Flight Review: TAP Business Class A321LR NEO
TAP Business class between Lisbon and Montreal, operated by an A321 LR NEO with lie flat seats.
Wi-Fi was accessible for free on this flight, however only for messaging like WhatsApp. But compared to many other European airlines, that was already more than you get with those.
Boarding
The boarding process was relatively quick due to the smaller size of the aircraft. However, Lisbon Airport is one of the worst international airports, and it was difficult to navigate through the crowds to reach the dedicated Business Class line.
Seats
The Business Class cabin on the A321NEO LR is compact, which we appreciated—fewer people around you on a flight is always a plus.
The cabin features 16 Business Class seats arranged across five rows. Odd-numbered rows are configured in a 2-2 layout, while even-numbered rows follow a 1-1 arrangement, featuring the coveted “throne seat.”
The “throne seat” had plenty of surface space on each side, however the space for your legs and feet was quite narrow.
The footwell included a convenient lamp that could be switched on and off, making it practical for finding your shoes in a dark cabin, perfect if you are looking for your shoes to put on to go to the restrooms :).
Storage was significantly less in the 2-2 rows compared to the 1-1 rows.
The seats were quite comfortable, they were maybe a bit too stiff, but still good.
As already mentioned, seats could be transformed into fully lie-flats seats. For some reason, many people still think that TAP has only angled seats, but all seats on all TAP’s plane are nowadays fully lie-flat in business class. Of course, not those in the planes that operates within Europe only ;).
Each seat had a reading light, USB port and remote control for the in-flight entertainment (IFE) system.
Amenities and IFE
Colorful and nice looking amenity kit, with the usual suspects: eye mask, lip balm, earplugs, pen, toothbrush and toothpaste, body lotion and a pair of colorful socks.
Noise-cancelling headphones, nothing special, but not bad at all.
The IFE had a good size and a good resolution. The picture was crystal-clear, and the touchscreen very responsive. However, only a very few newer movies were available, and only in English or Portuguese language.
Food & Drinks
We flew already many times with TAP in business class within Europe, and the food was always good. On this flight, you could choose between 3 different main courses. We chose the pasta, and as so often with TAP the presentation wasn’t the best, but it tasted very good.
Small dessert: chocolate ice cream, fruits and cheese.
There was a snack before landing. It was a wild mix of a small quiche, ham, cheese, carrot, mozzarella, cherry tomato, strawberries, grapes, melon, bread and butter.
It was nothing special, and I even forgot to take a picture.
Service
TAP doesn’t offer any preflight drink before takeoff, we don’t know any other airline that doesn’t offer preflight drinks in business class.
The crew was typical of TAP: friendly but, as is often the case, not particularly attentive. The flight attendants seemed to prefer chatting among themselves rather than checking in with passengers to see if they needed anything, such as a drink.
Conclusion
TAP business class is not bad at all. Once you are in the plane, you feel comfortable. However, there’s much room for improvement for the service.
The issue with TAP is that when something goes wrong, such as a flight delay, their customer service can feel non-existent. Thankfully, everything went smoothly on this flight, so we have no complaints this time. 😉
Another downside is Lisbon Airport, it’s chaotic, and the lounge is disappointing. While not everything can be blamed on TAP, it’s worth noting that transatlantic flights with the airline always originate from Lisbon.
The seats and food are excellent, two key reasons to choose Business Class. If the price is right, we wouldn’t hesitate to fly with TAP in Business Class again.
If we had to choose between Lufthansa or TAP business class, we would take TAP. Maybe that will change in the future when Lufthansa is getting a new business class layout on all planes (finally).
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