I took one week of my holiday period of August to go on cruise onboard “Queen Victoria” departing Istanbul on the 1st August ending at Civitavecchia on the 8th August.
On the 1st August I would fly FNC-LIS-IST, TP and TK expecting to arrive ontime to board “Queen Victoria” around 20h30 and depart from Karakoy harbour at 22h30.
The first leg, FNC-LIS, would be on the morning departure flight, which was, not surprising, full on Y class and almost full on C class cabin. Most of the passengers would have connecting flights out of Lisbon Airport. After spending some time at TAP lounge at FNC airport I went to the gate and boarding was already going on, around 5h10. Doors were closed at 5h20 so the A320 CS-TQD named “Eugénio de Andrade” (built in 1999 and was with Air Luxor fleet before 2002) was airborne ahead of schedule, at 5h28. The sky, at that time, was completely dark, but the sunrise would happen into the mid of the flight.
The breakfast was served 30 min into the flight and consisted in the usual cold cuts meal: ham and cheese plate, jam, fruit and yogurt. Bread, cakes and croissants were offered twice from a basket along with drinks and coffee or tea. A good meal for such a short flight.
After the meal the sun was already up enabling the first shots of the day.
The approach to LIS would be the most usual, from the south, overflying Costa da Caparica before heading to runway 03, just 5 km north of the city centre.
TAP offers a good business class product on those domestic flights, but the meals are more fulfilling during breakfast, lunch and dinner times.
