Originally Posted by
36902BRF
I did four flights with TAP this year. The only place I saw them checking bags was at gate in Lisbon for return to US. This was based on size not weight and they gave a pass to folks in J. My bag is more than 10KG always but because it is a small 30l bag it never attracts attention anyway. That said I have a day backpack inside that I could move stuff to if I had to gate check.
They don't bother people flying in Executive or Top Executive, and I've heard them say it out loud. I had a young agent come up to me in line at LIS once and say that my carry-on was too big, an older agent that recognized me from a previous trip told her in Portuguese that I was flying in Business and not to bother me, so she moved on to the next victim.