Home > TAP Air Portugal > 2006 > Review

Taken 2006 from Porto (Oporto) (Francisco Sa Carneiro (Pedras Rubras)) - OPO to London, England (Heathrow Airport) - LHR

This was the return leg of a flight I had booked from LHR to Oporto. Due to problems with the outbound flight (see my January entry of 700 odd words) and the fact that there is a difference between the flight UK departure and arrival airport I have prepared two separate entries.

Check in at Porto was chaotic, a huge queue moved slowly and it was only by asking those who had checked in could we be sure we were in the correct place.

We were allocated a seat a fair way back and proceeded to the expansive departure lounge. The airport was built for the 2004 Euro football championships, but had yet to be finished in January 06 (and aside from the airline, but of possible interest) and signage to gates is not the best.

Unsurprisingly, people behind us did not get to check in so quickly and so this may have contributed to the delay in departure. I forget the exact time (it was under an hour though) but recall announcements were not the best.

Eventually we got on the aircraft - it was I think and Airbus 320 (may have been a 319 though) and though it felt a little cramped to me (and significantly so for my 6 foot 4 inch companion) it was broadly comparable for the economy configuration of many other EU carriers. The situation was not however helped by less than stringent controls on hand luggage for some passengers. With a large migrant community in the UK this route seemed to have a larger than usual number of young children travelling in both directions for a scheduled route so the journey was far from peaceful; as a father myself this is not a criticism (though like most other short haul routes little is done to entertain young passengers) but it is something some travellers may want to be prepared for.

The flight included a cold meal, the centre piece of which was a cheese and ham roll. It was adequate and the accompanying Portuguese red wine was very good (the crew were also satisfactory and kindly gave me two further bottles of wine during the flight, but only on my request). Coffee or tea was also served with seconds offered to those who wanted it. All this on a flight of less than 2 hours.

We arrived at LGW around 30 minutes late (from memory) and had to wait a while for the luggage (though this is beyond TAP's control I would think). Overall, a much improved trip to the outbound leg, but still I would have to think carefully of the merits of using them in the future if there is an alternative on my chosen route as the outward debacle had left a slightly bitter taste eating a fair chunk out of what was a short three night break.