The government announced on March 11 the lifting of the suspension of direct flights to Portugal, Brazil and South Africa, which had been interrupted since January 16 due to the covid-19 pandemic, indicating that TAP would run a weekly frequency, which could evolve, according to the epidemiological situation.
Since then, TAP has only been authorized to run two flights a week, which have been held on Thursday (Lisbon-Luanda) and Friday (Luanda-Lisbon), but there are passengers with tickets purchased for other days of the week, who end up seeing their flights cancelled, and have not spared the company criticism on social networks.
Ana Brás was traveling on April 17 (on a Saturday) to Lisbon and had already taken the covid-19 screening test, required for boarding, when she received a message from TAP saying that the flight would not take place.
That very day she went to the airline's counter in Luanda to get clarification and make a complaint.
"They told me that the trip had been forgotten in the system," she told Lusa. Ana Brás tried to make a complaint through the TAP website that was given to her, but said that it was only after the third attempt that she was able to obtain proof of the complaint, having received a reference number only after having insisted on contacting the company via Facebook.
"I am waiting for an answer, until they deposit the money in my account I will not give up," she assured.
Ana Brás managed to be put back on a flight, but only on the one scheduled for May 14, that is, almost a month later, regretting the inconvenience caused by the change.
"I was going to catch my children's birthday and Mother's Day and I couldn't make it anymore. I also had appointments and had to reschedule everything," she said.
Another Portuguese citizen who is going to travel from Luanda to Lisbon next May 17 told Lusa that she is worried about not making the trip, which is scheduled for a Monday.
"TAP tells me that the flight is in the system and is confirmed, but taking into account the information I have received, I fear that it will not take place," said the Portuguese woman, who also works in Luanda and asked not to be identified.
The same source said that she questioned TAP to find out if the airline would be responsible for reimbursing the cost of the RT-PCR test, should the flight not take place: "they told me that they couldn't guarantee that, but I could make a claim later.
He said he initially booked his trip for July 2, but changed his ticket to May 28 and then to May 21, paying over 500 euros for the change, for health reasons.
"However, since they changed the flight schedule for May 21, I brought it forward to May 17, but not without first asking if they were sure that this flight existed, given the information I had, and they continued to tell me that the flight exists," he said, adding that he tried to change the date of the trip back to the 28th (Friday), since there are no more seats for the 21st, but TAP is demanding another payment of 692.89 euros.
"I don't know what to do," she said.
Lusa contacted TAP in Lisbon, but has so far had no reply.
