So I decided to combine all my four TAP Air Portugal Executive class experiences into one post after all.

During this trip, I took a total of four TAP flights in Executive Class:

• TP1037 Barcelona BCN- Lisbon LIS
• TP 668 Lisbon LIS – Amsterdam AMS
• TP669 Amsterdam AMS – Lisbon LIS
• TP822 Lisbon LIS – Milan MXP

These flights were a varying of the below

• Duration – 2-3 hours (not including sitting on the tarmac wondering what’s happening)
• Aircraft – Embraer 195 / Airbus A320neo / Airbus A321neo
• Seat – 02C / 03D / 03C

This was my first time experiencing intra-Europe business class and already knew not to expect much bells and whistles for short hauls. Still, the TAP website does write a glorified version of what I experienced over the few days – especially the aircraft seat!

At the airport – it is safe to say that for intra-Europe flights, being in business class saves ALOT of time and fuss. At double the price of a regular ticket, it better be!

At all three airports, there were fast track lanes available which leads to expedited clearance and security – this was a mad plus when the regular queues seemed quite chaotic. Especially on home ground at Lisbon Airport, there was a separate check in area for Executive Class passengers which on most occasions got me through in less than 10mins.

Boarding – Boarding was a mix but most times the supposed priority boarding was not regulated and everyone just kind of queued up together. Sorry for the bad pics too coz at those points I was not feeling the best of moods.

The worst part is, the times where priority boarding does get sorted nicely, it only meant premium passengers get to clear and board the bus to the aircraft first, AND THEN wait for the entire rest of the plane to get on. So premium meant a longer wait – this I don’t understand?

I get that having a separate bus does not make sense when premium passengers are only 10pax or less pax BUT how about having a separate seating area on the bus for us and allows us to alight first?

Seat – Seats on my flights were pretty much standard but with middle seats blocked, or on the 2-2 config ones, I did not have a neighbour which was a relief. Couldn’t really take proper pics as the boarding process was usually very hectic and everyone seemed to be in a rush.

The seats were rather average, just enough leg space, and pretty much it.

Embraer 195 (2-2) – the plainest seats of the entire trip.

A320neo (3-3) – movable headrest which was actually quite comfy.

A321neo (3-3) – feels the newest of the lot and that cushy headrest is really good!

I was thankful that I always had an empty seat beside me which made the 2-3hours journey feel much more spacious. In fact, on my LIS-MXP sector, I lucked out and had a whole row to myself.

In-flight Entertainment – in the absence of an IFE, the only entertainment I had was the empty seat next to me, or passengers making loud snide remarks at the crew during flight delays.

In-flight Meal – all meals I experienced were one-tray service but I wasn’t expecting more. It was mostly cold stuff anyways which were middling. But all those ham & cheese made worked well to keep those hunger pangs off until I was on the ground. That Graham’s port was yucky though – very gasoline-like ugh.

The best meal was on the AMS-LIS sector where I even had a printed menu!

I was surprised to get nuts, then the meal +wine were lovely.

Lavatories – they all looked the same to me – no frills but it worked like how it’s supposed to. The crew on all 4 flights was very lax with allowing economy class passengers to use the lavatory meant for premium cabins though, which was a major boo to me.

Service – I wasn’t expecting much and did not get much in return – so all good! I realized that for such flights, service really depends COMPLETELY on the crew so its a draw of luck: I saw rather biased service being the sole Asian female in premium on most flights, nonchalant ones, great on the AMS-LIS sector, and crappy ones on the LIS-MXP leg.

Let me explain.

So TP822 departed Lisbon 1 hour later than scheduled, which meant my connecting time in Milan was reduced from 1hr40min to a mere 40mins. So when we finally departed, I asked a seemingly senior crew member about ground transfer help when we get to Milan and she said ‘should be’, then offered to help check gate info for my flight back to Singapore.

Did not come back to me at all thereafter.

When we touched down, I asked her if she managed to get the gate info – and her response was a nonchalant “oh sorry couldn’t find”. I asked again about help on the ground for the tight connecting time – she said something to the effect of oh yah, someone will be there once you disembark.

But there was NO ONE AT ALL.

While taxi-ing to the gate, I realized I already have data and found the gate info on Milan’s airport website – so the gate info was publicly available after all,. With that info, I sprinted out and ran for my life across the airport trying my best to navigate towards passport control and the gate. And it’s no surprises that there was no ground help at all, despite what the crew said.

Very annoyed that the crew chose to LIE RIGHT IN MY FACE.

I can’t imagine if any other pax had really waited for the non-existent ground help to arrive – those poor souls. I wrote a complaint to TAP thereafter but I think non-response is my closure haha.

In Summary,

Would I take TAP again? Only if I get a steal like this again and if I have super flexi plans and more connecting time. Phew.