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Stopovers that don’t add to the cost of your fare can be a very nice (and economical) way to add another destination to whatever trip you’re planning, and if you’re booking a trip with TAP Air Portugal (or just considering a trip to Europe), it has a stopover program you should know about.
The TAP stopover program
The TAP Air Portugal stopover program allows you to break your journey in Lisbon or Porto for up to 10 days at no additional cost to the price of your ticket, and TAP will let you take that break on either the outbound or the return leg of your trip.
As TAP describes it as being available “on your outbound or return journey”, that suggests you’re limited to one stopover per booking rather than one in each direction.
It’s available on one-way, round trip and multi-city cash fares that route through Lisbon or Porto, and award tickets are not eligible. TAP’s page names Lisbon and Porto as the two stopover cities, although I have also been offered a stopover in Terceira in the Azores.
The program also gives you access to discounts and special offers from more than 150 partners across Portugal, covering hotels, restaurants, activities, tours, museums, cultural venues and shops. TAP says there are more than 500 offers in total, with savings of up to 50%.
Booking a stopover works like this:
- Search for your flights at flytap.com as you normally would. If your itinerary is eligible, an “Add a free Stopover” or “Add Portugal to your trip” option will appear under the list of flight options the search engine offers you.
- Click “add stopover” to open the stopover options window.
- In this window, select your preferred stopover city and choose how many nights (up to 10) that you’d like your stopover to cover and then click on “confirm stopover”.
- You can now select which flights work best for you (from the list of flights offered) and then proceed through the booking process as usual.
Note: The program works on intra-Europe routings as well as on TAP routings across the Atlantic so, for example, a TAP Madrid – London booking would be eligible for a free stopover in Portugal.
Link to the TAP Portugal stopover page
Get a 25% discount on flights within Portugal
If you book a trip that includes a stopover, you’ll also receive a promotional code worth 25% off a TAP flight within Portugal, with the idea being that you use it to visit a second part of the country while you’re there.
How you get the code depends on how you book.
If you book at flytap.com or through the TAP Contact Center the code is emailed to you once your booking is complete, while if you book through a travel agent you’ll get the discount at the point at which you book the flight within Portugal (per TAP).
These are the terms attached to the code:
- It can be used at flytap.com or in the TAP App.
- It’s valid on routes between Lisbon or Porto and Ponta Delgada, Terceira, Funchal, Porto Santo and Faro, and on the route between Faro and Funchal.
- It’s valid on one-way, round trip and multi-city bookings.
- It’s valid for one booking only.
- It’s only valid on flights operated by TAP Air Portugal and TAP Express.
- It’s only valid on flights taken during the stopover period.
- It cannot be combined with any other offer, discount or promotion, and you have to make sure that there are no active discounts (including TAP Miles&Go discounts) in the flight search.
Be aware that the 25% discount applies to the base fare and the airline surcharge (YQ) only, so any taxes and other charges (if there are any) are payable in full.
Full details on the TAP stopover page
Bottom line
The TAP Air Portugal stopover program will allow you a stopover of up to 10 days in Lisbon or Porto (and possibly Terceira) at no extra cost. It’s available on one-way, round trip and multi-city cash fares routing through Portugal (award tickets are excluded) and the stopover needs to be included in the booking from the start (you can’t book a trip and then add in a free stopover later).
In addition, anyone booking a TAP stopover will also get a code for 25% off a TAP flight within Portugal that must be taken during the stopover.
