nldogbert

Just read in the infamous German forum and it seems that TP knows about this fare (because someone called about the schedule changes). Some have flown it and looks like the flyer was not downgraded to sit in the cargo hold..

Btw, just an advise to whoever booked it for travel later this year, check your booking as it seems that there are some schedule change and even cancellations of flights - one I read was around the Christmas period. It seems no email was sent out about these schedule change and the holders found out by checking their booking.

Mine is at least not impact so far by these schedule changes (and I hope will not) - as I don't want to communicate with them, as I can imagine they will not be easiest people to deal with...

Cheers!

a9504477

Do you have the link handy?

jvde

Because something happened at work which forced me to reschedule so had to give them a call weeks after the fare was posted though. They said I'm not entitled to the full business flexibility because i did not pay the full price and therefore a change would've cost me 400 euros they said. Eventually made it work with work but so they know about this price but are honoring it anyways.

2P or not 2P

I hope they do honour this price. My return flight is EWR-OPO-ORY, which at booking was about a 5 hour connection (whcih I was happy with), but the mid morning OPO-ORY has been cancelled, resulting in a 20 minute connection at OPO! I am going to have to call them for a reroute or somesuch as even from the front of the plane I'm doubtful of making that connection, and sure my bags won't.

irishguy28

I booked two of these but a schedule change on the second sort of "broke" my ticket; I tried calling to change it but could never get through on their call centre. I could see, though, from playing around on their website that even swapping from a routing back via OPO (as my original ticket was) to one back via LIS, on this particular Monday, the rebooking options would have had to have me leaving at least 24 hours earlier than originally booked [rather than arriving back in ORY on Tuesday morning I would now not get back til late Tuesday afternoon, and I had to be back on that Tuesday morning, so a later arrival were out of the question for me]. As such, I was more leaning towards cancelling the ticket completely rather than having it rebooked.

Eventually I DM'ed them on Twitter and after a very efficient short to-and-fro when confronted with the expected not-so-great-for-me rebooking options, I was offered a cancel for a full refund, which I accepted (this had been my desired outcome, actually). They waived the €400 cancellation fee.

It took a month, but the full amount was refunded to my credit card.

NightlinerVIE

Same here with an OPO connection...will try Twitter and reroute via LIS.

2P or not 2P

To update, I spoke to their call centre (UK number, but in Portugal), and quickly offered re-routes that worked. So, no problems.

nldogbert

All,

Just flew on this ticket. [there was I suspect 3 other pax on this ticket - in total 5 of us with exactly the same itinearary - though on the last leg from LIS-ORY - 2 of the suspected pax was not on the same flight (not sure if they overslept in the lounge @ LIS or had a different flight/destination)]

A summary of
Good:
- food was good on the the OPO-EWR and EWR-LIS flight
- flights were both more or less on-time
- service was not as bad as I initially expected (I guess it is based on your expectation when you board). Most of the FA were friendly.
- No lost baggage
- flight from LIS-ORY had an equipment switch from the A320 to A330
- good wine selection for red/green/white. For me the sparkling wine was not my cup of tea.
- J miles credited

Bad:
- boring breakfast offerings - cold cuts (on both ORY-OPO and LIS-ORY)
- had to nearly always ask for refills when collecting glasses
- on my OPO-EWR route, crew was friendly but lazy - I had a couple of empty glasses left after the meal which was NOT collected by the 2nd meal
- 2nd meal on the OPO-EWR was boring - cold cuts. No hot/cold options.
- Lounge in OPO (ANA lounge) - basic with horrible internet connection/speed. Used the airport free connection.
- Lounge in LIS (ANA lounge) - basic and worst, they had shower facilities, but you had to pay 15.45 Euro for towels and amenities. Pathetic in my opinion.
- Lounge in EWR is either the SAS or the LH lounge - both were crowded like crazy with LH, OS, SK and TP flights leaving around the same time. No showers.
- check-in in EWR are handled by a 3rd party - not the most friendly.
- the OPO-EWR aircraft is slightly newer, also with the slippery slope seats (aka LH old generation Business seats). The EWR-LIS was even older (looks like 1st generation angle lie-flat seat in the TAP fleet).
- on both long-haul, Business cabin filled up (most probably with TAPUpgrades takers or Op-Up).
- flight from EWR-LIS is too short for full meal and sleep. Even though I know that the crew was trying to keep meal time short and fast, they had to go through the 4 rounds which took close to 2 hours to complete everything. If you want to get breakfast (I skipped) this will mean a sleep time of only 3 hours max. They had the cabin lights on during the breakfast service (luckily I wore the eye shade) - but you could hear the plates, etc.
- seat - for me it was OK. but I am sure a lot of other people will complain this is out of date. It is after all the old LH slippery slope seats.

Weird observations:
- on the long-haul flights, the order of food was always taken on the 1A-B side to 4A-B, than it will start from 1J-H to the back. If a passenger is not in his/her seat, the FA will wait for the passenger to return before proceeding. On the EWR-LIS flight, just as they started on th 1J-H side, passenger in 1E left to the toilet and they basically ran down the aisle to ask her the choice of meal . A very very weird observation.
- Crew seem to have the ala previous "Air France" syndrom (not that I have ever experienced this - but heard alot of it). Noticed that passengers who spoke Portugese had a slightly more friendly service from the FA's

Be aware:
- at your starting point, remember to have a print out or a saved copy of your ESTA application and approval/validity. If not, they will not give you a boarding pass. Despite just returning 2 weeks ago from the US with a clear visa stamp in my passport - they still insisted to see this. Luckily the internet was fast at ORY.

For the price paid, I am ok, but I can imagine if not for the direct flight to Portugal from US, the value for money with TAP in Business I would say to be rather poor. Will not even want to redeem miles with them as even that I find not worth it.

Thanks again to the OP that spotted and shared this!

Cheers!

Carppl

Hi,
I assume you all already know but I flew this and there was absolutely no problem with honouring this fare. Whole experience was very nice despite of not 100% flat bed

SFOTraveler1984

Thanks for sharing your experience. I fully agree.
I flew this early October and honestly had very low expectations regarding TAP.
However, TAP managed to exceed my expectations - I was very impressed with the quality of the airports in OPO and LIS, the crew on board was very friendly and I liked the Portuguese touch in their onboard offerings.

I would hope that this fare maybe turns out to be a "showcase / ad" for TAP

irishguy28

I had a very friendly and efficient check-in agent, who gave all the necessary information (including choice of lounges) without me even having to ask.

Not on my flights. Worked from the front to back, doing both sides of the aisle, and going back when any absent pax returned to their seat.

No-one ever asked or mentioned ESTA at ORY. At the security check prior to entering the gate area at LIS, a staff member did ask if I had an ESTA or visa but didn't require any paper confirmation.

ottorockit

Just flew this ticket:

They checked my ESTA at LIS.

For the price I paid it was a great flight, nice 200% miles.

If you had to pay the full price for this flight you would be not happy, lot's off chairs were broken and could not in recline mode, so people had to change seats. Staff was not so friendly at all, not bad but nothing special at all.

Anyway, to fly to NY for 600 euro, I don't complain and had a wonderful trip!

NightlinerVIE

Flew this without a problem (didnt get asked about ESTA at all).
Due to two separate schedule changes, I was able to have them reroute me via LIS and JFK instead, so got the much better ex-Azul business class product.
Nice flights overall, with consistently better service on the Euro segments interestingly - the intercontinental crews being rather cold and sometimes slightly clueless (ask for a Gin&Tonic, get a full glass of Gin and a can of Tonic...)

Good:
- Nice seats on LIS-JFK and JFK-LIS - identical to AZ or AB i think
- Generally good food
- Really good wine offerings, except for the sparkling wine
- Reasonably good service
- good IFE system with good choice

Bad:
- ANA Lounge at LIS is very crowded, facilities rather grimy, basic selection of food & beverage
- Immigration at T5 in the evening is not a good place to be (took 2+ hours to even get to the APC machines)
- "Airspace Lounge" at T5 is pathetic. The terminal is nicer.
- Liquor selection on-board doesnt feel too premium - no-name-spirits...


All in all, still a tremendously nice way of crossing the atlantic for ~600 EUR, especially in the newer Azul seats. No complaints here

Thanks to the OP for the nice find!