TAP Air Portugal opens a new non-Schengen lounge in Lisbon
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As well Lisbon being a popular tourist spot in its own right, TAP Air Portugal has been seeing a lot of traffic from HfP in readers in the last year or so due to its aggressive long haul fare deals.
Anyone transferring in Lisbon to a non-EU destination, or simply flying back to the UK on TAP from a short break, can now use a brand new TAP lounge for non-Schengen flights. This will cover TAP services to South America, North America, Africa and the UK.
Open daily from 5am until midnight, the lounge covers 380 sq m and can hold 100 people.
To quote:
The new non-Schengen lounge showcases traditional Portuguese materials such as cork, burel – a Portuguese craft fabric – and tiles, to simulate the typical façades of Portuguese houses.
Passengers can take advantage of dedicated work and relaxation zones as well as a dining area, run by Cateringpor, which will provide hot and cold meals inspired by Portuguese cuisine throughout the day.
Portugal’s warm hospitality is reflected in the lounge’s temporary exhibitions featuring Portuguese artists, curated by Underdogs, an urban art cultural platform based in Lisbon.
One (minor) upside from the UK being outside the Schengen area is that you often get to use a better airport lounge.
As with this new TAP lounge, the main customer in a non-Schengen lounge will be someone flying long-haul on a potentially expensive premium class ticket, and lounges are often designed accordingly.
Nowhere is this more obvious than at Helsinki Airport, where BA status holders on Finnair get to use the luxurious new lounge facilities in the non-Schengen area. Anyone flying intra-Schengen is stuck with a substantially less luxurious lounge.
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