February 9st, 2020 MUC-LIS on TAP Air Portugal Flight 557 Airbus A321neo
After getting some sleep later in the evening I was still a little out of sorts, but it was time to start the journey home. I had about 16 hours on the ground scheduled between my arrival back from Europe until I needed to be in Mexico. At first, I had considered flying straight to Mexico, but decided I wanted to at least go home to swap out the cold weather clothes for the warm weather stuff. That being said I was really hoping there wouldn’t be any major IRROPs on my trip back.
I took the shuttle back over to Munich airport, where TAP uses the Lufthansa check in agents. It was a quick and painless process to get everything sorted. I went through security in just a couple of minutes. I probably got airside in under 10 minutes; have to love German efficiency. Unless of course you're flying out of TXL.
I used the time before boarding to stock up on a couple of items that my friends and family enjoy that are only available in Europe. I have standing orders with my mom and a couple of my cousins for some specific items when I visit the EU. The TAP gate was once again all the way at the end of the concourse. I guess it helps them keep their fares lower? Boarding was efficient and I was very happy to see a brand new A321neo at the gate. At least I could pick up 2 out of the 3 neo family.
Once again the flight was a major upgrade for flying in Europe. I even ended up with a whole row to myself with 34-inch seat pitch and a hot meal. You can actually have a poorer experience flying business class in Europe. I was certainly a fan of at least that part of the TAP experience.
TAP Meal MUC-LIS
I also was really impressed with the seat, and found the built in tablet holder to be a really nice feature as well.
Tablet holder TAP A321neo
We arrived on time and at a gate once we got to LIS.
February 9st, 2020 LIS-JFK on TAP Air Portugal Flight 209 Airbus A330neo
I had a little bit less than two hours on this layover. My first concern was making sure I got through passport control and over to the international gates. Although, I did make one final pit stop at LIS Duty free to pick up something for a friend. Thankfully, the passport control situation to leave the EU was a lot faster than to enter. I got through with a minimal wait, and just as I remembered the non-Schengen part of the airport is even more grim then the rest of the airport.
Once I found the holding area for our gate, I was treated to the secondary security inspection even though I didn’t have an SSSS printed on my boarding pass. They were friendly, but thorough, even going through all of the internal pockets of my winter coat. I spent about 30 minutes in the gate area sending out a few emails, to tie up some follow up work from the conference.
Boarding thankfully was via a jet bridge and on to another freshly delivered A330neo. This time I would luck out and the 2 center seats in our grouping of 4 remained empty. The extra space is always nice to have. I was really trying to stay awake on this flight, so I would be tired when I got home later that day. Thankfully, between my iPad and the excellent selection of movies, and large HD screen provided by TAP I was able to keep myself entertained and awake for almost all of the flight.
First Meal LIS-JFK
The service was good on this flight with a hot meal served after takeoff. There was a small half sandwich and tea service before landing as well. Overall, I was quite happy with everything TAP did on board. My biggest issue was with LIS as an airport. The terminal just isn’t that nice, and the passport control situation there has to be one of the worst in Europe.
Second Meal LIS-JFK
We arrived pretty much on time, and I was through GE and my checked bag made it with me to New York. I then did the three-train shuffle home. Getting in around 11:30PM. My first flight to Mexico was set to depart at 11:58AM the next day so this was definitely a quick stop at home.
All in all, another fun and successful pilgrimage to my company’s headquarters. At that time I was making plans to visit our French office in the April timeframe. Of course, those plans are now on hold indefinitely at this point.
I hope you are still enjoying the journey. The next installment will cover my trip down to a client site in an industrial area of Mexico. I hope you will enjoy it.
At this point I have gotten back ahead of my very patient friend who is editing this mountain of text for me. I expect to put up a few more installments tomorrow. Thanks for your patience this has turned into a larger undertaking then it seemed like at the start.
