TAP Air Portugal flight delay and cancellation compensation

Your rights on a TAP flight

TAP Air Portugal is Portugal's flag carrier, based at Lisbon with a secondary hub at Porto. It holds a Portuguese operating licence, so it is an EU carrier and EU261 covers its flights in both directions:

• Departures from any EU/EEA airport — protected regardless of the airline
• Arrivals into the EU/EEA from a third country — protected because TAP is an EU airline, which brings its Brazilian, West African and North American inbound flights inside the regulation
• UK routes — UK261 applies to departures from the UK and to arrivals into the UK on an EU or UK carrier

TAP Express operates much of the regional and domestic network under TAP codes. Where a flight is operated by a partner airline outside the group, the claim follows the operating carrier.

Portugal's Azores and Madeira are part of the EU for these purposes, so Lisbon–Funchal and Lisbon–Ponta Delgada are intra-EU flights.

What you can claim

Compensation is due when you arrive at your final destination three or more hours late, when a flight is cancelled with less than 14 days' notice, or when you are denied boarding on an oversold flight having checked in on time.

• EUR 250 — routes of 1,500 km or less, including Lisbon to Madrid and most Iberian flying
• EUR 400 — intra-EU routes over 1,500 km and other routes of 1,500 to 3,500 km, covering the islands, northern Europe and Morocco
• EUR 600 — routes over 3,500 km: Brazil, the United States, Canada and much of Africa

Article 7(2) permits a 50 per cent reduction on that top band where a re-routed flight lands less than four hours late, so the exact arrival time is worth confirming. UK261 pays GBP 220 / GBP 350 / GBP 520.

The figure never depends on the fare. Discount economy, executive class and TAP Miles&Go reward tickets all attract the same amount, and every passenger named on the booking claims separately.

Lisbon connections and the Atlantic network

TAP is built as a connecting airline between Europe and the South Atlantic, and a large share of claims start with a delay on a short European feeder that costs a Brazil or Africa connection. On a single booking, compensation is measured by total lateness at the final destination, so a modest first delay can support a EUR 600 claim. Separate tickets do not link that way.

When TAP does not have to pay

The airline is excused only where it proves extraordinary circumstances that could not have been avoided even with all reasonable measures. Severe weather — Madeira's wind conditions are a well-known operational constraint — ATC restrictions, airport closures, security incidents and bird strikes are the recognised categories.

Two limits on that defence matter:

• TAP bears the burden of proof. It must evidence both the cause and the reasonable measures taken.
• Own-staff strikes are generally not extraordinary. Industrial action by an airline's own crew is treated as inherent in its business; strikes by air-traffic controllers or third-party handlers usually are extraordinary.

Whatever the cause, the right to care stands: meals, two communications, and hotel accommodation with transfers for an overnight wait.

How to claim, and where to escalate

Keep the booking reference, boarding passes, the disruption notice, and receipts. Record the true arrival time at the final destination.

Airlines commonly acknowledge a claim automatically and take longer to decide it, and response times vary. If a claim is refused without proper substantiation, it can be raised with Portugal's civil aviation authority (ANAC) for departures from Portuguese airports, with the enforcement body of the departure state elsewhere in the EU, or taken to court within the local limitation period.

Our eligibility check is free, and we charge a fixed EUR 39 only if we recover your compensation.