rcr416

One flight in November with A330 business class retrofit...so yes they use it to YYZ but VERY rarely.......

escherfan

Thanks for the responses regarding YYZ-LIS flights. I knew they have used the retrofit on this route, but i'm trying to figure out when it would be more or less permanent. Seems like that won't be for a while. Thanks again!

oliver2002

More on the retrofit is here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/other...s-seating.html

jcmetrokraft

I'm planning CDG-GRU (and then GRU-DEN-CDG) in Jan 2018 - normally I use AF or LH, but TP and LATAM seem much cheaper, I've never flown TAP or LATAM long-haul business... are they acceptable?

Also... seems to me booking legs separately can be much cheaper than a combined ticket for this loop (Europe-Brazil-USA-Europe). Any thoughts?

J S

I had a perfectly fine flight in J in the lie-flat seats. My son was with us and they gave him the cutest child amenity kit, including child-size eye shades. Really neat touch.

escherfan

Happy to hear the positive feedback. What route was it? Thanks!

oliver2002

GRU still sees A343 service: https://www.flightradar24.com/data/a...ortugal-tp-tap

As long as that is still the case I would avoid TP to GRU in C.

J S

JFK-LIS-JFK. Crew (especially cockpit crew) was great. No complaints at all about the flight.

My only complaint was that the immigration line on arrival at LIS was brutal. That isn't TAP's fault, but it was the second longest line I have ever waited in (after GRU).

SenSCL

The essential problem with TP is the inconsistency of the product and the unreliable deployment of their aircrafts.

My wife was on TP 82 from GRU to LIS on December 21st. Fortunately, a couple of days before the departure, equipment was changed to the refurbished A330 and she was lucky to secure one of the single seats which offer very good privacy.

My wife was positively surprised with the hard product. Nice amenity kit in the shape of a sardine tin.

tff

I couldn't agree more.

Even if it might not be everybody's cup of tea, the rule in the industry is that airlines from countries with a strong wine tradition (eg, Air France, Alitalia, Iberia) only feature their national wines.

catandmouse

I've flown 8 sectors in J with TAP over the last 4 weeks. I've no comment on the short-haul, it's much the same as any European short-haul in J. The only thing is that in LIS, 3 or 4 short-hauls ended up with apron positions and the bus-rides aren't fun (no buses for J).
The long-hauls are a mixed bag. I got the refurbished aircraft twice (LIS-EWR and JFK-LIS) and the old ones twice (LIS-MIA-LIS). They're really very different and the old craft are really sad compared with the refurbished ones.
I found the flight attendants always friendly even to me, who doesn't speak a word of Portuguese. Indeed I found the English of all flight crew to be excellent. I enjoyed the J-meals. They're not haute cuisine, but not trying to do something clever with airline meals is probably much wiser and more successful.

nanyang

Flew LIS-JFK last week and was positively surprised by the experience (had no expectations one way or the other). A/c was CS-TOL with new J cabin.

Positive aspects:
- Lounge was not crowded (quiet day?), friendly staff, no queue for showers
- Separate bus for J pax (stand departure)
- Seat was decent
- I liked the meals (there were some Portuguese xmas dishes as well)
- Cabin crew were fine, although not very friendly
- Flight was on time
- Some KrisFlyer miles earned as part of the deal

Thunderroad

Thanks for the many useful comments in this thread. My wife and I are planning on flying DUB-LIS-SFO in J in June on the A339. I don't imagine there is any special information I need about the flight beyond what's provided here, but would welcome any advice just in case I'm missing something.

Also, we'd arrive in Lisbon about 8 pm on a Sunday night and continue on to SFO the next day at 10 am. We've been to Lisbon before and loved it, and recall folks dining out late. So would like to head into town for a late dinner. Am I correct in assuming that, even with the chance of slow immigration lines, we'd be at our hotel by 9:30 pm, that 10 or even 11 pm is not too late to grab some dinner on a Sunday night, and that some decent places are open on Sunday?

Thanks for any help.

tff

There shouldn't be long lines at that time of the day as there aren't many long-haul flights arriving around that hour (except for MPM and REC, which don't even operate daily). In any case, you'll be able to get a table at a nice restaurant for sure - some are closed on sundays, but there's still a good offer.

gojko88

Well, I had my first long-haul experience in TP J (MXP-LIS-EWR and back) this week and, while I found it rather underwhelming overall, it seems to be for an entirely different set of reasons than most of the reviews that I find online.

The pros:

• Flight attendants - I've read so many trip reports of crass or indifferent crews in TP J that I was rather surprised to have genuinely warm and pleasant staff on both short-haul and long-haul segments.
• Food & drink - while by no means impressive, it's still better than what LH has historically served me in J at a much higher cost. The selection of wine is also above par.
• The hard product (for daytime) - I managed to snag the A321LR throne seat on both long-haul segments, and it's really one of the best narrow-body products out there for daytime flights (more on that below)
• LIS - found it super easy for connections, zero queues on passport control in either direction. Even with the extra security check the total "connecting" time was less than 10 minutes.

The cons:

• Equipment swaps - one of the reasons I went with TP for this trip is to experience the A330neo, however a month before the flights both got swapped to A321LR with zero notification from the airline.
• Website & app - utterly useless. Seat selection didn't work once and I had to call after each change to the booking. The website wouldn't take my SK FFP until check-in. Online check-in got confused by my non-EU citizenship and EU residency and messed up the booking so badly the check-in agents at MXP couldn't issue the BP for the LIS-EWR segment and I had to go to the transfer desk at LIS.
• The hard product (for nighttime) - this is probably my biggest gripe overall. I am 1,90m tall and have a 45 shoe size (so hardly an abnormal European) and the throne seat on the A321LR just didn't offer enough space to accommodate a person of my size. When the seat was fully flat, my toes were hitting against the ceiling of the footwell, while I occupied the full length of the seat head to toe without as much as a centimetre of wiggle room. These two factors made for a supremely uncomfortable lie-flat position, and coupled with the pathetic pillow that offers basically no support, I couldn't get myself to relax and fall asleep. The only solution presumably would have been to have gone for a bulkhead seat, but that would sacrifice direct aisle access, and therefore any advantage of flying TP over an airline such as LH.
• Lounge hours - the TAP lounge at LIS opens at 6:00 in the morning, whereas our flight from EWR landed at 4:40. It boggles the mind that a transfer airline will leave its long-haul J pax twiddling their thumbs for over an hour in the very early morning before being able to access the lounge.
• Short-haul equipment - the morning rotation to MXP is operated by an E195, where adjacent seats in J are not blocked and you basically get a full Y experience for an almost three-hour flight.

Overall, while TP's J has potential and the low prices certainly help take them into consideration, in my case the hard product failed to satisfy the basic reason why I book J in the first place, which is to get a decent night's sleep on red-eye flights. Not sleeping on EWR-LIS, followed by not being able to access the lounge upon arrival and then sitting in what is basically Y for the remaining three-hour leg to MXP, it seems like very poor value for money and I'd absolutely hesitate to book them again.