TAP Air Portugal business-class evaluation of the A321LR long-haul

How much does business class cost to book on TAP Air Portugal?

Checking in to and boarding TAP Air Portugal business class

Here are the special services TAP business-class passengers enjoy at the airport.

I arrived at Dulles extra early only to discover the check-in desk opened two hours before boarding time. Though I was first in the Premium line, I had to wait for the agents to arrive.

Airport lounge options for TAP Air Portugal business class

With enough time, I could have visited at least four, if not five, lounges between the two airports I flew into and out of on my trip. I managed to hit three.

If you’re flying business class on TAP Air Portugal between Washington, D.C., and Lisbon, be prepared for lounge choices.

At IAD, the friendly gate agent asked me with a sly grin what kind of food I liked, saying that was the proper criterion for deciding which of the two available Terminal B lounges I should visit. He hinted that because the Lufthansa Lounge only served cold food, I would be better off choosing the Turkish Airways Lounge. He wasn’t wrong; I enjoyed the Mediterranean fare, such as kofta, lentil soup, hummus and pita, and cinnamon rice pudding. The Lufthansa Lounge was slightly closer to my gate, but not enough to be a deciding factor.

How comfortable was TAP Air Portugal business class?

On the Airbus A321LR I flew in both directions, here’s the layout of the business-class cabin and the dimensions of the seats.

The A321LR is unusual because it’s a one-aisle long-haul airplane. All passengers must walk through business class on their way back to economy, so settle in quickly.

Business class has five rows of seats, alternating between rows with two seats on each of the aisle and rows with only one seat on each side. The individual seats in rows 2 and 4 are dubbed the “thrones,” and they are the prime places to snag if you’re flying solo, as you won’t have a seatmate. Couples might prefer to be seated together.

I was able to select my seat online for free when I was ticketed, so I chose the throne seat for my overnight flight on the outbound. It wasn’t available on the day flight back, so I chose an aisle seat in the center Row 3. I lucked out and didn’t have anyone sitting next to me.

Business class doesn’t really have a bad row, though Row 1 by the galley and bathroom might be more trafficked and noisy, depending on your flight crew and fellow passengers. However, after trying out both seat types, I understand why those throne seats get snapped up quickly. It’s not just the privacy — they offer much more space for stowing your things.

The primary part of each seat is the same, with a recliner that turns into a lie-flat bed facing a seatback monitor with a mesh pull-down pocket below and a pop-out coat hook.

The tray table pulls out from a console that also contains a reading light, TV remote, USB-A port, headphone jack, water bottle holster and a pair of noise-canceling headphones attached by a strap.

Power outlets are in the seat divider/armrest facing the seat in front of you, so you have to contort your body to see where they are to insert your power cord. (My cellphone flashlight came in handy here.)

It’s the sides where the two seat types differ. True to its name, the throne seat has wide armrests with drink pads on either side. On the aisle side, you even have a cubby with a door where you could stow a water bottle, tablet or other items you wish to have accessible. In the double-seat rows, the aisle-side armrests are narrow and not that comfortable; the center has a small drink pad you’ll have to share with your seatmate.

In the throne seat, I could tuck my backpack in front of the armrest on the window side rather than stowing it on the ledge under the seat in front of me as I had to in the twin configuration. This was a perfect situation when the chair was reclined into a fully flat position because I could still have my bag nearby; I’m not sure how I could have kept my pack with me while sleeping in the two-seater row.

Both seat types have pockets with safety cards and air sickness bags (cleverly labeled “hope you won’t need this bag”), but they’re located between the two TVs in the row of two and above the window-side armrest in the single row.

The two-person rows are so different from the one-person thrones that I almost feel TAP should sell them at different prices.

It worked out that I had the throne seat on the overnight flight and the two-seater on the day flight. I was mostly happy with the TAP business-class seats in the upright position. I had elbow room on each side (though much more in the throne) and tons of space for my feet and legs. The slight recline position with my feet a bit elevated was comfy for watching TV. The tray table was wide enough to support a full meal tray or my laptop with space to spare.

On the day flight, I did start getting uncomfortable after a few hours and kept experimenting with a slight recline versus sitting straight up. I couldn’t find a comfortable way to use the pillow as back support, so I ditched that idea.

With a seat pitch of 44 inches, I found I had to lean forward to use the touchscreen options on the TV. Presumably, the remote was supposed to help you with that, but it was tricky to release and return it to its rest, and I found the controls finicky. The touchscreen was easier but impossible to use with the tray table deployed.

However, once I was ready to sleep, the seat was less ideal. As I said, I’m 6 feet tall and the seat, when fully reclined, was just as long as I was. When the seat started reclining, my knees got scrunched into my body, and I had to unbuckle and slide back in order to make space for my limbs. The bed was not comfortable when lying on my back, so I curled up, but the narrow seat did not leave much space on either side. If I were as tall as The Points Guy founder Brian Kelly or had the broad shoulders of a linebacker, I would be uncomfortable trying to sleep.

The seat itself could use more padding or some kind of soft covering; the duvet was sufficient, but the pillow was too flat. I needed to prop my head up more; in hindsight, I wonder if there were a way to slightly elevate the head portion of the seat, but not reclining 100%. It was still way more comfortable than coach.

Business class has one bathroom by the galley behind the cockpit. It was a standard airplane bathroom with a changing table, but did not offer extra space or nicer amenities.

One thing that struck me as odd on the day flight was that, despite it being midafternoon in Portugal and midmorning in the U.S., the crew asked us to close our window shades and then turned off all the lights after the main meal service. I couldn’t imagine how that would help me adjust back to U.S. time and it left me as the only passenger with my light on, working. Most of the other passengers seemed to nap, and the flight attendant asked me if I wanted her to wake me for the end-of-flight snack.

Amenities in TAP Air Portugal business class

TAP provides an amenity kit by Portuguese brand Benamor in a bag made from recycled plastics. The kit has the basics with no frills: an eye mask with a cute floral design, one-size-fits-all socks, a wooden toothbrush, a tiny tube of toothpaste, earplugs and Benamor hand cream. There was no lip balm or moisturizer.

The entertainment options were quite extensive with 133 movies (such as “Aquaman,” “Wish” and “Barbie”), 83 television shows and 172 music channels, including podcasts in multiple languages. I even watched a couple of short videos on how to speak Portuguese.

The provided noise-canceling headphones were so effective that I had to remove them to speak with the flight attendants when they came by.

TAP has four levels of onboard Wi-Fi. You can access messaging apps for free, or choose full internet for one hour for 9.99 euros ($10.90), three hours for 19.99 euros ($21.80) or a full-flight pass for 29.99 euros ($32.70). I was hoping to work on my flight back to Washington, so I tried to purchase the full flight plan but after taking my credit card number, the system got stuck on “verifying” mode for a half-hour before I simply gave up. I was able to access the free messaging on my phone for a while, but that, too, dropped. At one point, neither my phone nor my laptop could see the TAP Air Portugal network at all.

The flight crew members just shrugged their shoulders when I asked and said it was likely a satellite issue.

Two hours before landing, I finally was able to purchase the one-hour plan on my laptop. My first speed test on fast.com timed out and gave no results. I tried again on Google’s speed test and got speeds of 3.69 Mbps download, 1.10 Mbps upload, latency of 116 ms and was told my connection was slow. Minutes later, the system was down once again and I couldn’t reconnect. (I’m currently working to get TAP to refund my payment.)

How was the food in TAP Air Portugal business class?

The food was perfectly fine on both my flights, but nothing remarkable.

No one offered a welcome drink, though a flight attendant did come through to hand out printed menus, with the wine list on the back. The menu listed an appetizer of mixed nuts and a beverage and said, “Please make your request to the crew.” I didn’t understand what this meant at the time, but in hindsight, it sounds like if you wanted a drink and nuts before the meal service you could ask for them.

Once airborne, it wasn’t long before the flight attendants came through to ask our entree choices. In both cases, I asked the flight attendants for recommendations. On the outbound flight, the attendant recommended the salmon as a dish the airline is known for. On the return, the crew member told me she was a vegetarian and couldn’t help me.

Before each meal service, the flight crew came around with hot towels that were thin and not that hot. Both lunch and dinner included a starter, choice of bread from a basket, three entrees (meat, fish, vegetarian) and a trio of desserts (ice cream, fresh fruit, cheese). Meals were served in two courses, with the starter, bread and entree served together, and dessert served separately.

TAP has a “Local Stars” program, which invites Portuguese chefs to choose local ingredients from their home area to incorporate into TAP’s onboard menus. The chef and ingredients change every two months. On my flight, the chef was Andre Cruz from the Setubal Peninsula, and his featured lunch ingredients included pickled onions and Moscatel sauce from Setubal.

On the outbound flight, dinner started with a veal and radish salad. Entree choices included:

• Roasted beef with green beans, carrots and potatoes
• Salmon with dill sauce, cauliflower, rice, green beans and artichoke
• Ricotta and mascarpone ravioli with pumpkin marinara

I would have preferred more vegetables in my starter salad, but it was tasty enough. I found the salmon a bit dry, but it must truly be famous because it was sold out before the attendants got to the last row.

I gobbled down the dessert trio of strawberry ice cream, mixed berries and three cheese wedges with Ritz crackers. The flight crew also came through the cabin offering a choice of chocolate (milk, dark with sea salt and chocolate with cocoa nibs), which made this chocoholic happy.

The complimentary wine and alcohol list features exclusively Portuguese brands, so I sampled a white wine from the Douro Valley with dinner and a port with dessert and enjoyed them both. Coffee and tea were also served with dessert.

On the return flight, the lunch starter was a salad with slices of seared tuna. Entree choices included:

• Veal osso bucco with a carrot puree
• Confit codfish with chickpea puree
• Chard and ricotta tortelli pasta with cheese and cauliflower sauce

The salad was delicious with silky tuna slices doused in a lot of dressing. The pasta looked and tasted more like an economy meal than anything premium. The bread choice was presented nicely in a basket. I skipped the wines on this daytime flight, but the selections were the same as on my overnight flight.

I enjoyed the dessert course with its tiny bowls of chocolate-raspberry ice cream, kiwi and pineapple fruit salad and goat cheese with crackers. Once again, the flight attendants came around with the chocolate selection.

I didn’t time the service, but I started watching a two-hour movie as we took off, and I had around a half-hour left after the meal ended.

A light snack was served on both flights before landing. On the overnight flight, it was breakfast, served about three hours after dinner. I was more groggy and confused than hungry, so I nibbled on the soggy croissant, cheese wedges and honeydew slices and ignored the deli meat and watermelon.

On the day flight, I found that between meal services I was very thirsty and also hungry, but the attendants didn’t come through with drinks or snacks. I hadn’t thought to fill up my water bottle, thinking I’d be taken care of, so I had to get up several times to ask for water and ate some of the snacks I had in my bag.

The end-of-flight meal was not overly filling: a slice of bread, three strawberries and a slice of mango, a bit of deli meat and cheese and a portion of tortilla with egg salad inside.

I appreciated eating a two-course meal served on real plates with metal cutlery and actual glasses. The spread was certainly nicer than I’d expect in economy, with upscale ingredients like veal and fresh berries, but the bread wasn’t warm or the fish especially tender. I don’t know what magic other airlines work to present restaurant-quality meals to their premium travelers, but TAP Air Portugal’s meals suffered from the time spent waiting in trays to be served.

Would you recommend TAP Air Portugal business class?

For the right price, TAP Air Portugal’s business class on the A321LR is definitely a step up from an economy or premium economy experience. The throne seats, in particular, have a ton of personal space, and the lie-flat seats are decent, even if they are narrow and not especially plush. For a shorter long-haul flight, the experience and service were perfectly adequate.

However, if you could spend a similar amount of cash or miles for a more luxurious business-class experience with a nicer lounge, I would take that route.

The airline could improve its sleeping comfort with a better pillow or mattress pad, and offer more proactive service on the daytime flights when more passengers are likely to be awake. But I was happy to have a place to put my legs, and I got that in spades with TAP Air Portugal’s business-class seats.

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