Arrived at LGW at 0500 for my outbound flight. The lady in front at check in had bad back, so I stepped forward and helped with luggage. Got a warm thank you from agent. Its nice to see basic good manners recognised.[y]
*A lounge not open but servicair allowed me in. Not clubhouse of course but friendly staff, and got a coffee, which was all I really wanted.
A319 for leg to Lisbon was a typical euro-commuter with leather seats throughout, clean and basic. Crew appeared bored, which I am sure is exactly what short hauling is - boring. Push back on the button, although a bit of a queue before take off. At least there was not the long Heathrow taxi. Dawn broke as we climbed, turned and followed the birds south. A light breakfast of melon and a ham and cheese roll with coffee and juice was fine, and all that was needed.
Transfer at Lisbon was very good, only taking me 5 minutes or so to get between gates. A310 for the flight to Salvador. Plane very old, tired and scruffy - so it suited me[;)]. The crew were friendly enough though. 25 minutes late on push back. Amenity kit handed out soon after take off - a pair of the old air-tube earphones and nothing else. Lunch was a choice of chicken or go hungry. I went for chicken. It turned out to be some rice with a dry bit of fish. [:$]After a quick taste, I decided to turn it into the go hungry option. Got a bit of sleep and watched Mr & Mrs Smith - mildly amusing. Film shown on pull down screens - no v-port!
In an interesting variation on the normal policy, TAP reserve the exit seats not for children, but for the fat and tall. This I thoroughly applaud. What this meant was that two lanky lads (incl me) and 3 porky guys had 8 exit seats to ourselves. For me, the comfort and lack of pain this bought more than offset the lack of amenity kits (I bought my own anyway a VS UC one), poor food (I bought my own anyway - sandwiches), and limited entertainment (I bought my own anyway a good book and su doko). An added bonus was that grog rations were plentiful throughout the flight (even though I had bought my own!). So us 5 'size freaks' made merry with our own little party. I tried out a non-exit seat for size. Not bad with more pitch than VS. Also the seat was wide enough to properly get your bum into.
I also noticed that the toilets were serviced and cleaned during the 8-hour flight - crew had proper kit including disposable coveralls to do the job - this impressed me.
A second lunch was served a while before landing - this time the choice was . fish or go hungry - yes it was the same as the previous meal[:(!]
Return Flight.
This started badly - The A* lounge is airside. But you are not allowed to go airside until you flight is called about 45mins before take-off. So I mardily settled into a bar and until my mood impoved which it did after a couple of caiparinas (a green mcuth blue, if you see what I mean, mostly made of rum and guaranteed to blow your socks off). Wandered through to board at the required time, quietly steaming after my spell at the bar. The return A310 was as tired as the outbound one. But I got 4 center seats to myself - a sort of flat bed on the cheap! Drinks service was quick and generous. Staff this time were much happier, cracking jokes with each other. Unfortunately they were shockingly dismissive and even rude with the pax. For example I took a little too long drinking my coffee - the crew asked if I had finished and I apologised and said no. She walked off for 20 seconds, returned, and demanded to know what was taking so long! One Brazilian pax, in true Latin style, ended up having very a loud argument with the crew about how they had spoken to his wife.
Supper was truly disgusting - a sort of tough chicken stew with smash made with far too much water; the whole lot was just a liquid mess[:$][:$][xx(]. The only way you could get at it was with a spoon it was so liquid. Believe me, I am not a fussy eater by any stretch of the imagination, and for me to say a meal is disgusting is quite something. So had a nibble at the bread and rapidly settled down to sleep. Managed to sleep right through (apart from being briefly woken by the argument between pax and crew) until the lights turned on - superb. Breakfast was basic (ham roll and juice) but absolutely fine.
It Lisbon I had a 4 hour wait, so decided to take advantage of the A* lounge. To get to it you have to go downstairs, out through passports, across arrivals, back upstairs to departures, through passports again and back to just a few yards from where you got off the plane. I was surprised that there was no direct way to get at it as a transfer passenger after all it is when you are transferring that you usually end up with the inconveniently long waiting times. It was pretty much a standard Priority Pass lounge: Adequate but uninspiring.
Flight to LGW was once again a standard Euro-commuter, fine in most respects.
Summary Thoughts.
TAP was pretty poor on most fronts. But their prices were sharp. So I guess you pays your money and makes your choice. Personal space was great on both legs, which is important to me. So I ended up enjoying the flights. If their poor quality is depressing their loadings and thus giving pax more space, then they would be a smart choice IMO. But it is more likely I was just lucky. At the end of the day if meals, service and entertainment are important to you, then do not fly TAP.
