I crossed the Atlantic sitting on the throne. Review flight on Tap Portugal's A321lr.
I'll say it right now, so I remove all doubt: I am an A380 lover, in my opinion the most beautiful plane ever entered [...]
Tap Air Portugal
Star Alliance
YYZ
I'll say it right now, so I remove all doubt: I am a A380 lover, in my opinion the most beautiful aircraft that ever entered service and unfortunately we will regret it for a long time.
When I chose Tap Portugal for this trip to Canada, I did it almost exclusively for rehearse what will be the new trend in intercontinental flights in the next decade, at least for those within a 9-hour radius, that is, flying on single-aisle planes, the ones we are used to taking for short- to medium-haul flights.
In this article:
- Specifications
- Aircraft:
- A321lr
- Class:
- Business
- Treat:
- YVR - LIS
- Price:
- 698
- Book
The machine in question is the Airbus A321LR, where the abbreviation LR stands for long range. Engine evolution has enabled the European manufacturer to make a version capable of flying, for example, from London to New York or as in this case from Lisbon to Toronto.
By 2022, the first A321XLR, extra long range, capable of flying even longer routes, e.g. Rome New York, will also be delivered.
Reservation
Tap Portugal is not among the American Express partners and in Italy it is virtually impossible to accumulate points from the Portuguese carrier's loyalty program. One could triangulate to other companies in the Star Alliance group or use Emirates Skywards points, but on balance it would not be convenient.
Fortunately, Tap is famous for its very competitive fares, in this case the route from Toronto to Lisbon in business class cost me just under €700. Having paid for the ticket "cash," I was able to accumulate about 6,000 miles, which I credited to my Krisflyer account.
At the airport
Canada reopened its borders to the whole world on Sept. 7 and, more importantly for us Italians, falls within the short list of countries to which the following are allowed All types of travel, including non-essential travel such as tourism.
The airline shares the use of check-in counter zone 6 with other Star Alliance carriers.
Operations were much more orderly than in my previous experiences with TAP. There is no fast track, but that would be absolutely unnecessary since there was no queue at the security checkpoints.
Pearson Airport is the home of Air Canada, so passengers flying with Star Alliance partners can take advantage of the Maple Leaf lounges. There are four depending on whether the flight is express, domestic, to the U.S., or intercontinental.
Actually, there would also be a fifth one, the Air Canada Signature suite, dedicated exclusively to passengers flying business class with Air Canada, but it is still closed due to covid.
For passengers who do not fly business class or on non-Star Alliance Gold airline flights, there are no Priority Pass lounges in Terminal 1; however, there is a Premium Plaza that allows free access to all Platinum American Express holders.
Upon my entrance, the lounge was practically deserted, it slowly began to fill up, and when I left, about 2 hours later, there was a line out the door with several people waiting to get in.
The lounge is open to the terminal, although it does not directly overlook the runway, it is very bright with lots of seating almost all with comfortable armchairs.
The service has been changed, no more buffet but a QR code that identifies each individual table, you choose from the menu what you want to order, and you are served directly on the spot.
The thing that puzzled me is that this does not apply to beverages, if you want to drink you have to go to the lounge bar and get served at the counter.
Honestly, I was a little bit disappointed in the lounge: it is impersonal and bare, plus I find it rather curious that the screens showing departures only flag Air Canada flights
A little curiosity. The airport is overrun with tablets and pos: every seat throughout the gate area has an ipad from which you can order food and shop at businesses inside the airport, pay via pos, and receive what you ordered directly to your seat.
Although the plane was almost full, even the boarding procedures were conducted in an orderly and civilized manner, a sign that TAP when it wants to can do things well.
On board
When you look out of the terminal it makes quite an impression, this plane compared to Emirates' A380 looks like the tender you would use to disembark from a ship. Even compared to the Boeing 787 it impresses with how small it is.
TAP has outfitted its A321LR fleet with two cabins: the premium with 16 seats and the economy with 155 seats, of which 42 are renamed economy extra, the first 7 rows have a few extra cm for legs and nothing else.
The economy cabin has the classic configuration with three seats per row, the same as on a Ryanair or EasyJet flight. Each seat has a touch screen and USB port so you can charge your devices.
Business class has 5 rows. Odd-numbered rows are configured with 2 seats per row, while even-numbered rows have only one seat per side.
This place is called "the throne seat" by enthusiasts.
The difference in space for passengers flying business is huge, those who sit alone have a truly premium experience, on the other hand, those who sit in the rows where there are two seats have less space, less privacy, and the passenger by the window does not even have direct access to the aisle.
Those who sit on the throne are isolated from the aisle, have plenty of legroom, direct access to the aisle, two "fixed" tables where they can place their belongings.
The compartment available to the passenger traveling alone is huge, both in depth and total size; in the rows where there are two passengers, there is nothing like that.
Of course, all passengers have a screen, under which there is a small pocket, frankly, I did not understand the point of this option.
Space optimization has been designed down to the smallest detail. The way the table is pulled out is also perfect.
Each seat has a reading light, a usb outlet at the top of the seat, and at leg height there is a power outlet and a second usb outlet.
The chair is operated from the hand control on one of the two side tables; the functions are the minimum essential ones.
The seat becomes a real bed, in which case you can feel that it lacks a few inches, not so much in seat depth as in seat width. Legroom, which tucks into the center tunnel, is also definitely less than that found on the Airbus A330neo aircraft that make up the rest of TAP's long-haul fleet.
The pillow is sufficient, but it is certainly not the best of skies, as is the blanket that is not padded enough to be used as a sheet as well.
The 14 premium passengers are provided with only one bathroom at the front of the cabin, while the remaining economy passengers have to share only 3 toilets, one located in the middle part and two at the bottom of the cabin.
The service on board
This is perhaps TAP's biggest sticking point. The company's positioning is obviously to be a traditional carrier, but some of the choices in terms of service send mixed messages. And it's not a question of space, which is certainly small on this plane compared to a wide-body one, but in general it's about how the business passenger is treated, the one the companies are trying to pamper.
For example, nothing is served in the pre-boarding stages; other airlines used to offer waiting passengers a glass of champagne, a cocktail or a soft drink. While, something that has now disappeared everywhere, the good old hot towel for washing hands is distributed.
In place is the courtesy kit. TAP's choice is to give away personalized toiletries on the different cities where the Portuguese carrier flies, allowing people to hunt for a different souvenir each flight.
In this case the endowment is very generous, compared to even more emblazoned companies. In addition to socks, eye mask and toothbrush, a comb, a pen, earplugs, face and hand cream, a bookmark and a deodorant to put in the cupboards are given away: all made in Portugal by Castelbel in Porto.
In general, the crew is present in the cabin, although the small space greatly limits movement and makes it difficult to get around.
Meals and drinks on board
Shortly after takeoff, the menu is distributed to passengers, and if you want a small appetizer, the one pictured above, you must specifically ask for it.
Service is at the trolley, and this seems very passenger of economy rather than business. Moreover, on a night flight like this, one expects to be served immediately after takeoff, but instead the service started almost an hour after taking the wheels off the ground.
However, I must admit that both the appetizer (shrimp on a bed of salad) and the main course (salmon in teriyaki sauce with rice and vegetables) were good.
Very nice presentation of the dessert, the classic trio that accompanies almost all TAP menus. Cheese, a mini fruit salad, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
About 60 minutes after landing, a light lunch, or small breakfast, is served. In this case I was not satisfied, the small plates served make no logical sense, and the quality is dubious.
IFE
All passengers have access to the in-flight entertainment system, the offer is sufficient.
The plane is very quiet, so the headphones provided are adequate to isolate the passenger and allow you to watch the movie or listen to music without any particular problems.
I find the user interface made by TAP very functional; it is easy to navigate and allows you to move around either using the touch screen or the classic remote control provided in the chair. Among the many offerings is a micro Portuguese course.
The wine list available on board can be accessed through the appropriate section, so it is not distributed in paper form to passengers.
The virtual map allows the passenger to choose from many views, too bad, however, that no webcams have been installed to show the passenger what is happening outside the plane in real time.
On one thing, however, TAP deserves (almost) praise: its onboard connectivity proposition is excellent.
There are 4 types of packages that can be purchased and the most amazing thing is that the best one is free. In fact, the Portuguese carrier has chosen to give all passengers the on-board chat function as a gift. This means that, after registering, you can use Whatsapp, Messanger and other communication programs to stay in touch with the mainland. The only flaw is that the connection lasts 60 minutes, at the end of which you are disconnected and have to "buy" a 60-minute package again, again for free.
On the other hand, if you have different needs, there are 3 paid packages based on traffic: 100mb (€14.99), 200mb (€24.99) and 500mb (€49.99).
In conclusion
The flight lasted just over 6 hours, Ryanair also operates routes of this duration such as routes from London to Israel or from Scotland to the Canary Islands. Personally, I don't think I would ever get on a low-cost airline for a flight of this duration. The economy cabin here is very similar, so if I were to travel in business, my choice would all depend on the price or availability of the "throne."
There are two moments when you feel like you are on a low-cost flight:
- Embarkation. Passengers all enter through the front door of the plane, which means that classic traffic jams of people line up along the one aisle and seated passengers are squared off by those waiting to get to their seats. Normally, on the other hand, two different doors are used to board business and economy passengers or boarding is done through the middle door, which leads to passengers taking two different "directions" depending on the ticket held.
- The service. A single aisle means that when flight attendants are serving passengers with trolleys, it becomes virtually impossible to move to go to the bathroom, for example.
The future, and here the pandemic has almost nothing to do with it, predicts that there will be a lot of intercontinental routes operated aboard single-aisle aircraft, of course it will depend on the companies how they set up their vehicles.
For example, the American JetBlue uses the same aircraft for connections between New York and London and not only the business cabin but also the economy cabin is much nicer and more spacious than the one designed by Tap.
For the same connection, the Portuguese airline also uses the A321's big brother, namely the A330/900neo. Which one to choose ? I love the A380, so I choose for the same route the larger aircraft among those available.
Pro
- The throne
- Quiet environment
Against
- Little room to move around in the plane
- Few bathrooms
- Non-business class service