New York: £295/€349 TAP Flights from London; £229/€271 with Portugal Stopover (Cabin Bags Only)

United Kingdom’s air passenger duty for intercontinental flights can be avoided by spending over 24 hours in a different European country before boarding a long-haul flight. Not many airlines allow such long layovers for free, but TAP Portugal does.

That means, that if you spend 1–5 days in Porto or Lisbon on the outbound journey, you can fly from London to New York for merely £229 (~€262). While luggage is only included for Star Alliance Gold members, you can book the Basic fare with luggage for €392 (~£342). These prices with stopover can be found between November 2024 and March 2025. If you don’t want to do the stopover, you can also find flights starting at £295 (~€338).

Our availability calendar highlights all possible flight dates at the lowest price for trips up to 28 days without stopover. It will forward you to kayak with your selected flight dates.

TAP uses an Airbus A320 family aircraft for flights between London and Portugal. In most cases, an Airbus A321LR operates the 8-hour long-haul flight with slightly more comfortable seats, on-demand video, power sockets, and USB ports to charge your devices. When flying via Lisbon, you might also end up in an Airbus A330-900neo, with the same benefits.

Adding a Stopover in Portugal

For the multi-city option, you can find the dates using our calendar above. You can use those return dates as the outbound and inbound dates. Then you need to split flights in both directions into two segments, until your itinerary looks like this:

• Outbound date: London to Portugal
• Outbound date +1: Portugal to New York (Can happen up to five days later)
• Inbound date: New York to Portugal
• Inbound date (+1): Portugal to London¹

¹Flights from Newark to Porto leave shortly after midnight. Because of this, you need to enter the same date when travelling via Porto. When returning via Lisbon, you need to choose the day after your flight departs from Now York.

While the gap between the first and second segment needs to be at least 24 hours, the second stop can be as short as 2 hours.

You can enter these dates in our Go2 tool and search for prices either on Kayak or TAP’s website.

And voilá, you’re only paying £229 (~€262) for the flights, and to explore Portugal’s most beautiful city.

Search & Book

According to the fare rules, tickets are on sale until December 1, 2024. However, this fare has been available in one form or another for several months now. There is no minimum stay, but a maximum stay of 12 months applies. Departures are available between November 2024 and March 2025.

You can use Google Flights to see the exact available dates. You can then book on TAP’s website, but you can find cheaper prices with Kayak. While booking on OTAs has its downsides, TAP’s customer service is infamously bad. It might be worth booking through an OTA.

Why is booking with an airline better than with an online travel agency?

More often than not, online travel agencies offer lower fares than airlines do. We still recommend booking with the airlines directly. There are two main reasons for that:

Better Customer Service
In case any problems like delays, cancellations or missed connections arise, you can communicate directly with the airline. The airline has to take care of you because you have a contract with them.

If a travel agency issues your ticket, you may have to reach out to them first. You also depend on your OTA to forward information like flight changes instead of receiving them directly from the airline. In many cases, you may get a prime exhibition of responsibility shifting rather than problem-solving.

This especially applies to premium tickets. You don’t want to spend more than €1,000 to wind up with some budget OTA’s telephone hotline in case anything goes wrong.

Baggage and Other Fees
Economy fares not including hold luggage are industry standard by now. In most cases, travel agencies charge much higher baggage fees than the airlines themselves. If bags are not included in your fare, airlines are often the cheaper alternative.

This also applies to other things like food services, insurances or priority treatment. In almost all cases, you pay less for additional amenities when booking on the airlines’ website.

Miles & Points

The tickets are issued in booking class T, meaning that you shouldn’t expect many miles from this trip:

At TAP’s own frequent flyer program, the number of miles depends on the fare you selected (e.g. Discount without luggage gets you 0 miles).

Destination

Information & Tips for New York

New York City is famous for landmarks like the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, Times Square, and the Empire State Building. The currency is the U.S. dollar (USD), and credit cards are widely accepted. The city can be expensive, especially for accommodation and dining in tourist areas, though budget options are available. The weather varies, with cold winters, hot summers, and mild spring and fall seasons. The best time to visit is usually in the spring or fall when the weather is most pleasant.

We’ve compared various esim providers, such as Knowroaming and Ubigi. To see which plan is best for your travel needs and which network offers the best coverage, feel free to read our detailed guide:

The Best eSIM Plans for the USA 🇺🇸 Compared

 

→ All Dealz for New York

Information & Tips for USA

The United States offers a wide range of tourist sights, from national parks like Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon to cities such as New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. The currency is the U.S. dollar (USD), and card payments are widely accepted. Prices vary by region but can be high in major cities, especially for accommodation and dining. Weather differs greatly across the country—winters can be harsh in the north, while the south often stays mild; summers are generally hot and humid in many areas.

The U.S. transport infrastructure is highly car-dependent, especially outside major cities. Urban centres like New York, Chicago, and San Francisco have functional public transit, but many other cities have limited options. Between cities, domestic flights are common for long distances, while intercity buses and Amtrak trains cover some routes, though often with slower speeds and less frequency compared to other countries. Without a car, getting around can be inconvenient in many parts of the country.

We’ve compared various esim providers, such as Knowroaming and Ubigi. To see which plan is best for your travel needs and which network offers the best coverage, feel free to read our detailed guide:

The Best eSIM Plans for the USA 🇺🇸 Compared

→ All Dealz for USA

Cover Picture: Ditmar Lange