~Introduction~
Transportes Aereos Portugueses or TAP Portugal was formed in 1945. The first planes were converted C-47's (or Dakota's) as used by Allied forces to drop troops on D-day and ferry in supplies. Most of the original TAP pilots were trained in England by BOAC, whilst others completed training with Iberia the Spanish national airline. The early routes were local, the first was Lisbon to Madrid, then the major Portuguese cities were added and finally international destinations.

~Destinations~
TAP has scheduled routes in and around Portugal, Europe, Africa and South America. Our particular flight to Funchal, Madeira was booked with Expedia and we received our confirmation thorough them. As we were choosing to holiday on this small Portuguese run Atlantic island, we had little alternative in the way of scheduled flights, so TAP Portugal was seemingly our only choice.

~Boarding at LGW~
The flight was on time so after a coffee and the last minute 'What did we forget?' buying spree, we ambled down to the boarding gate and waited to be called to board. The other passengers were a mixture of couples in their middle ages, a few business suits and a good helping of parents with toddlers and young children in pushchairs. The flight was loaded in an orderly manner with parents and young children boarding first. Next came the rear seats, followed by the middle seats and us in the front section. Within about fifteen minutes everyone was on the plane and had finished fighting for locker space.

The toilets were located at the back of the plane after the rows of seats and before the main galley area. There were three toilets two on one side and one on the other. The toilets were okay and to start with had loo rolls and paper hand towels, but by the end of the flight the rolls were empty and the hand towels were almost gone. Obviously it was nobody's job description to check on the toilets or stock up on loo roll. It was only a short flight of three and a half hours, but I would have expected at least one junior cabin crew to check on the situation and re-stock as necessary.

~In-flight Service~
Talking of cabin crew we come sweetly onto the in-flight service that we received. The cabin crew were of course Portuguese and in fairness they did speak a good amount of English. Although on the way back they did talk to me in Portuguese and didn't look to happy when I ignored them or looked blank. In fact there were few smiles all round from the flight crew and I can only assume that they were press-ganged into working for TAP Portugal as they clearly had no desire to be helpful to anyone. Drinks were served with a curt 'Wha ya wanna drink?' and my first orange juice nearly ended up on my lap. The meals were served with a slap dashed attitude as they were tossed across towards us even before we got the folding table down. The clear up afterwards was some sort of race, with speed rather than attention the key. If this only occurred on the outward flight I would have put it down to the cabin crew, but it was the same on the way home with a different crew. The drinks and the meal were part of the fare, but I couldn't help feeling a little cheated at the poor service. Minus one star.

Pictures of TAP Air Portugal

The Crate

~Customer Service~
Our holiday provider (Expedia) stated on our tickets that we should reconfirm our return flights. Taking them at their word we dropped into the TAP Portugal office in Funchal, Maderia one day. An hour later and I came out of the office spitting blood and threatening to swim home. As Mrs Cad said 'I don't think Madeira to England is that easy to swim, dear'. I will not go into the full details, but I will only say this. Avoid at all costs the TAP Portugal office on Avenue de Mar, Funchal, Madeira. Their advice was poor and incorrect. We were informed that we only had seats booked at 6B and 17D. In fact the reality was completely different. Minus one star.

~Boarding at FNC~
A word of advice if you are flying out of Funchal, Madeira on an international flight. After passport control there are no café's, only drink machines. Instead after security wait in the local flight lounge where you can get a coffee from the café, buy last minute cigarettes, cigars and booze. Once past the passport control, you will only have toilets, perfumes and two drink machines. We went through passport control about half an hour before the flight was due to leave, with no problems at all.
Boarding at FNC was completely opposite to Gatwick as there was no option for parents with small children to get on first. It was basically a free for all bundle on to the bus that drove you 50 metres out to the waiting plane. We waited until everyone else had boarded and we stepped on the last nearly empty bus with all the business suits to take the ride out to the plane. This way any chaos of the random order of people boarding had nearly finished and we just slipped into the cabin with a smile.

~Conclusion~
I thought that TAP Portugal were an average airline, they were not the worst, but their performance was to variable to rate it as good. For instance customer skills are lacking in some locations, but at other locations they were spot on. Check-in staff were the best, cabin crews were a mixed bag and the service staff at the Funchal office need training in customer skills. The crate was okay, but the seats were a little tatty and the cabin staff could have done a bit of cleaning up in-flight. They seemed not to take too much notice of the odd empty bottle on the floor and only wanted to do everything at double speed. The flight was smooth as you could expect from any airline and there were no real hitches at anytime.
If I was flying to Portugal or Madeira again I would look around before using TAP Portugal as I would try to find a cheaper budget airline if one was available. At least with a budget airline you know you are going to get a poor service, it was not something I expect from a national airline like TAP Portugal.