- Flying to Europe today, a new airline, TAP Air Portugal.
(mellow music)
I just receive a message on Instagram
from my friends saying, "Hope you're not disappointed
flying TAP, it's one of the worst in Europe."
Let's see how it goes.
This is really weird.
I came down to the United Club,
as you can see the whole lounge is dead.
There is no lounge attendant,
but the door is open so I came down.
And, like a ghost lounge here.
And no food, no drink, no service,
no people around, strange.
I felt like this is getting a little bit creepy
and there's no one around.
And I'm a little scared honestly,
in case something happen or some wacko come out,
or serial killer, I better leave the lounge.
Right now, for international travel
sadly the, Polaris and this club lounge seems like closed.
There isn't any lounge for international travel
at an international terminal.
There's a bit of hot mess at the gate here.
All this COVID verification, all this document checking,
it's holding up the boarding.
It's actually their first flight back
to San Francisco after 10 months.
First flight in 2021 for TAP to return to San Francisco.
(upbeat music)
- [Announcer] Please, crew is asking how many passengers?
- There you go.
- [Sam] Okay, finally cleared to board.
All right, thank you so much!
- Have a good flight!
- [Sam] See you next time, bye!
Hey, hello (speaks Portuguese)!
- Hello, how are you?
- [Sam] Here's mine.
- Please step in.
- [Sam] Okay, thank you very much.
- Going to be the seat on your left.
- Okay, thank you.
Oh my God, I have the worst seat ever!
'Cause there's no window here.
I have to lean forward to look out.
So this is 9A, the last seat in business class.
This is not recommended if you want a window view.
So there's a seat in front of me, it's free.
I manage change to 8A here.
The only problem here,
this seat has better views, two windows.
The only problem it's, really, really close
to my neighbour, if you chose the aisle seats.
So the window seats are the best, except the last row.
(upbeat music)
- Are we going to be in some famous channel,
where we are going to be?
- [Sam] I hope, I surely hope to make you famous.
- Thank you, that's what we needed!
- [Sam] How's the seats like?
- Oh, great!
- [Sam] Pretty good?
- They are very clean because we used the hand sanitizer
and we clean-
- [Sam] You wiped down?
- Wipe then down, all the way, yes.
- Actually, I'm going to move over there.
- [Sam] There's actually a, empty row here, you know?
- I know.
- [Sam] You should come here,
so you can have the whole row and you can sleep.
- That would be nice, you can sleep.
- [Sam] Now she's taking this row here.
And now you have the whole row and I broke you guys up.
- [Passenger] On the other hand, I can sleep-
- There you go.
I'm actually making a video.
So I'm making video on this flight.
So it was for my, channel for my YouTube channel.
Yeah, yeah (chuckles).
So, actually I believe this is Economy Plus seating,
in the first few rows.
So if you happen to be assigned these few rows here,
there's a little bit more leg room
in the first section of economy, I believe.
- Joanna.
- I love this!
Isn't this is like a Christmas jumper,
the blue and green, the green one?
I love it!
Everyone's wearing black suites,
and then you have the best one, right?
- I have the colour (chuckles).
(Pilot speaks in Portuguese)
- My name is Pedro Malta,
I'm captain with TAP Air Portugal.
And I'd like to introduce my crew.
Captain Pedro Venancio.
- Hello.
- And also,
First Officer Ricardo Baiao-
- Hi, hello.
- We are almost ready to start our flight to Lisbon.
Today our flight time will be 10 hours and 20 minutes.
And we'll, after take off, fly north
until the north of Canada.
Then all the Atlantic North, towards Lisbon.
So or flight level will be a 39,000 feet today.
(plane engine roaring drowns out pilot)
- [Sam] TAP is the first airline in the world right,
to have A330neo?
So what exactly is all this 'neo' about?
- [Captain Pedro] We can save some fuel,
and also we fly faster and, more silence also.
So it's much more comfort aeroplane
to the passengers and crew.
- [Sam] What's your favourite aeroplane Captain?
- It's definitely the L-1011, the Lockheed TriStar.
- [Sam] Oh, I saw it on the sticker
on your suitcase, right?
- [Captain] Yeah, yeah.
- [Sam] Have you flown the TriStar?
- Yeah, I flew it back in 1998.
- [Captain Pedro] We are now ready to start our flight,
just waiting for our launching information
from the ground staff, more five minutes,
and we'll be ready to start our flight to Lisbon.
Enjoy the flight, thank you.
- So we're finally on our way
after 50 minutes behind schedule.
And hopefully, the subsequent flights
will run smoother after this first flight.
(upbeat music)
(Air Traffic Controller speaking over radio)
(plane engine roars)
(mellow rendition of Auld Lang Syne)
- Here we are, cruise flying over Minneapolis.
Flying in the Midwest, heading to Canada.
Where I started my career in Mozambique,
in East Africa back in 1994,
where I got a job as, bush pilot.
So I went to the north of the country.
For two years, I flew a CESSNA 482 as a bush pilot,
flying under difficult conditions and in remote areas.
So as you remember, we used to have the A340.
I used to organise all the, school stuff,
educational stuff to help the kids.
And to, supply the kids in Africa in Mozambique
and all other countries.
So, we put all the cargo on the belly on the A340,
and with the smaller aircraft
that we hired in South Africa.
We flew all the stuff, right and direct into the bush
to supply all the kids and youngsters there.
- Would you like to try this Portuguese sparkling wine?
- [Sam] This is Portuguese?
- [Flight Attendant] Yes it is.
- Sparkling wine, okay, yeah, sure.
(wine glass clinks)
Just got my, glass of wine,
and the service definitely is very slow.
I don't know why it took them so long to serve a meal.
The food and the drink, the wine,
are probably the best thing so far on this flight.
The food are very good.
The portions are good.
The Portuguese red wine go with the steak very good.
- [Flight Attendant] This one?
- [Sam] Yeah, all right, thank you.
- [Flight Attendant] Would you like anyone else?
- [Sam] No, I'm good.
- Can I get you dessert?
- [Sam] Yeah.
- And, you should try our Porto wine.
- [Sam] Oh, Porto wine from Portugal.
- Yeah, it's from Porto (indistinct).
- [Sam] Thank you.
- Enjoy!
(gentle piano music)
- It's been a long day,
so I'm going to take a nap.
This seat here, same as any 121,
your feet go inside a box.
'Cause all the 121 staggered,
essentially it's 242, 'cause it's all staggered.
So again, a little bit narrow, the pros and cons
but, it's long enough for my feet.
I'm six foot, one.
So it's long enough for me.
(mellow rendition of Auld Lang Syne)
- (speaks Portuguese) Here we are,
cruising at flight level 410, over the Atlantic
in Santa Maria airspace.
And our landing in Lisbon will be,
in about one hour and 30 minutes.
That's the most Western point in Europe.
As you can see over there,
it's our anchor.
(mellow rendition of Auld Lang Syne)
- [Autopilot] 200,
100,
50,
40,
30,
20.
Retard, retard!
Seven.
(plane engine humming)
- Thank you very much!
- [Sam] Thank you, (speaks Portuguese), bye.
- [Crew] Bye, thank you!
- So that was such a beautiful landing into Lisbon,
weather was great.
And they have a bridge, just look like Golden Gate Bridge
in San Francisco.
What a coincidence!
So, is TAP one of the worst in Europe?
Well, I will say TAP is actually one
of the most affordable airline transatlantic.
It's one of the cheapest airline.
If you look at the fare,
if you buy in advance 14 days out, or 21 days out,
you'll found very low fare.
The planes are brand new.
In fact, they ordered over 20 A330neo, right?
They were expanding fast pre-COVID,
going to, not only South America, but also to the U.S.
However, COVID hit them really hard.
And lots of planes they have is,
currently parked on the ground.
So the timing isn't great for TAP,
but I can see TAP is, developing
and rebranding themselves, connecting in Lisbon
between Europe and the U.S.
That's the key market there, after.
So San Francisco to Lisbon is my first flight.
Next week, I will be visiting one
of the most challenging airport in Europe,
or perhaps in the world.
This is in Funchal, Madeira in the Atlantic.
There's lots of variable, wind, on the final approach
which can cause you to go around
and maybe unsuccessful to land.
So let's take on this flying adventure together, next week.
(bold orchestral music)