tangoll

The Eva Air website is showing some attractive promo fares in ED for HKG/TPE/BKK/LHR and return, at like US$1,100 or so. Problem is that the HKG/TPE flight arrives at 10:40 pm, and the TPE/BKK/LHR flight doesn't leave until 09:10 am (BR 067) the next morning, meaning an 10 hour plus layover in TPE. There is no earlier HKG/TPE flight to meet BR 067.

Has anyone ever done this before? Does Eva provide a hotel room for such a layover? (Emirates offers a hotel room for over 8 hours layover.) Is there an airside pay in lounge with sleep facilities? I have Priority Pass which offers More Premium lounge on 4/F.

The return flights from LHR suffer the same problem, arriving TPE at 9:45 pm, and the next TPE/HKG flight is at 08:15 am the next morning.

How to deal with this? Some fares earn no mileage credit but for a few hundred HK$ more, fares do get mileage credit.

Thanks for any suggestion.

jimbo99

Story of my life. BR London flights arrive in TPE too late to connect with anything and depart too early in order for you to have come from anywhere else.

You might want to consider if it's really worth it. HKG-TPE-BKK-LHR is quite a long way around especially given the overnight.

I buy SGN-TPE-BKK-LHR (an equally "inefficient" journey!) and recently have had to pay as much as double that. The ticket now never includes layover accommodation, though it did once. It's OK for me because I always want to stopover. So unless the fare very specifically offers accommodation, I doubt whether you will get it.

The More lounge is fine, you can snooze there. But it's not open overnight.

The "Evergreen Transit Hotel" is probably the most convenient solution or landside just outside is the Novotel. You can google both to get an idea.

Another possibility is if you could arrive from HKG a bit earlier you can at least have your night in Taipei. Do something in the evening. But you really need to be out of the hotel by about 6.30am to make BR67.

tangoll

jimbo99, thanks your reply. I was advised by travel agent that Eva does provide hotel accomodation for overnight layover pax, both out and in bound. So based on that, I will be booking the itinerary with Eva, Exec Dlx class, and use miles to upgrade the return sector, LHR/BKK/TPE/HKG to PL Business class. And I get to select meal choice again.

Time is the one commodity I have in abundance.

jimbo99

Great news! (and a surprise to me...) You got a good fare, but you probably know the tax out of London is awful.

I think you'll find you'll have to upgrade LHR/TPE separately from TPE/HKG and my guess is it won't be worth doing TPE/HKG. (Unless I've got that wrong too or it's changed.)

When I've upgraded BR67/68, I usually prefer to upgrade BR67 TPE-LHR. That's the flight that seems to go on forever. I usually have no problem sleeping on BR68. Also BR67 PL flyers get a fast track immigration pass which is handy if you're non-EU as the queues at LHR T3 can be awful.

If you're outbound in PL from TPE, you should get the new lounge - complete with movenpick ice cream.

tangoll

jimbo, travel agent says she got conflicting info from Eva staff -- there's no hotel for overnight layover at TPE. Bummer. Now I have to compare prices against Premium Econ on BA, which on their website is US$1,750 or so.

Any comments about the good and bad on BA Premium Econ? The good is that it's a non-stop HKG/LHR vs Eva's HKG/TPE - 10 hr layover - BKK/LHR and same on return.

coolfish1103

No hotel accomodation sounds about right.

It's more of whether the $650 difference is worth the longer flight duration and transit time to you. It's probably going to be... is 20 hours of your time worth the saving of the $650. I don't think BA's product is much superior in Premium Economy in comparison to EVA anyways. However, I would value my time over the $650 if Premium Economy is necessary as a choice. I would also probably just go with Economy prices of the two airlines and compare to see.

hcshih

Actually I just got a quote from my agent regarding a BNE/TPE/NRT flight. Arrival to TPE from BNE is around 17:30 and the earliest connection to NRT is next day morning.

There are 2 options: 5 days max stay @ TPE without hotel provided (of course), or no stay @ TPE allowed but overnight hotel is provided. Both with same price but different class.

So I guess BR is still offering free overnight accommodation as long as your booking doesn't allow you to stopover at TPE.

BTW, the ticket price is $690 AUD + tax.. Amazing!

jimbo99

Yes, that's the way it used to be SGN-TPE-LHR. In fact the fare and booking class were the same. But you had to choose at the time of booking - stopover or free hotel. For stopover the tax would be slightly different. But that all stopped a few years ago - not more hotel accommodation on SGN-Europe (at least not in Economy or Deluxe). All tickets are ticketed "stopover TPE permitted".

I think it comes down to the office where tickets are issued as to whether they think it's worth financing layovers in order to get business. Doesn't seem like there is a consistent EVA policy worldwide.

OP: Being based in HKG, I don't suppose you'll find TPE very interesting. And it's hardly a good hub for side trips elsewhere. But have a think as to whether you're interested to look around here. If you are, that could tip the balance in favour of BR over BA IMHO.

Another consideration is your arrival time in LHR. I generally get out of T3 at about 8pm. Except in the summer, its a pretty miserable time to be starting an onward journey.

If you don't use your miles to upgrade this time, will you still have time to use them for another occasion?

A sure sign she got through to the right people!

tangoll

I'm going with the Eva Elite product over the BA Premium Economy, despite BA's much better flight schedule to London, non-stop, etc. The pax reviews that I saw on the BA PE product were 90% negative, that the doubling in price over normal economy didn't justify only the 1.5 in wider seat, and 6 in longer pitch, but everything else (food, toilet, etc) was normal economy. So my overall Eva Elite price came out to US$1,575 all in, with one stopover in Bangkok, and will use miles to upgrade the LHR/BKK/TPE sector on return.

This first sector, HKG/TPE, should bump me up to Silver, but I don't know if I will fly with EVA enough to ever make Gold.

Oh well, when I get off EVA flight, I will stay one night in London at the 5 star Radisson Hampshire Hotel (courtesy of my daughter's usage of points with Radisson), then proceed to Southampton for a 10 day cruise on Cunard's Queen Victoria, an experience that airlines cannot possibly hope to match.

At the end of the cruise, leaving the ship and having to fly back to HKG leaves me feeling depressed already.