Originally Posted by Golfingworld

TAP represent the traditional "National Airline" from the old school like Alitalia and Iberia, Air France etc etc..they have a fundamental problem which is they are heavily Unionised and locked into staff agreements that make them over priced, inefficient and uninterested in their primary function, service. Add to that the fact that Portugal invented the concept of "Third World Country" before the Third World had been discovered and you get an Airline which can be best described as a contemptuous heap of sxxx.
My last trip to Natal included a broken tv, a crew member who lectured me for trying to help her collect the food, refused boarding acces via the front door, as it was reserved for TAP Crew and Families travelling on freebie tickets and on the way home a man who managed to slice his finger off on the toilet door! TAP Crew reacted in force, so much so that they wrapped so much toilet roll round his hands that he looked like The Third Man! But to stop the blood dripping they bound his hands and arms upright on the curtain rail with some string and placed a Duty Free Platic bag over his hands....the fact there was no First Aid kit onboard seemed to escape them. Anyway, as we landed in Lisbon, they had the good sense to untie him, just in case there was an emergency evacuation and let him off first. If I hadn't already had my phone and camera nicked in Natal, I'd have videod the fiasco and sent it to IATA. TAP is a scandal and if the Brazilian property and tourist boom depends on them, forget it...go somewhere by car or train!