Press Air Portugal Review: travel accident, red flags

In November, My friend and I started to book a walk trip to Portugal.

We selected our hotels, then we went to flights.

By comparing the prices, we found Tap Air PortugalThe country’s national airline had the most affordable non-stop flights, both of the United States Lisbon and from Lisbon to MadeiraA Portuguese island at 600 miles in the Atlantic Ocean.

We each paid $ 565 round trip to fly from New York to Lisbon, and $ 171 round trip to fly from Lisbon to Madeira.

Normally, I am wary low -cost flights From the United States – I think you always pay for something, whether it is a less than stellar flight experience or Hidden.

Tap flight costs seemed somewhat comparable to those of other airlines, however, we did not feel the need to look too deep the airline. I also stole from others national airlines Before – like Turkish airlines, Air France, Icelandair – without hitch. I assumed it would be the same thing.

We knew our first month of red flag before flying, and our experience only worsened from there.

Our return flight changed 2 months in advance

In January, two months before our flight, we received an email indicating that our route had been changed.

Our return flight, from Lisbon to New York, was delayed by 24 hours, our flight now starting on Friday March 28, instead of Thursday, March 27.

We were not explained to us why. Tap Air Portugal did not respond to a request for comments.

We planned to fly Thursday to save money. Staying an additional day would cost us about $ 200 for the hotel alone, more expenses, like eating for the day (probably an additional $ 100).

However, we decided to get the most out of it. We have accepted our new flight, planned for an additional day and reserved another hotel.

We had planned to use the additional time in Lisbon to make a quick A day excursion to SirtraA seaside resort about an hour by train.

Although this is not the end of the world for us to stay longer, it would have been a huge drawback if one of us had a tighter budget or had to be back in the United States earlier.

Fly to and from Madeira did not go as planned, either

Four days after landing and explored Lisbon, it was time for us to fly Madeira. Our flight was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.

We arrived at Humberto Delgado de Lisbon airport for almost three hours early. Once we have recorded, we learned that the flight was surreated and we had not allocated seats.

We joined a crowd of a dozen people who were at the registration office, seeking to reserve new flights.

A representative of TAP Air gave us two new seats for a five -hour flight, which means that we were landing at midnight and that we only slept a few hours before our hike at 5:30 am the next morning.

He gave us flight vouchers of $ 250 as well as meal vouchers and snacks. We took them and played cards to pass the time until our next flight.

It was about 1 hour in the morning when we arrived at our Madeira hotel.

Soon we were surprised by another flight cancellation

The next day, around 4 p.m., we received an email informing us that our return flight in Lisbon in two days was canceled.

A few hours after receiving this message, we were informed that we had been Automatically reserved for a new flight of 9 p.m. the day we planned to leave – 12 hours full later than our original.

Frustrated, my friend reserved us on a earlier Ryanair flight Back to Lisbon instead, which cost $ 113 each. Again, we have changed plans and unexpectedly spent more money.

Instead of going to Sirtra, as we had planned the first time that our flights have been changed, we looked for more things to do in Madeira because we will be back in Lisbon later.

We reserved an excursion from the morning sunset (with a time of collection at 5:15 am) to always have the impression of doing some explorations.

We did not find the website or TAP customer service to be very useful, either

After this flight cancellation, we were eligible for a refund, according to Tap of terms and conditionsBecause our flight has been delayed more than five hours and we do not take a replacement flight through the airline.

There was only one problem: we could not access the refund via the airline website. I watched my friend enter all her information, land on a Confirmation page, press “Search for refunds” and be invited to restart the process again.

When she tried to file an online complaint, the message would not pass. Instead, it was met: “Your request was not successfully sent!” Because my friend bought our two Madeira tickets, I tried to enter her information on my phone, with the same results.

Once we landed in Lisbon, we had about 24 hours until our return flight. As we have seen as an opportunity to slow down after all travel misadventures, spending the last hours relaxing in our hotel.

When we arrived at Lisbon airport for our return flight to New York, we stopped at Tap Customer Service Desk.

My A friend has taken screen recordings of her trying to use the website and showed them to the representative. TAP Air customer service said she could only ask for reimbursements on the website or by phone.

“But the website does not work,” said my friend.

“You must use the website,” said the representative.

While waiting to board our flight, I have gone out other criticisms of the airline. Reddit users deplored customer service In particular, some say it could take months to hear. (A user said it took more than three years.)

We have given up trying to obtain a refund in the tap air. Weeks later, my friend is waiting to recover on a Credit card spare She dropped off shortly after landing.

We will pay more for another airline next time

In the end, we ended up paying much more than expected, both in money and in time.

Overall, we each spent $ 113 on new flights, $ 125 for the hotel, more than $ 100 for dinner, breakfast and combined lunch. Almost an additional $ 400.

The problem was not that we had a flight canceled or that we have surrected – it happens and is always something to which I am mentally prepared. It is that we have checked several unlucky flight experiences, all in a week.

Of course, it was only my experience of a trip. Other people may have had smooth trips through the tap.

However, next time, I will be more diligent about research before the flight and, for peace of mind, I would pay the $ 100 or 200 additional $ for a flight from an airline with which I had better experiences for an international flight, like Delta or United. I will also stick to Ryanair or Easyjet for shorter flights because I have at least had decent experiences with both.

Even with the right free, I would no longer reserve Tap Air. Or if I did, I would prepare to be disappointed and adjust my trip, again and again.