TAP AIRLINE DISASTER! OUR FIRST (LAST?) EXPERIENCE WITH TAP AIR PORTUGAL 

Thank you. We tried to stay calm, but inside we were upset of course because it ruined a whole day of vacation. We hope that your flight goes smoothly and that you have an amazing time! Subscribe to our channel for more adventures!

Everything with our flight the next day was satisfactory. Our only issues with TAP were customer service. When our flights got delayed we couldn't find a representative at the airport nor could we get through by phone and get a straight answer. We were originally supposed to fly at 1pm and were told at the gate at about 11pm that our plane was flying without us. We were never given a reason why we were chosen to not fly. They said our bags would be in baggage claim and we waited for them until about 12:30am until we were told by employees that they weren't coming. Because we were told so late we ended up sleeping in the airport. We lost a full day at our destination and lost a lot of sleep which threw us off for days. Had we been informed about things better, we would have had a much better experience. We've followed TAP since and believe it's under new leadership, so hopefully things improve because we enjoyed Portugal and would love to come back again!

@@TravelwithKyleRebecca Allow me, I'm a little older than you, but I admire the courage of young people like you, nothing against it, 30 years ago I would have reacted in the same way as you, but if you tell me it was just the scheduling that went wrong because reacted so violently in your title? See, I'm not a TAP worker, I'm just Portuguese and TAP is my country's airline. Maybe it would be a good idea to write a complaint to TAP indicating your dissatisfaction, it could be in English because everyone in Portugal speaks English. Finally, remember that TAP recently extended these lines to the United States with the aim of captivating visitors from the land of Uncle Sam, perhaps it needs your suggestions to improve, nothing more!!!!!

We actually did reach out to them many times and never heard anything back. When we reached out to get our refund, we waited for about a month for any response at all. Eventually after going back and forth for about 7 months we were able to get our refund. Is the title sensationalized? Yes of course that's RU-vid 😕. Are we bashing TAP? Not necessarily, just reporting our experience mainly for an American audience that is not familiar. If you check out the comments you'll see we keep up to date on the happenings at TAP and make sure people know that things may have (hopefully) changed. We LOVED Portugal but just had a bad experience with TAP, hopefully next time it will be better!

Yes it was a disaster all around and there were some weird circumstances that day. From everyone we have talked to, TAP has a reputation for bad customer service, which we experienced.

Do you have a number or an E-Mail to contact them?

@dvn7720 We contacted them through their refund portal on their website here: www.flytap.com/en-us/tap-refunds From their we followed the instructions and they reached out through emails and they left us a phone number there. You just need to keep contacting them because they are hoping you give up. Thanks for watching! Remember to subscribe

@@TravelwithKyleRebecca I did to and tried to call them trough the German number but got no response. I am so sick of them

I believe this is the phone number we were calling, but it will probably only help if you are in the US: 1-800-931-1821 You can also try this email: customer@tapmilesandgo.com

We also had luck contacting them through Facebook. They were pretty responsive there surprisingly

Good luck! I have had a few people say they had no issues so maybe you'll be lucky. In all honesty though the flight and everything the next day was great, the staff on the plane was great too. Just the customer service that we experienced wasn't the best, especially compared to our experiences in the US

Update?

Updates are in the description below the video, but long story short, we got money back after 7 months of constant calling and emailing.

@@TravelwithKyleRebecca man this makes me weary. I'm planning a trip to Switzerland next year and since TAP offers that free layover to visit their country, I was planning a 3-day layover on my way back from Zurich. I will only be doing carryon but regardless I've seen a few videos today of how bad it can get if you're on the unlucky side.

@KatrinaGustavRuled We believe that they are under new ownership as of last year, so maybe things have gotten better. Because otherwise our experience was good. Please subscribe if you have not had a chance to yet:)

Yes, hopefully they get better but we went through this experience and heard negative things from so many other people. If you're looking for customer support, find another airline. If you can afford it, pay for British airways or some other airline. Better safe than sorry! Happy travels! Make sure you subscribe for more, thanks for watching 😊😊

And...?

Update December 6th: Finally after 6.5 months, we got our compensation for the disastrous experience with TAP Portugal. For anybody going through the same thing, staying on them and checking in with them every week or two is key!

@@TravelwithKyleRebecca Thanks. I'm little scary to ruin our winter break week in Barcelona because of them. But their departure/arrival times are great and I have 20 minutes to airport. No brainier to avoid JFK 2 hours away.

We've heard many mixed reviews since posting this video. In our case we were ultimately booted because we had a layover in Lisbon and everyone else was terminating there. We obviously didn't agree with their decision. Since then I have been following the company and they are under new management, so I believe some things are changing but they still have a bad reputation. We have talked to people who use them often and have no problems and some that think they are the worst. With any company you are taking a risk but some things you can't control. In our case there was a person on the runway in Lisbon that slowed every airline and some flights were cancelled completely. Hopefully our insight helps you make your decision and that you ultimately have a great vacation. Thank you so much for watching and commenting, we love to hear from our viewers. Please subscribe if you haven't already, happy travels!

WOW, have you been following up with them? They didn't seem to do anything unless you call/email them every week or 2 for about 6 months. Squeaky wheel gets the grease with them unfortunately.

We've heard many similar stories just like that since we've been through our own experience. It's very sad but the reputation that TAP has is terrible and for good reason. We're still waiting for answers about our compensation, it's been over 6 months now and TAP does not respond unless to keep messaging them I hope your sister gets her bags back but I wouldn't be hopeful 😟😟

​@@TravelwithKyleRebecca Thank you.... The fault was ours, we should have taken the feedback before and shouldn't have booked the tickets of this airline, it seems ryanair has good reputation. It was our fault, hope passengers see this review and save themselves by choosing other airkines, there are a lot of youtube vidos on TAP.. it seems the employees are not motivated....and not sincere... they even disabled the comments in their youtube channel as they are insecure and trying to run away from problems

Exactly, we don't plan to use TAP anymore because of our and other's experiences. We have made some progress in getting our refund but we've had to constantly message them. If you keep on them, eventually maybe you can get some compensation but they will make you WORK for it unfortunately. We've not flown Ryanair yet, but it's got.to be better than TAP, right?

Thank you, where do you get your music?

@@TravelwithKyleRebecca musicbed

What about you?

@@TheExploreCouple epidemic sound

We were able to reach them by email by going through their refund policy tab on their website. Once there we did get some communication that way but we also called and or email every week or 2 until we finally got our refund after about 6 months.

Yeahhh. We said that after it gets delayed after the third time, it's probably not happening!:/ Where did you guys get stuck?

@@TravelwithKyleRebecca Fran's been stuck a few times in Chicago coming from Ireland, and when we were coming back to the US from Ireland (The first time) we got stuck overnight in Newark. Same story too, pushing flight back and back and back and then, poof, no flight tonight, sorry!

The frustrating part for us was watching our scheduled flight take off without us. And instead of asking people to fly the next day and giving them vouchers, they just picked people and are making us go through a long process to get our money back. Just frustrated with the way they handled it.

@@TravelwithKyleRebecca yeah that's unacceptable, especially with time sensitive things like covid tests too. Keep on them, I hope you guys get your refund!

Yeah we don't like to but they wouldn't let our bags on without an extra charge. Luckily they got there without any problems! Thanks for watching! Remember to subscribe if you haven't already 🙂

It was a tasty sandwich, you'll have to try it sometime! Ever had anything like that before?

Nope! That's a new one on me!

Definitely give it a try sometime. Butter both sides of the bread real well then add mayo and corn and would probably do the trick without an actual recipe in front of me.

What was your experience like?

They gave us a voucher for a hotel at 11pm when they told us we weren't allowed on the flight. Then said we needed to go pick up our bags at baggage claim. The bags didn't show up, so by that time it was after midnight and the shuttle service was no longer running (stopped at 11pm). We needed to be at the airport by 6am for our flight the next morning so it just wasn't worth the hassle to get to the hotel only to sleep for a few hours and come back.

I believe they are being sold and I'm pretty sure they're under new management so maybe things have improved. I think if you have direct flights you should be fine. The reason we were selected to miss our flight is because we had a layover in Lisbon and everyone else was terminating in Lisbon. Our flight the next day was very normal, no problems but if you're used to American companies you could get a different experience than you're accustomed to. Thanks for watching! Remember to subscribe if you haven't already 🙂

thank you for giving us a positive perspective. Safe and happy travels to you both.@@TravelwithKyleRebecca

We fly a lot all over the US often and never had an airline bump us from our flight before. I've had flights cancelled many times but never had an airline just bump us with no explanation. Wish they would have explained it or at least given us a heads up. Ended up spending 10+ hours in an airport for no reason. Just sharing our story so others know what can happen during your travel adventures.

Yes, it is VERY frustrating!!! We have filed the complaint forms online (they now say complete, but when I called they said that just means that they have finished looking into it, it could take another 3-6 months to hear from anyone), I have called numerous times and used their FB messenger (like they asked). No resolution yet. @TAP Air Portugal has the worst customer service. Anybody out there have any advice?

@@TravelwithKyleRebecca Today after 31 days of checking my lost luggage on the worldtracer site they now write: "Access to your file is no longer available. Please contact your airline for more information." - But you cannot call or mail them. Nobody answers..... It is sooooo frustrating!!!

Absolutely, that's the exact same type of experience we had. Just talked to a friend who had to cancel a flight from April of 2020 (because of COVID, obviously) and is still waiting for a resolution. I think the thing to learn is to never fly with them and spend more to go through British airlines where you'll get more professional treatment. Keep us up to date with your bags, we are interested in everyone else's stories and we're hoping there with be a positive ending for you.

@@TravelwithKyleRebecca Update!!! The complaint form says "still searching", the worldtracer site says "it is lost". But yesterday I got a phone call from a delivery service! 😍They delivered now my lost luggage after exactly 5 weeks into my office!! Sooo happy now!!🤩

So glad it worked out for you!! Sorry it took so long, we're still waiting on our refund. Hopefully we'll get another update soon, it's been almost 4 months so far

Thanks, just a fair warning to people who don't know that they have a reputation. We aren't the only ones that have had negative experiences. Hopefully they will improve over time Thanks for watching! Make sure you subscribe for more!

Yeah, traveling always comes with its risks, but it's worth it in the end to see new and amazing places. This was also back in May.

Yes, I found somewhere online to file a complaint with the EU airline federation (or whatever it is called). I can try and find this link for you if I go back to my emails. It took us about 7-8 months to get this resolved. They kept saying it was in process but nothing would happen. We just kept calling every week or two to keep us on their radar. Keep bugging them and I'll try to get the email address to you. Please subscribe if you haven't yet for more helpful tips:)

This is the email we sent our EU complaint to and we actually got a response: consumidor@anac.pt

@@TravelwithKyleRebecca thanks very much

Of course! Let us know if you get a response.

Yes, apart from our own experience we just keep hearing so many other bad customer relation experiences with them. Hopefully one day they will fix this

Yes, so many stories just like this with TAP. It's terrible. I've heard they are going to get bought by another airline soon. Hopefully that happens because Portugal is such an amazing country. It makes it hard to get there and have a positive experience with an airline like that. Thanks for watching, please subscribe if you haven't already. Happy travels!

Well, glad someone is because we just keep hearing bad things from people. For us it all centered around customer service and communication. The rest of the experience was completely fine.

The people working the desk for us weren't TAP personnel (which is why we hid their identity). The only contact we had with TAP was through the phone and email, and they were not very helpful. We heard in the news they might get bought by Air France/KLM. It would be nice if they could fix TAP because we loved Portugal so much! Thanks for watching, remember to subscribe! 🙂🙂

Yup, it was a big headache. Have you had similar issues with them?

Everyone is welcome to their opinions but we feel like travelling to other places broadens your perspectives and opens you to a more diverse way of thinking. We encourage everyone to travel if you have the means. In this video we were just sharing our experiences for others to see because as Americans very few of us have traveled to foreign countries before. We wanted to show that things are different sometimes in good ways and sometimes bad. We loved Portugal and plan to go back again soon. We wouldn't let a country pay the price for a company's mismanagement. Thanks for watching, I hope that you will watch more of our videos that show how much we love traveling to new foreign destinations and how much we love and appreciate them Safe travels!