Flight review: TAP Business Class A321NEO to Funchal
Flight review, TAP Business Class A321NEO from Paris via Lisbon to Funchal.
Boarding
The boarding in Paris Orly was a bit chaotic. Even though they announced that business class, Star Alliance Gold members and families with children should board first, everybody stood up and went to the counter.
In Lisbon and also on the way back from Funchal the boarding process was handled much better. Dedicated lines were available and everyone boarded when it was their turn.
Flight
Our flights were all operated by Airbus A321Neos and they all seemed to be in a pretty good shape and were clean.
Seats
The A321Neo has a 3-3 configuration in every row, however when you travel in business class, the middle seat is always free.
Legroom is really good for intra Europe business class, even for taller persons. It is much better compared to Lufthansa or Luxair‘s intra Europe business class.
Food & Drinks
We have had a lot of bad experiences with food in business class on intra Europe flights. However, I have to say that TAP impressed us with their food.
The food was fantastic. Our flights were only about 2 hours long or even shorter, we would have been happy if we had such good food on some of our long haul business class flights in the past.
Breakfast
3 of 4 flights were in the morning, and on every flight we had a different breakfast. Below you can see pictures from 2 of them, I forgot to take a picture of the one early in the morning. Actually that one was the best breakfast I’ve had, with fresh fruit, croissants, warm bakery, yogurt, orange juice and to my astonishment coffee that tasted good.
Lunch
We skipped the main course, as we already had lunch on our stopover in Lisbon. But I had a quick look at my neighbour’s seat, it looked delicious, he finished its meal, which I think should confirm that it tasted good.
Our smoked salmon and chocolate mousse tasted excellent.
Service
As mentioned already, we had 4 different flights and service was ok to good. On one flight, the flight attendants weren’t very attentive and preferred to chat with each other instead of clearing the tables.
But apart from that the service was good, and crews were friendly.
Entertainment
As on most short-haul business class flight within Europe, no entertainment screens are available. Apart from power ports where you could plug in your own tablet or laptop.
Conclusion
TAP short-haul business class is one of the best possibilities to fly in comfort and with excellent food within Europe. We would and will for sure book them again.
If we had to choose between Lufthansa, Luxair or TAP, we would always book with TAP without hesitation.
In fact, there’s just one point which spoils the whole good experience with TAP. If you ever have a problem with a cancelled or delayed flight, you have bad cards. In that case, you have to contact TAP, and we can tell you from our own experience that you need a lot of time and patience. At the end, there’s a small chance that everything goes smoothly, and your issues will be solved, but don’t count on that.
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