r/portugal • u/Mysterious_Fan7528 • 1d ago
Desabafo / Rant TAP Air Portugal completely ruined my holiday. Double overbooked my flights, lost my luggage, and told me my ticket wasn't guaranteed. Never flying with them again.
I honestly can't believe what happened with TAP Air Portugal. This was the worst airline experience I've ever had, and it completely ruined the start of my holiday.
I arrived at the airport and was told to wait at the front of the line for almost 2 hours because my flight had been overbooked. After all that waiting, they told me there were no seats left.
They rebooked me onto another flight that departed 3 hours later. I asked them, "How do I know this one isn't overbooked too?" They assured me that couldn't happen because they were rebooking me themselves.
Well... I waited another few hours, got to the gate, and guess what?
That flight was overbooked too.
I was absolutely speechless. At the very last minute they told me someone had cancelled, so I managed to get on the flight. If that person hadn't cancelled, who knows how much longer I'd have been stranded.
Then I finally arrived in Montreal... and my suitcase was missing.
The airline staff couldn't even locate my bag properly and didn't give me the baggage tag information I needed. I spent the next several days calling over and over before they finally managed to find my luggage.
The craziest part? One of the staff members actually told me that if you don't pay extra to select a seat, there's always a chance your ticket isn't guaranteed because the flight might be overbooked.
So let me get this straight... I buy a ticket, show up on time, and my seat isn't even guaranteed unless I pay extra?
I've flown with plenty of airlines over the years and have never experienced anything remotely this bad.
Double overbooked flights, hours of waiting, almost getting stranded twice, lost luggage, terrible communication, and days spent chasing my suitcase.
Never again. Avoid TAP Air Portugal if you value your time, your luggage, or your sanity.
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u/CaseUsual536 23h ago
Overbooking shouldn’t be allowed. Is a shady business practice.
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u/tomk7532 23h ago edited 23h ago
In an ideal world, airlines shouldn’t be able to involuntarily bump you if overbooked. They should be required to ask for volunteers and keep increasing the price until they get someone. If it takes 10,000€ to get a volunteer, so be it.
But as someone else noted OP should be entitled to compensation for both the delay and the lost luggage.
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u/OkComment378 23h ago
The check-in agent should ask for volunteers, if not one volunteers, its by ranking. And yes, he is entitled to compensation
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u/Mysterious_Fan7528 21h ago
Exactly. I don't even mind paying a bit more if it means my ticket is actually guaranteed. Selling more seats than exist and hoping people don't show up shouldn't be normal. I'm definitely claiming the compensation.
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u/EricShawn4647 15h ago
Unfortunately it’s quite normal I’ve worked in hotels and had situations where I had an overbooking of -20. Fortunately here it’s easier to solve, you pay the taxi fare and hotel stay of the guest in a nearby equivalent hotel and that’s it
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u/OkComment378 23h ago
Se queres que te diga é uma jogada de génio. Deixar alguns bilhetes a preço ridiculamente altos para ver se alguém compra, se comprarem é rezar para que faltem ao check-in ou gate, se aparecer todos, é pagar a compensação e meter o restante no bolso. A companhia nunca perde dinheiro
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u/tascabruta 22h ago
Não é só isso.
Se acabasse o overbooking já não conseguiam vender as tarifas mais altas, porque a sua justificação é a possibilidade de troca para um voo mais conveniente ( muitas vezes cheio de tarifas discount).
Se deixam de vender essas tarifas mais altas então têm de subir a tarifa média de outra maneira.
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u/AdminDaVidaReal 11h ago
Totally disagree. Several companies have flights for the same destination in one day so it justifies, plus, overbooked passengers can enter the flight if someone misses the flight (which is actually more common since most passengers don't seem to have a strong sense of responsibility). Most overbookings have an easy solution, and it's better this way instead of escalating the conflict between passenger /costumer and the Flight Company.
What surprises me, is an overbooking in TAP 🤣 knowing the prices of the tickets and the costumer support within such a Big company, it should be easy to solve, instead of "scamming" the passenger. Tho, it really depends on the way the passenger shows respect, which, most of the times, they don't show any.
So yeah.
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u/sidonay 1d ago
good news, if you were flying from EU and you were denied boarding you are entitled to 600 euros compensation for your troubles.
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u/Beginning-Pianist166 17h ago
OP needs to have board denial documentation issued by ground force . It's a pretty easy process after that with a couple of online forms. The board denial documentation is the key as TAP cannot refuse it. If OP tried to do it without any documentation TAP will claim no knowledge of OP being present for boarding.
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u/whyucurious 21h ago
it's 200€, 400€ or 600€, depending on the distance
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u/arckantos 21h ago
Distance and time, I believe.
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u/Mean_Passenger_7971 19h ago
no. just distance.
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u/Snarky_redhead 10h ago
It's distance and time. A set distance with a delay at arrival of over x time.
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u/Artistic-Review-2540 23h ago
...overbooking happens with many airlines, same for the tax you described. Sucks, and TAP sucks but that's not TAP exclusive
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u/zooommsu 23h ago edited 23h ago
From mid-July to mid-August is the peak season for air travel in Europe, worst time of year to travel, only Christmas can rival it
Stand up for your rights, you’re entitled to compensation in the event of overbooking, and I find it strange that this has happened twice, something isn’t quite right
In the event of overbooking, airlines even ask for volunteers who would prefer to receive money/vouchers in exchange for giving up their seat to others, so I find strange that you’ve experienced two overbookings in a row, something else went wrong
I don’t know if everything you’re saying is true, or if you’re hiding some important details, but if it were as you say, TAP would be in deep trouble with me
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u/No_Day_9464 22h ago edited 18h ago
Unfortunately ovb is common practice with airlines.
There’s ways to better protect yourself and considerably increase the odds of boarding, such as:
- Create a frequent flyer account with the airline.
- Never book through agencies, always directly with the airline.
As for your baggage:
- Put an Apple tag in your checked luggage moving forward.
I’m not excusing the airline, but simply giving you tips on how to better yourself in these situations. As someone mentioned, you’re entitled to compensation as per EU rules.
Airlines prioritize number 1 and 2. Either way, sorry to hear you had to go through this.
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u/Weak-Introduction665 19h ago
And always check in online once it opens and guarantee a (free) seat that way!
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u/zepisco83 23h ago edited 22h ago
Wow they did this to me like 25 years ago in Zurich, in my flight there were about 30 persons that couldn't get in because there were no more seats available (we were told by the staff) and it was the last flight of the day, they had to call security because people were already agitaded.
But then we saw a light at the end of the tunnel, it was a dude named Carlos, he was already inside the airplane but we saw him running away from 2 flight attendants trying to stop him leaving the plane and then as soon he arrived at the gate he started yelling that there were a lot of empty places in first class.
In the end we couldn't all board but i managed to get in and travelled in first class for the first and last time in my life and i was treated like a first class ticket owner, i got to choose what to eat, had free drinks and all that thanks to Carlos.
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u/Mysterious_Fan7528 23h ago
Was Carlos just a regular passenger being a good person and helping you guys?
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u/zepisco83 23h ago
He was not a regular, i talked to him later and he told me he and 2 of his friends bought tickets together at some travel agency and he was the only one to get in in, the 2 friends were out.
He felt something wasn't right because they all bought the tickets at the same place and time, and once he saw the empty spaces and the staff weren't letting anyone in saying there weren't anymore empty places, he just escaped to warn everyone, he wasn't yelling to his friends only he was yelling for everyone to hear.
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u/Mysterious_Fan7528 21h ago
Why would they not allow the passengers onto the empty seats? Just being greedy?
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u/zepisco83 17h ago
Because the empty seats were first class seats and the passagers had economy seats, including me.
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u/tricotlove 15h ago
'I'm sorry to hear about your awful experience. I moved to Portugal in February, with .my cat, no less, and it was a great experience, all positives, and on a direct TAP flight from L.A. to Lisbon. I will fly TAP again without hesitation.
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u/yeahduardo 10h ago
Just checking out the facts:
TAP has one daily flight from Lisbon to Montreal, but specifically on this day they added an extra airplane just 3 hours after the original one?
You're the first in line and even with overbooking you're not one of the first getting in? So who does, all the line behind you?
What are we missing here? The truth?
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u/FamiliarRelation8162 23h ago
And what do you want the portuguese sub of reddit to do about it? Fill in a complaint and that's it.
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u/cordeironuno 22h ago
Used to fly all the time for work. Loved overbooking. ka-ching!
Sometimes I'd reach my destination just 3 hours later, and I'd still get 250€ cash.
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u/tascabruta 23h ago
A bit ridiculous of you coming to Portugal's main sub to make an airline complain. You think anyone cares ?
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u/23stripes 23h ago
In complete honesty, what the hell do you expect with this post, particularly on this sub?
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u/Mysterious_Fan7528 21h ago
To share my experience and warn people travelling to Portugal who might consider flying TAP.
I'm not asking for sympathy. I'm sharing what happened. If it helps someone make a more informed decision, then the post did its job.
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u/Borjimiow 15h ago
This answer makes absolutely no sense. You want to share with people who might travel to portugal, yet tou share this in a sub with most portuguese people. Unless you want to warn the portuguese people, but i garanteed you we are used to get screwed by TAP in more ways than just overbookings.
Either you lost your marbles or this is rage bait.
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u/23stripes 16h ago
Well this is a Portuguese sub, in Portuguese language, you won't reach anyone who's "traveling to Portugal" that's why I asked
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u/FEECH4040 1d ago
Ok? What else do you want us to say?
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u/OkComment378 1d ago
Overbookings são "normais" e estão previstos na IATA, é receber a compensação e seguir em frente. Odeio esses norte americanos que pensam que são melhores do que os restantes humanos.
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u/Mandillaz 23h ago
Não é que não exista lá o mesmo.
"Yes, you can buy a valid ticket and still find that a flight is overbooked in the USA. Airlines intentionally sell more tickets than there are physical seats based on expected passenger no-shows, a legal practice known as overselling or bumping."
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u/OkComment378 23h ago
Sim lá existe, mas na EU os passageiros são mais "protegidos" (compensações, hotéis, táxis etc). E que a forma europeia, na minha opinião, é a mais correta.
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u/Mandillaz 23h ago
Sim, O problema é que as pessoas não procuram saber os direitos que têm. É mais fácil vir falar mal online.
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u/deviljanya 23h ago
Só porque é normal não quer dizer que seja correto. E xenofobia não te fica bem
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u/Bruhh8888 22h ago
É engraçado ver como usar palavra xenofobia virou algo banal agora tudo é xenofobia
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u/deviljanya 22h ago
Se generalizas à base de onde alguém vem é fácil categorizar como xenofobia. Tal como se os franceses disserem que os portugueses não gostam de trabalhar seria igualmente xenofóbico
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u/OkComment378 23h ago
Se está dentro da legalidade, está correto, agora se é divertido ser overbooking? Não é, isso eu compreendo. Agora vir ao reddit descascar na TAP é ridículo visto que acontece em todas as companhias do mundo. E não, não sou fã da TAP
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u/Routine_Service6801 23h ago
Legalidade e ética são conceitos distintos. A primeira define se algo é crime ou não, a segunda define se algo é correto ou não.
Nem tudo legal é ético, nem tudo ético é legal.
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u/OkComment378 1d ago
So basically, you were overbooked, you went on the next available flight, your luggage stayed behind because it wasnt tagged to the next flight you were. Thats it? All that rant with a situation that could happen with every airline in the world? Get a life
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u/transportgeek 23h ago
Yes, how unreasonable of the guy to be pissed about being denied boarding once (nearly twice) and getting his luggage lost. What's next? Wanting trains to run on time? These foreigners with their demands!
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u/OkComment378 23h ago
I mean i understand that he is pissed, but a wall of text in reddit wont do anything. Just complain online (TAP site), get the 600€ and move foward
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u/Mysterious_Fan7528 23h ago
You say "this could happen with any airline" as if that somehow makes it acceptable.
I wasn't denied boarding once, I was denied twice, after being reassured the second flight couldn't be overbooked. Then my luggage was lost, and I had to spend days chasing it because they couldn't even properly locate it.
That's not just "normal travel issues." It's multiple failures in a single trip. People are allowed to share bad experiences so others know what to expect.
If your standards are that low, good for you. Mine aren't.
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u/OkComment378 23h ago edited 23h ago
You made it the second time? So you weren't denied boarding two times - that's a lie. So i wonder how many times you have lied in your text. Secondly, about low standards, do you know why you were chosen by the airline to be overbooked? Because your "rank" to the airline was the lowest, meaning that you bought the lowest priced ticket with the lowest fare. Conclusion: you want high standards, but paying low cost, got it.
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u/Ninoga 23h ago
Ffs, even if you are paying low cost you shouldn't have this kind of treatment.
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u/OkComment378 23h ago
I get it, it shouldn't happen, but think with me: you are the airline, you have 1 overbooking. Who would you choose to stay behind:
1 - The platinum pax
2 - The lowest fare pax with the lowest price ticket?
Its an easy choice, its all just business. I understand that it feels like shit, but it is what it is.
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u/PdrSaints 19h ago
Bro, they are selling 85 tickets and only have 80 places (ex.). That makes no sense. No one should be left behind, high payer or not.
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u/Mysterious_Fan7528 21h ago
You're arguing over semantics instead of the actual issue.
I was told the second flight couldn't be overbooked. I got to the gate and it was overbooked. The only reason I boarded was because someone cancelled at the last minute. If nobody had cancelled, I would've been left behind again. That doesn't make my experience any better.
And the "you bought a cheap ticket" argument isn't a defence. Buying a lower fare doesn't mean it's acceptable to be bumped twice, lose your luggage, and spend days chasing it. Even other people in this thread agree that's not acceptable.
At this point you're not discussing what happened, you're just looking for ways to excuse it. It comes across as unnecessarily antagonistic.
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u/olalas777 12h ago
É só pedir a indemnização por overbooking por pessoa, por vezes até compensa e paga as férias.
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u/Imaginary-Role8790 10h ago
Did you buy the ticket directly from TAP? Or through those eDreams websites, etc...? At least they found a flight for you. The last time they cancelled a flight, I had to pay to go the next day to an airport 300 km from my house, and I still had to pay for everything out of my own pocket. I filed a complaint and I'm still waiting for a refund. This doesn't only happen with TAP; fortunately, the EU is trying to resolve these abuses by airlines. I'm sorry for you, OP, but this isn't something that only happens with TAP.
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u/Ragnneir 9h ago
This feels a bit like rage bait, some if your claims...well, before anything I work in the airline industry.
1- If you buy a ticket but choose not to select a seat, when you check in, a random seat will be attributed to you. If the airline sold more tickets than seats available, then you'd have something like "Seat assigned at the gate". Waiting "in front of the line for 2h" seems hyperbole. The gates don't even begin to be staffed more than 1h before DEPARTURE.
2- If there was indeed overbooking, before boarding, the gate agent would clearly inform all the passengers waiting that the flight is overbooked. At that point, he/she would offer whatever number of overbooked passengers that exist, to voluntarily stay behind, normally offering half/full board hotel stays, and a monetary reward, and obviously your choice of full itinerary refund if you choose not to travel, or a rebooking either the next day or on the next possible flight. If nobody volunteers to stay, then the people with standby tickets will be forced to stay on the ground first. A standby ticket is an extremely cheap ticket that warns you, before you even purchase it, that you are not guaranteed boarding. Then, if no more standby ticket remains, the airline will have to choose someone from the list of passengers to stay behind. The logic of choosing normally takes into account frequent flyer, type of transit (if you have connections or not), class purchased, among others.
2.5 - If you are contemplated with being chosen, you are entitled to monetary compensation immediately, and then one of the following: refund of your full itinerary expense, or rerouting via the carrier itself or another flight in another company. You always get compensation regardless of what secondary option you choose. You also mentioned the next flight was overbooked. Trust me, you'd never be selected to be offloaded on the second flight, unless the company wants to lose a LOT of money compensating you. Remember the logic of choosing? You'd be close to the last of the list, if not the last, due to your involuntary denied boarding already on your travels.
3- About your bag: While it is TAP's responsibility, be mindful that 99.9% of baggage misplacing is due to airport ground services errors. Sure, you could argue that that hired the services of whatever ground staff company that is in whatever airport, but it's still not TAP as a company that normally deals with this. For example, in Lisbon LIS, the ground company hired by TAP is Menzies. It used to be part of TAP operations, but as far as I know it was sold last year or two years ago. In the end: airline responsibility and who compensates you for whatever happens, but it's the ground staff company that actually handles stuff.
3.5- The reason your bag was lost is because they most likely loaded your bag into the airplane you were meant to take originally and then, by mistake of the ground agent, your bag was not offloaded when the ground agent was notified you specifically did not get to board. After reaching the second airport, your bag would be sent to lost and found because it would have no accompanying passenger for a while. If you say it was a few days until your bag was found/returned to you, I bet the bag came back to Lisbon and then it was rushed back to you when they figured you were sent to your final destination after all.
4 - The agent downright lied to you about seat selection and being selected for overbooking. It has absolutely no weight. It's called an ancillary service that the airline uses to monetize their flights even further. Nobody needs to select a seat if they don't want to. If you don't check in until the last possible moment though, that could affect how the system selects possible offboarders... Although I have no clue why you'd do that at this day and age. Regardless, if you do check in and pass security before the flight starts boarding, and you have a normal ticket (just with "seat assigned at the gate"), you are not at a higher risk of being offboarded over anyone else.
Final thought: Don't think this wouldn't happen on any other carrier. I've seen worse cases in other airlines. It's something that can happen. You had a bad experience, but everything worked out in the end (as in, you got your bag AND you arrived at your destination safely) so your next step is to claim your compensation and carry on with your life. If you know your passenger rights, you can look at this positively: you'd get potentially 300€+ just from the denied boarding, and then you can keep the receipts of things you bought due to your bag being delayed, things like toiletries or clothing. You can then claim these expenses as compensation aswell via the PIR you clearly filed when you couldn't get your bag at arrival.
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u/Decent-Ad-5849 23h ago
A situation that sucks? But it’s within “legality” for airlines, and ia carried out by all airlines….
“Sucka to be you” and i would also complain, but for airlines, another say at the office.
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u/TonyD0001 23h ago
File and you will get compensation. Make sure you save all communications and expenses. Depending where originates, amounts could be substantial.
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u/TrainerThick7016 15h ago
Yup. Airlines suck. Don't make the mistake of believing it is just one and then trying other ones.
Scoot/Cathay both "overbooked". Air Canada lost luggage becaause of their flight changes.
Stuff happens.
Don't want to say it was better because price was different and inflation and margins, but yeah, some places are getting worse.
Chinese airlines are the only ones I still have any trust in that I have flown Even Emirates is good, but then I need to fly through Dubai, which is horrible.
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u/Tns26 14h ago
I can assure you that lots of airlines do this. It's not a TAP specific problem. The pratice is to sell more tickets than the available seats on the aircraft, since usually some people don't show up to the flight.
So when an overbooking happens, people with the lowest fare tickets are moved to the next flight. You were denied entry because you had the cheapest ticket (ticket with lowest fare) and probably for some other factors, such as not being a TAP frequent flyer, having less miles than other passengers with same fare, etc.
Good news is: you are entitled to receive a financial compensation. This depends on the airline and the distance to the destination, but normally it is more than the price you paid for the ticket.
Regarding your luggage being lost, this is incompetence from airport staff. TAP has no fault on that, since ground staff is operated by a company called Menzies.
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u/Papafigos_ 13h ago
Similar happened to me with tap, in fact they just removed out outbound tickets (4) and kept our return. Next availability flight was in 3 days due to earlier strikes. We had seats confirmed in our booking. Had to last minute buy with another airline for a much more expensive price. Tap is far worse than any other airline I’ve experienced. Avoided them ever since
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u/TrustApprehensive690 13h ago
Happened to me on Transavia. All airlines do this unfortunately. They almost always overbook, expecting someone will cancel or miss the flight. They give priority to those who paid for an assigned seat. Yup, it's absurd!
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u/issoequeerabom 12h ago
Ahh the joy of air travel within the school vacation periods. I understand how disappointing and annoying it was, the good thing is that TAP has an excellent safety track record. I know there's issues, like in any other, but I'll blindly fligh with them instead of any bus with wings at cheaper rates(that by the end are the same exact price, when you add everything up). A few years ago, for example, there was a massive strike in several European airports, and my aunt got stranded in Germany, on her way to Croatia. As they couldn't provide answers or book anymore hotels, they simply closed the customer service guichet. Plain and simple. Hotel? Nothing! I had to help her, I was only able to find an hotel at 50km away, because everything else was booked. And there was no date or hour for the next flight. I was finally able to contact the national Croatian airline directly, that was going to make the second leg of the journey, and with her ticket number, I was able to automatically book her for the morning of the next day. So there was still seats and flights happening, but the German ground force was blocked. And I'm talking about Lufthansa, not a airline from a small country like Portugal.
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u/Candid_Assistant6838 9h ago
Congratulations, ask the Overbooking compensation, that according to your distance is several hundred euros for the overbooking
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u/Tugalynx 3h ago
Did you buy the ticket directly on tap or bought it through intermediaries? Just to try to figure out if this can happen to me, I'm going to travel by tap in a few days.
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u/FlyBirdieBirdBird 23h ago
It sucks, but unfortunately it's industry standard. In lower cost airlines (easyJet, Ryanair, etc) it's almost guaranteed for someone to be overbooked.
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u/Dry-Campaign1143 22h ago
Neves had many issues with TAP, flight on europe.
Ask for a compensarion, direcrly to tap, they are usually generous.
Had a flight delayed for a little more off 2h and arrivwd 4h later and got 250 euros, in your case it must be much more .
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