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 itself was pretty quick, as this was a smaller aircraft. The problem is that Lisbon airport is one of the worst international airports. It was not easy to pass all the people to get to the dedicated Business class line.

Seats

The business class cabin on the A321NEO LR is small, which we liked, fewer people around you on a plane is always good.

The cabin had 16 business class seats in five rows. Odd rows were in a 2-2 configuration, and even rows were in a 1-1 formation, with the so-called 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 had a lamp that you could switch on and off, which is practical if the cabin is dark, and 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, a typical TAP crew. They were friendly, but as so often with TAP, they are not very attentive.

Flight attendants prefer to chat with each other, rather than asking passengers the one or other time if they need something to 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 problem with TAP is that if something goes wrong, like a flight delay, you will feel like their customer service doesn’t exist. On this flight, everything went right, so we can’t complain this time ;). The other problem is Lisbon airport, this airport is a mess, the lounge is a joke, not everything is TAP’s fault, but you have to consider that those flights over the ocean always start in Lisbon.

Seats and food are good, 2 main reasons to fly in business class, if the price is right, we would not hesitate to fly again with TAP in business class.

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 (finally).