Traveling can sometimes be an adventure in itself, and not always in the best way.
When booking a trip to Portugal with TAP Air Portugal, I expected a smooth journey, but instead, my friend and I experienced multiple flight cancellations, unexpected delays, and frustrating customer service.
Here’s the story of our turbulent experience with TAP Air Portugal.
Booking the Flights: Affordable but Uncertain
In November, my friend and I began planning our March trip to Portugal. After selecting our hotels, we moved on to booking flights.
While comparing prices, TAP Air Portugal stood out as the most affordable option for both the transatlantic flight from New York City to Lisbon and the domestic flight from Lisbon to Madeira.
Each of us paid $565 for the roundtrip flight to Lisbon, and $171 for the roundtrip flight to Madeira.
Although I usually shy away from low-cost flights, TAP’s prices seemed reasonable compared to other airlines, and I figured we would get a decent experience based on previous flights with other national carriers like Turkish Airlines and Icelandair. However, this would not be the case.
The First Red Flag: Return Flight Delayed
Months before our trip, we received an email notifying us that our return flight from Lisbon to New York had been pushed back a full day.
Originally scheduled for March 27, the flight was now set to depart on March 28.
While the delay wasn’t ideal, we didn’t receive any explanation for the change, and there was no response from TAP Air Portugal when we reached out for clarification.
Though this wasn’t a deal-breaker for us, it was certainly an inconvenience.
We had planned to save money by leaving on Thursday and had to adjust our plans for an extra night in Lisbon, costing us around $200 for a hotel and an additional $100 for dining out.
We accepted the change and tried to make the most of the extra day in Lisbon, though the disruption would have been a significant issue had we had a tighter budget or pressing commitments back home.
The Struggles with Madeira Flights
After spending several days in Lisbon, we were set to fly to Madeira for the second leg of our trip.
Madeira is known for its challenging airport conditions due to high crosswinds, and it seems TAP’s flights were just as challenging.
Arriving at Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado Airport nearly three hours early, we learned that our flight was overbooked and we didn’t have assigned seats.
We were rebooked on a flight five hours later, meaning we would land at midnight and be left with just a few hours of sleep before our 5:30 a.m. hike the following day.
In compensation, we were each given $250 flight vouchers, along with meal and snack vouchers.
While the delay was frustrating, we decided to make the best of it and passed the time playing cards before the rescheduled flight.
However, it was around 1 a.m. by the time we arrived at our Madeira hotel.
A Sudden Cancellation and Further Delays
The following day, another surprise awaited us.
We received an email notifying us that our return flight to Lisbon had been canceled.
TAP had automatically rebooked us on a new 9 p.m. flight, 12 hours later than our original scheduled time.
This, of course, disrupted our plans once again.
To avoid the inconvenience, my friend booked us on an earlier Ryanair flight back to Lisbon at the cost of $113 each.
Not only did we lose valuable time in Madeira, but we also had to spend an extra $226 to change our flight.
Instead of our planned day trip to Sintra, we scrambled to find other activities in Madeira.
Poor Customer Service and Unresolved Refunds
After the flight cancellation, we were eligible for a refund, according to TAP Air’s policies.
However, the airline’s website proved to be nearly impossible to navigate.
My friend repeatedly tried to request the refund online, only to be sent back to the entry page after submitting all her information.
Attempts to file a complaint through the site were met with error messages.
Despite these issues, we still hoped to resolve the matter once we were back in Lisbon.
At the airport, we visited TAP’s customer service desk, where my friend showed them screen recordings of her failed attempts to access the website.
The representative explained that the only way to request a refund was through the website, but we had already proven that it didn’t work.
Weeks later, my friend is still waiting for a response after filing a chargeback with her credit card company.
We both ended up frustrated and out-of-pocket for several unexpected costs.
The Bottom Line: A Lesson Learned
In the end, the experience with TAP Air Portugal was more trouble than it was worth.
We ended up spending significantly more than we had originally budgeted for, including $113 for a new flight, $125 for an extra night’s hotel stay, and over $100 for meals. All these added up to nearly $400 in unexpected expenses.
While canceled and overbooked flights are sometimes unavoidable, it was the accumulation of issues — flight changes, cancellations, delays, and poor customer service — that left us with a sour taste.
In the future, we’d be willing to pay a little extra for a different airline with better reliability and customer support, such as Delta or United for long-haul flights, and Ryanair or easyJet for shorter trips within Europe.
Ultimately, even with the $250 voucher TAP offered, we would not consider booking with them again unless absolutely necessary.
If we did, we’d be prepared for disappointments and disruptions along the way.