Passengers of Star Alliance member TAP Air Portugal are experiencing an unexpected surprise on board these days: The carrier asks for food and drinks in economy class on short and medium-haul routes. However, tickets with included catering are still offered on the homepage, but in the middle of the Corona crisis they switched to paid catering without notice and without any notice on the website.

So far, passengers who flew with TAP Air Portugal have been served snacks and drinks in economy class at no extra charge. That is the end of it, because the company is now asking for money. If you don't want to pay, you won't get anything. The spicy thing is that passengers who booked their tickets before the changeover were not informed at all and the company still shows that catering is included in the booking process. But that doesn't exist anymore. There is also not a single reference to paid catering in economy class on the entire TAP website. On the contrary, because as a real gourmet restaurant, the food and drinks on board are advertised. But there customers have been expecting a sales catalog including prices for a few days and there is no longer anything free of charge.

TAP Air Portugal's approach is extremely questionable from a legal point of view, because if included catering is shown during the booking process, this part of the transport contract is to be served free of charge by the carrier. The Lufthansa subsidiary Eurowings literally burned its fingers with such an “action”, because snacks and drinks were removed from the Smart tariff last year. A passenger who had not received his included catering and was asked to pay instead, with the help of the consumer advice center, went to the Düsseldorf Regional Court, which ruled in favor of the traveler. The consumer advocates also point out that the cancellation of the included catering - if this was indicated during the booking process and / or on the confirmation - represents a significant change to the transport contract and the airline is therefore not allowed to delete the included snacks and drinks. The explicit consent of the passenger must be obtained. But that is exactly what Eurowings did not do, which is why the regional court issued a so-called acknowledgment judgment due to the airline's relenting. More details under this link.

TAP Air Portugal led the paid catering without any announcement and surprised passengers on board. These were not informed beforehand and their consent was not even obtained. It is particularly hard, however, that catering included in the booking process is still shown, although the switch to paid catering has been carried out quietly. In view of this not exactly customer-friendly business practice, it is not surprising that TAP Air Portugal did not comment on the changeover and the annoyance of passengers. So if you want to drink a beer on board in the future, you have to put four euros on the table at TAP or, alternatively, buy an expensive business class ticket.