Azores & Lisbon: €553 / $650 TAP Business Class from Boston

Star Alliance member TAP Portugal has another interesting offer with departure from the United States. A trip from Boston to Ponta Delgada on the Azores is available as cheap as €553 (~US$595).

While the airline offers nonstop services between Boston and the Azores, this fare gets even more interesting if you choose a routing via Lisbon. While this may increase your travel time (and price by €10), you can add a stopover up to five days in Portugal’s capital without increasing the price. Further, you will enjoy a transatlantic ride in TAP’s new Airbus A330-900 NEO business class. You can find multiple flights each week at the lowest fare up until June 2021.

Direct flights between Boston and Ponta Delgada are Airbus A321LR services. These narrow body planes feature alternating 2-2 and 1-1 seat rows with fully lie-flat-seats in business class. Flights between the Azores and Portugal feature regular European business class seats – which means regular economy seating with a blocked middle seat. An Airbus A330-900NEO flies between Lisbon and Boston, with a proper lie-flat business class in a 1-2-1 configuration.

Search & Book

The fare rules don’t give an expiration date for this flight. A minimum stay of one night from Saturday to Sunday on the Azores applies. A stopover in Lisbon up to five days is possible. You can find multiple flights at the lowest fare weekly up until June 2021.

Use Google Flights to find suiting flight dates. If you book directly on TAP’s website, you can score a €14 discount if you subscribe to their frequent flyer program. You can also check our flight search to see what online travel agencies have to offer.

Why is booking with an airline better than with an online travel agency?

More often than not, online travel agencies offer lower fares than airlines do. We still recommend booking with the airlines directly. There are two main reasons for that:

Better Customer Service
In case any problems like delays, cancellations or missed connections arise, you can communicate directly with the airline. The airline has to take care of you because you have a contract with them.

If a travel agency issues your ticket, you may have to reach out to them first. You also depend on your OTA to forward information like flight changes instead of receiving them directly from the airline. In many cases, you may get a prime exhibition of responsibility shifting rather than problem-solving.

This especially applies to premium tickets. You don’t want to spend more than €1,000 to wind up with some budget OTA’s telephone hotline in case anything goes wrong.

Baggage and Other Fees
Economy fares not including hold luggage are industry standard by now. In most cases, travel agencies charge much higher baggage fees than the airlines themselves. If bags are not included in your fare, airlines are often the cheaper alternative.

This also applies to other things like food services, insurances or priority treatment. In almost all cases, you pay less for additional amenities when booking on the airlines’ website.

Mileage

TAP issues these tickets in booking class J. This is a pretty decent business class fare, granting up to 200% mileage accrual without tier bonuses. If you choose the nonstop flights, your trip should yield the following mileage:

Things get much more interesting when choosing to fly via Lisbon:

Cover Picture: © pixabay-user bilaleldaou under pixabay-license