AC Star Gold members do not have access to lounges in Lisbon airport. Neither the Lounge Schengen da ANA (Central Square up the escalator) nor the Blue Lounge (far from passport exit control) allow access, although the Central Square lounge does allow access to StarGolds from UA, Lufthansa and some other StarAlliance airlines (and some airlines of other Alliances too). This was confirmed by the Central Square Lounge clerk (denied entry), as well as by a very helpful Airport Information agent who called both lounges directly, as well as by an "usher" at the Air Canada check-in area. So, for the 6-hour stop in Lisbon, we took the subway to the downtown from the airport (30 min), walked around, ate some delicious Portuguese pastries and enjoyed the time outside.

By the way, I also took AC Rouge for the first time (Lisbon to Toronto), and perhaps because it was not full (maybe 50%), it was quite comfortable, same as mainline. The bulkhead seats (row 12 on this 763) are awful because of lack of leg space, but the seats right behind have lots of legroom even with the entertainment box for some of them (I tried several). Before the 6 hour stop, I flew from Faro to Lisbon on TAP, and that was quite comfortable too. At Faro, there was priority security clearance and priority boarding for StarGold members that was enforced by the Airport Employees (earning me a glare from people in line when the agent blocked them to allow me forward). However, the Faro Star Alliance lounge did not open until 6am which was the time of the flight to Lisbon.

The flight to Europe was on Brussels Airlines, transiting in Brussels to Faro. Across the Atlantic, it was a great flight, again perhaps less than half full, allow me to snag a 4-across set of seats and sleeping flat for over 5 hours of the 7.5 hour flight. My rollerboard and knapsack bag were allowed on at Toronto, but for the Faro flight, single carry-ons (including purses and small bags) were strictly enforced, but not until the jet bridge, so there was little opportunity to strategically plan and to move items around, including my laptop which went into the general hold (and caused me to worry throughout the flight once I realized I had left it in the rollerboard). Another bad aspect of this was that the luggage that was jet-bridge tagged came out with general luggage, and the small Faro airport was a zoo, packed with British Tourists and very slow luggage service. Rollerboards were allowed on board, but only if they were the single piece of carry-on. For this Faro flight, the gate attendants also did not honor priority boarding, even though there was a signed priority lane at the Brussels airport gate. People who came to that lane expecting to have priority were pointed to the back of the general line.

My experience with the flight attendants on these flights (Brussel Airlines (2), TAP, Air Canada Rouge) were that they were in general better than the average Air Canada mainline with more smiles and less attitude, even as simple as saying you're welcome when thanked.