TAP Air Portugal: delayed, cancelled or overbooked flight — your rights

Was your TAP Air Portugal flight delayed, cancelled, diverted, or did you miss a connection in Lisbon? In certain situations, the EU regulation on air passenger rights can entitle you to compensation of up to €600 per passenger, in addition, depending on the case, to a ticket refund, re-routing and care for certain expenses.

A delay does not, however, automatically entitle you to €600: you must in particular look at the route, the booking (single or separate tickets), the delay at the final destination, and the cause of the disruption.

TAP: am I entitled to compensation?

This table gives a general orientation: every situation depends on the exact route, the booking and the precise cause, detailed section by section below.

How much can you get with TAP?

The fixed compensation is independent of the ticket price paid: a cheap ticket can be entitled to the same fixed amount as a more expensive one when the conditions are met.

TAP Air Portugal delayed flight

Yes, you may be entitled to up to €600 if your TAP flight arrives at least 3 hours late at its final destination, subject to the other conditions. The delay is measured on arrival, at the final destination, not at departure. From 3 hours of confirmed delay onwards, compensation may be due if the other conditions of the regulation are met and no extraordinary circumstance applies, without you having to prove any financial loss: €250 up to 1,500 km, €400 between 1,500 and 3,500 km (or an intra-EU flight beyond that), €600 beyond that, outside the EU.

TAP's excuses: valid or not

Potentially valid excuses: weather incompatible with the flight, air traffic management decisions, security risks, events external to the airline. Even then, the airline must prove it took all reasonable measures to limit the delay.

Generally invalid excuses: many technical problems arising from the normal operation of the aircraft do not automatically amount to extraordinary circumstances (Wallentin-Hermann and van der Lans rulings, CJEU). The precise cause remains decisive: not all technical faults are equal.

TAP Air Portugal cancelled flight

Yes, in principle, a cancellation notified less than 14 days before departure can entitle you to compensation. Several distinct rights may apply: ticket refund, re-routing to the final destination, care while waiting, and possibly fixed compensation. If TAP informs you less than 14 days before departure, compensation may be due, unless the airline offers re-routing that meets certain departure and arrival time limits set out in the regulation.

Note: being told less than 14 days in advance does not always trigger compensation on its own. If TAP also offers re-routing at times very close to the original flight, it may escape payment in certain specific cases.

Missed connection with TAP Air Portugal

Did TAP cause you to miss your connection in Lisbon? If your ticket is a single booking covering the whole journey, the relevant delay is the one recorded at your final destination, whichever leg caused it (Folkerts, CJEU).

Be careful: if you bought two separate tickets rather than a single booking, the protection is different, as each flight is assessed independently. Always check whether the entire journey appears on a single booking.

Connecting in Lisbon: what to know

Lisbon (Humberto Delgado Airport, LIS) is a major connecting point on the TAP network between Europe and Africa, with destinations such as Dakar, Accra, Bissau, Luanda, Maputo, São Tomé, or several Cape Verde cities. When a first flight arrives late in Lisbon, the margin available before the next flight can shrink. When several rotations follow one another during the evening, an initial delay can affect subsequent flights: this is not because TAP is systematically late, but because of how a connecting network operates, which can create a domino effect once a time margin is lost.

A connection of around 1.5 hours in Lisbon generally offers a more comfortable margin than a very short connection, particularly if an additional security or passport check is required (passengers without an EU passport may in particular encounter queues at border checks). A 45-minute connection may look sufficient on paper and become much tighter if the first flight runs late.

First-hand account: the founder of Robin des Airs himself experienced this situation on a Dakar → Lisbon → Milan journey. The overnight Dakar-Lisbon flight had only 1 to 1.5 hours of delay on arrival in Lisbon, a delay that looks minor on paper. But scheduled to land just before the first wave of morning departures, this short delay was enough to cause the missed connection to Milan and led to re-routing onto a later flight, with several hours of delay on final arrival. It was this final delay, at the final destination, that entitled him to EU261 compensation — not the initial 1-hour delay in Lisbon. Read the full interview about this real case.

Evening flights to Africa from Lisbon can also be affected by EU rules on flight time and crew rest limitations: when a rotation runs significantly late, the crew may no longer be able to operate the next flight within regulatory limits, which can contribute to a disruption. This does not automatically make the cancellation exempting nor automatically compensable: the precise cause must be examined.

TAP overbooking / denied boarding

Involuntary denied boarding opens specific rights under the regulation, including compensation, care (meals, accommodation where necessary) and a choice between refund and re-routing, subject to the applicable conditions. Article 4 of EU Regulation 261/2004 requires the airline to first call for volunteers before denying boarding to anyone.

Strikes and TAP flights

It all depends on who is striking. A strike by TAP's own staff must be analysed in light of European case law and the specific circumstances. In the Krüsemann ruling (CJEU), the Court held that a spontaneous walkout by staff, triggered in reaction to a restructuring decision by the airline, did not amount to an extraordinary circumstance in the circumstances of that case. This does not mean every internal TAP strike is automatically treated the same way: the characterisation depends on the specific facts.

A strike by third parties outside TAP (air traffic controllers, airport staff not employed by the airline, a national general strike) may, however, be a valid extraordinary circumstance, provided TAP proves it took all reasonable measures to limit the impact.

TAP and codeshares: who is the operating carrier?

A ticket may be sold by TAP while the flight is shown as "operated by" another airline. It is then necessary to distinguish between the marketing carrier and the operating air carrier, which can be decisive in determining which regime applies. Always check the "operated by" notice on your booking.

How to contact TAP Air Portugal about a claim

TAP handles direct claims slowly, often without a quick reply. Before writing yourself, keep your boarding pass, your e-ticket and any delay or cancellation notification: these are the documents that make the difference if the airline refuses or stays silent for a long time. For a connection, keep the documents for the whole journey, not only the first flight.

How long do you have to claim?

Before the French courts, the general-law limitation period applied by case law for the EU261 compensation is generally 5 years (art. 2224 of the French Civil Code). It is therefore best not to wait several years before acting, and to check this period case by case rather than treating it as automatic.

Sources and references

• Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 — article 7 (compensation), article 8 (refund/re-routing), article 9 (right to care)
• Your Europe — Air passenger rights, official summary by the European Commission
• CJEU, Krüsemann (C-195/17) — internal strikes, characterisation depending on the precise facts

How to claim with Robin des Airs

A specialist in the Africa-Europe corridors, Robin des Airs checks whether your TAP Air Portugal flight qualifies (route, final destination, delay, stated cause), builds the file, sends the claim and challenges refusals. Nothing to pay if nothing is recovered. You receive 75% of the sums recovered at the amicable stage, and 60% if the airline forces us to go to court.

→ File my TAP Air Portugal claim in 2 min