Hello,

I'm currently holding business class tickets on Lufthansa Italia from Lisbon to Stockholm via Milan Malpensa for some time in June. The Lisbon-Milan flight leaves Portela at 1:00pm, but I will be coming from Porto that morning and trying to decide between flying and taking the train back to Lisbon. My preference would probably be to fly, since we'll need to be at the airport anyway for our onward flight.

There are a couple of flight options: TAP at 8:40 (arriving Lisbon 9:45) or Portugalia at 10:45 (arriving Lisbon at 11:40). Would taking the later flight leave enough time for a transfer to our 1:00 Lufthansa flight in Lisbon? Would TAP/Portugalia be able to interline our bags through to Stockholm, even if the Lufthansa Italia portion is ticketed separately? What is the general "on time" performance of domestic Portuguese flights? It would be a shame to miss our connection in Lisbon and have to make alternate arrangements onwards to Stockholm. If there is a significant chance that things could get screwed up, then either the earlier TAP flight or the train would probably make me feel more comfortable.

One more question: there is very little difference in fares between Economy and Business on the internal Portugal flights. Does anyone know if there's seat blocking in domestic Top Executive on TAP or on Portugalia's RJs? What's the lounge situation like in Porto? Is there any reason not to pop for the Business class tickets?

Thanks very much,
jsl42