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25% off TAP Air Portugal
TAP Air Portugal is offering customers up to 25% off return flights from Lisbon to the Azores when they add a stopover in Portugal to their booking. When you fly to the Azores you can also explore Portugal for up to 10 days at no extra cost on your outward or return journey.
TAP operates five daily flights to the Archipelago. The Azores have been on my “must visit” list for a while thanks to the beautiful waterfalls, hot springs, and quaint towns of the nine volcanic islands that make up the Azores. São Miguel Island, the largest of the Azores Archipelago, is home to the largest city, Ponta Delgada, which boasts a rich history complete with unique gothic architecture and a modern cosmopolitan vibe. It is also a great place for whale and dolphin watchers.
The less-visited Terceira Island is home to the UNESCO World Heritage city of Angra do Heroísmo, which was a frequent port of call for ships between Europe and America from the 15th to the 19th century. Visitors to the island can also go underground and explore its unique and cavernous lava tubes, allowing them to get up close to a once highly active volcano that helped create the island’s dramatic landscape.
TAP is the only airline to fly to the Azores year-round from London via Lisbon. It operates three flights a day to the capital Ponta Delgada and twice daily to Terceira Island. Return fares from London to Ponta Delgada start from £223 and to Terceira Island from £218, including all taxes and charges in economy.
Lisbon is one of my favourite European cities to visit with its cobbled streets, trams and vibrant food and nightlife scene.
For more information and to book flights, visit flytap.com. For further information on the stopover programme, visit flytap.com/stopover.
Delta ups its business class game, new route, and transcontinental premium economy
Delta would be one of my first choices across the Atlantic along with Virgin Atlantic, JetBlue, and BA. Delta is part of Skyteam and also uses Virgin’s wonderful Clubhouse lounge at Heathrow.
The Delta One business class experience will soon be further enhanced by a new partnership with Italian luxury fashion house Missoni. Given the woeful state of American Airlines amenity bags these days, it is good to see the competition doing something stylish and high-end. There will be a new customer amenity kit and other details woven into the Delta One travel experience.
“We’ve been intentional about creating a Delta One experience—both on the ground and in the air—that feels truly premium and elevated, and Missoni’s elegance and prestige aligns perfectly with that vision,” said Mauricio Parise, Vice President – Brand Experience Design. “The Missoni-designed amenity kits, along with unique design elements that will be featured in our Delta One Lounge at JFK, will offer a distinct, high-end enhancement to our most premium spaces.”
The new Delta One amenity kits will feature Missoni’s signature textured zigzag pattern on the exterior of the bag. That same intentional design continues inside the bag, as Missoni and Delta teams created an exclusive pattern and color palette that celebrates the view from the window at 30,000 feet while paying homage to Delta’s nearly 100-year flying heritage.
The new amenity kits will be available in Delta One beginning in mid-July on all Delta flights to and from Italy and Paris before launching worldwide in September. Delta Premium Select (premium economy) will continue to feature amenity kits designed by Someone Somewhere.
Inside the kits, customers will enjoy Grown Alchemist skin care products which are a fantastic brand and smell gorgeous, a bamboo toothbrush and toothpaste, an eye mask, ear plugs, socks and a pen. Alongside the Missoni amenity kits, customers flying in Delta One will also get the Delta One Bedding collection featuring a duvet, large sleeping pillow and slippers.
I think these amenity kits look very stylish and practical. The rectangular shape makes them perfect for use with packing cubes or on their own within your luggage to organise your belongings after the flight. I would say this is now one of the best amenity kits on the transatlantic routes.
Delta has also been upping its food game with new celebrity chef partnerships on selected routes, such as former 3 Michlin star holder Guy Martin on its Paris routes.
If you are flying transcontinental, Delta is also introducing its Premium economy (Premium Select) product from 10 September 2024 on four of Delta’s 11 peak-day flights between LAX and JFK on a Boeing 767 widebody aircraft newly equipped with four product experiences: Delta One, Delta Premium Select, Delta Comfort+ and Main Cabin. Delta expects to expand to additional daily JFK-LAX frequencies later this year.
Finally, Delta has introduced a new route that will give Virgin points collectors a new way to redeem their points for Florida. The Orlando to London Heathrow route will start on 26 October 2024. Delta’s new route will also complement Virgin Atlantic’s existing Orlando to London Heathrow daily service. This seasonal route will operate four times weekly until 29 March 2025 using an A330-900neo featuring Delta One Suites, Delta Premium Select, Delta Comfort+ and Main Cabin experiences.
Aer Lingus strike/industrial action update
Aer Lingus is being affected by a work-to-rule by pilots in a dispute over pay. There is also the possibility of a full-on strike, but no dates have been officially communicated yet.
Aer Lingus is having to cancel between 10% and 20% of its flights during the first five days of the action by Ialpa’s Aer Lingus pilot members.
There is some good news in that the action does not affect the airline’s transatlantic flights from Manchester, nor does it affect their regional services.
