Review: TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport (2024)

My connection in Lisbon was just over three hours, as I arrived shortly before 8AM and departed shortly after 11AM. TAP Air Portugal opened a new flagship lounge at Lisbon Airport last year, and I was looking forward to checking it out.

Upon arrival I followed the signage towards my departure gate, since I figured TAP had a lounge in their non-Schengen area. Once there I realized that wasn’t the case, and that their only lounge is in the Schengen area. Since I had gone through passport control, I had to go through passport control again, and then also through security. Oops. Fortunately there were no lines, so I was through pretty quickly.

At that point I found myself in the main oval-shaped part of the Schengen terminal.

Lisbon Airport terminal

At the far end of that was an escalator up to lounges.

Escalator to TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport

View from upper level Lisbon Airport

At the top of the escalator was the entrance to the airport’s contract lounge, which can also be accessed by Priority Pass members. The number of Priority Pass members has increased greatly the past couple of years,since now there are quite a few credit cards with lounge access.

Lisbon Airport Lounge exterior

I turned left, and then the entrance to the TAP Lounge was just a short walk away.

Hallway to TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport

The lounge is open daily from 5AM until 9PM, and can be accessed by all Star Alliance business class passengers, as well as Star Alliance Gold members.

TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport exterior

Based on the pictures I saw of the lounge I had pretty high expectations. However, when I arrived the lounge was packed. I took most of the below pictures later during my stay, when the lounge emptied out a bit, though at the beginning the lounge was uncomfortably crowded.

Inside the entrance and to the right was a pretty stylish, circular room. While I thought it had a nice design, I felt like the furniture didn’t look especially comfortable.

TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport seating

TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport seating

The lounge’s bar was located next to this area. For the most part the lounge doesn’t have self-serve drinks, so the bartender didn’t seem to be making imaginative co*cktails, but rather was mostly just pouring glasses of wine.

TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport bar

Near this area was a small business center with a couple of PCs and a printer (I ended up sitting here at first due to how crowded the lounge otherwise was).

TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport business center

There was also a play area for kids.

TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport kids area

Then there was a makeshift nap room.

TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport napping area

Back towards the entrance, the main part of the lounge consisted of several rows of long couches/benches. Again, they looked nice, but weren’t especially comfortable. There was also a lack of outlets in some parts of the lounge.

TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport seating

TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport seating

Then the last main part of the lounge was the dining area, which had a couple of dozen tables.

TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport dining area

TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport dining area

Throughout the rest of the lounge there were a few other random seating arrangements, including a long bench by the entrance near the bathrooms.

TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport seating

There was also a rack with magazines and newspapers.

TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport magazines & newspapers

On the plus side, the lounge had a fairly good food selection. There was one smaller buffet with mostly dessert items, pictured below.

TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport snacks

TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport snacks

TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport snacks

TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport fresh fruit

Then there was the main buffet. I’ll let the pictures of the food speak mostly for themselves.

TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport buffet

TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport food

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TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport food

TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport food

TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport food

TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport food

TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport hot food

TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport cereal & drinks

In terms of drinks, there were several coffee machines, a soda fountain, a beer tap, canned drinks, and then a “wine wall.”

TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport coffee machines

TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport soda fountain & beer tap

TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport drinks

TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport wine

TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport wine

TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport wine

I wasn’t terribly hungry, though decided to have an egg tart, because you really can’t go to Portugal without having one.

TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport egg tart

In terms of the lounge’s views, it nearly had decent views of the apron. However, due to the way the slats of the terminal exterior are configured, you’re somewhat limited in terms of the views you’ll get.

TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport view

The Wi-Fi in the lounge was fast, so I spent most of my time in the lounge working, since my flight wouldn’t have Wi-Fi.

My boarding pass indicated that boarding was supposed to start at 10:20AM (an hour before departure), so I headed to the gate at 10AM, knowing I’d have to go through passport control and possibly some extra security at the gate. Once again there was no line at passport control.

Walking to departure gate Lisbon Airport

Upon entering the non-Schengen area I saw the most bizarre/freaky-looking store I’ve ever seen at an airport. It only sells sardine-related items, and looks like a circus.I know sardines are popular in Portugal (even if they make me want to barf), but… wow.

Lisbon Airport sardine shop

Lisbon Airport sardine shop

Lisbon Airport sardine shop

The non-Schengen part of the terminal was busy, with lots of TAP’s longhaul flights getting ready to depart.

Lisbon Airport terminal

My flight was departing from gate 44, which wasn’t very far away.

TAP Air Portugal A330 Lisbon Airport

Since the US has “enhanced” security measures, there was some security questioning at the gate. This meant everyone had to get in a queue, which took quite a while. There was no special line for business class passengers.

TAP Air Portugal departure gate

Line to get into the TAP Air Portugal departure gate

In my case, the security guy only asked me what I thought of Trump. Like, he didn’t even ask me whether I packed my bags by myself, but rather just “so… what do you think of Donald Trump?” Alrighty then…

While my boarding pass indicated a 10:20AM boarding time, boarding only began at 10:50AM. First families and those who needed extra time were invited to board, which seemed to be about a quarter of the plane. Then business class was invited, about five minutes later.

TAP Air Portugal departure gate

While they let people on the jet bridge, they didn’t actually let people on the plane until about five minutes later, which seemed like a miscommunication between the crew and ground staff.

Boarding plane to Newark

TAP Air Portugal A330

TAP Air Portugal Lounge Lisbon Airport bottom line

On the plus side, Lisbon Airport is an easy airport to transit, given that it’s not that big. TAP Air Portugal’s new lounge has a modern design that’s true to the brand, though was extremely crowded (at least at first) and didn’t have the most comfortable furniture. The lounge did have a good food selection, though.