longer). I finally cleared at 09:14, 10 minutes after boarding was due to start.

Reaching the gate, there was a document check to enter the over-crowded quarantined gate area.

Our plane today is CS-TUC, a 2019-built A330-900neo named Nuno Gonçalves after the 15th century Portuguese artist.

Business class passengers were scanned and crammed into the small area behind the gate agents. After 10 minutes, we were released once the plane was ready.

Entering the plane, we were greeted by another very friendly TP crew.

Flight

Turning left into the J cabin featuring 34 Recaro CL6710 seats across 9 rows in a 1-2-1 configuration.

My seat, 9A. It does have a missing window, but you can still use the one in the front without any issue. The crew store their personal items behind this seat (where the red jacket is) so there is some additional traffic during pre-flight and pre-landing.

Seat pitch is good, but I do find the screen to be very close in these CL6710 seats.

Pre-placed on the seat is a package containing the pillow and blanket. They don't provide any other amenities for sleeping, which should be highlighted if you want to consider them for east-bound flights.

The side compartment contains the headphones, amenity kit, and water bottle.

This storage compartment has a sliding door, making it good for loose items during the flight.

The seat controls are located above the arm rest, which can be folded to make more shoulder room during sleep.

Below is a rather dirty storage compartment.

On the front of the seat console is 2x USB-As, headphone jack, and universal power outlet (110V). I really don't like this location since all of your wires need to be in the already narrow access to the aisle from the window seats.

On the back of the seat in front of you is a mesh pocket that is too small for shoes, but can fit a laptop or other devices.

The literature onboard is airsickness bag, safety card, and Wi-Fi instructions.

Instructions for the Wi-Fi and mobile data. I haven't seen mobile data being offered before, but didn't try it opting to just use the Wi-Fi.

New PSU, but no individual air vents.

One of the friendly crew comes offering PDBs from a tray. This is a really good addition to the TP service since they previously didn't offer this. Being on TP, I had to take the Churchill's White Port.

The menus were pre-placed on the seat and have been updated since my last flight.

On this flight we will have a lunch service featuring 3 options followed by a non-descript pre-arrival meal. They used to allow you to pre-order meals on flights departing from LIS with their local chef collaborations, but now the pre-order meal only allows you to pick meat, fish, or pasta with no details on the specific dish. TP's catering is good and I like how they focus on Portuguese cuisine, but the lack of options could be an issue for some.

The wine list used to be only on the IFE so it is nice that they put it back in the menu. I like how they keep it Portugal centric.

The safety video is very poor in my opinion with very little instruction, instead it just highlights tourism in Portugal highlighting their evolution into a leisure carrier.

The jet bridge is gone, but we will wait for a while. The pilot comes on and apologies for the delay saying that we are #36 in queue to take off so we would wait at the gate for a while before pushing back. With only one runway and the rise of Portugal tourism, LIS is struggling severely.

We finally push back offering a glimpse of our twin next door that is going to be heading to BSB.

Further down, we can see AA and DT here.

2W's only A333.

DL B767 arriving from BOS.

TK A321 arriving from IST.

TP A339neo in *A livery arriving from REC.

We hold to let this TP A339neo arrive from CNF.

It's finally our turn as we align on Runway 21 and take off on this windy/rainy day at 10:55, an hour late.

Nice views over LIS before disappearing into the low clouds.

Exiting the coast, the clouds turn to sunshine as we start our trek across the Atlantic Ocean.

Our route out of LIS.

Service started with distribution of oshibori.

The tray table lacks depth.

The cart comes down the aisle to lay linens and serve aperitifs I will take a Gin and Tonic with their local Sharish gin. This is served along a small ramekin of nuts/seeds (peanuts, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds). I like how they leave the can and bottle to allow you to make a second drink.

The meal is served by tray containing both the starter and main. Breads were offered from a basket and I took a glass of the Duoro white.

The starter: Marinated Duck.

The main: Bacalhau à Zé do Pipo.

Overall, a very good meal despite the simple tray service.

The table is then reset for dessert.

The Dessert Trilogy, which was accompanied by coffee and Port.

On the left was vanilla ice cream and a cup of fruit.

On the right was Queijo de Ovelha Curado (sheep's milk cheese) and crackers.

The meal service closed with the FA coming down the aisle with a box of chocolates with the choice of three styles. I opted for the sea salt dark chocolate.

The cabin as the service concluded and lights were dimmed.

The seat in bed mode.

The footwell is of a decent size, not the worst and not the best.

The amenity kit is a small pouch from Portuguese brand Benamôr 1925, but has very basic contents: eye mask, socks, dental kit, ear plugs, and small hand cream.

The lavatories were fairly clean, but were spartan with no amenities.

After a short 2h nap, I spent the rest of the flight working. Seeing my empty water bottle, the passing crew proactively replaced it without asking.

TP's Wi-Fi portal offers basic information on your flight.

The prices are higher than other carriers, but are at least lower than what they used to charge. For a 12h daytime flight, €30 is acceptable, but the speeds were not great.

Being in the back of the cabin and with fairly high seat walls, I was able to keep my window open the whole flight without any comment from the crew.

The IFE is screen is on the smaller size, but the resolution is okay. TP's content is good with a decent variety of Hollywood/European cinema. It's not the best selection on the market, but offers more than sufficient content considering a bulk of their long-haul flights are only 6-8h (East Coast, Brazil, and Africa).

While I was working the crew came by regularly and offered drinks and snacks. TP's coffee remains poor since it is very dilute.

Our route across Canada took us over Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba.

No shortage of lakes over Ontario.

Flying over the southern part of Winnipeg.

The cabin lights started to turn again as we crossed over Idaho. It was unfortunately cloudy flying over Yellowstone.

For the second meal, there is no option, but at least linens are laid before receiving the fairly full tray. I was expecting a smaller pre-arrival meal so was pleasantly surprised despite it being cold dishes only. No oshibori were offered, only a pre-packaged towel. Breads were offered from a basket and drinks were served by cart.

The main was meats and cheeses with an egg salad wrap.

The side dish was a custard swirl (?) accompanied by orange slices and jelly. A small fruit cup was provided. 

Crossing Nevada.

Flying past Lake Tahoe as we reach California.

Our route into SFO.

Lake Berryessa as we reach wine country.

Napa Valley.

Crossing over to the Pacific Ocean.

Always a treat to fly over the city on a clear day.

Golden Gate Bridge.

San Francisco and Oakland.

Downtown.

Aerial of OAK.

Aerial of SQL.

A look up the Peninsula as we make our u-turn.

Redwood Shores.

Foster City.

We had a smooth landing on Runway 28R at 14:46, but with some hard braking. The pilots must have used less than 30% of the runway being used to landing in LIS. A UA B737 taking off as we wait to cross Runway 28L.

After crossing the runway, a DL B739 takes off behind us.

UA B772 ready to take off on Runway 1R.

We turn into Concourse A and see a BA A380.

QR A35K.

EK A380

We pull into Gate A2.

The EK A380 next door as we come to a stop.

L2 was the first to engage, so being in 9A, I was in pole position to head up into the jet bridge. The crew did a good job to let business class passengers out of L2 ahead of economy passengers.

Arriving at Gate A2, it is a short walk back to immigration.

With BA, EK, and QR arriving ahead of us, it was the expected zoo in immigration, but with Global Entry I was in the baggage claim in just 4 minutes after leaving the plane. The efficiency is excellent, but bags would be another 15-20 minutes to start circulating. My bag was one of the last to come off, likely since it spent the night at LIS. I eventually was able to leave customs around 15:40 and was quickly up to get my ride home.

I'll conclude this series here as I arrive home in San Francisco. Thanks for stopping by!

Flight Details

TAP Air Portugal, TP237
Equipment: Airbus A330-900neo [CS-TUC “Nuno Gonçalves”, delivered September 2019]
Departure: 09:55 (ATD: 10:55)
Arrival: 14:35 (ATA: 14:46)
Flight time: 11:51