Originally Posted by bocastephen

I've spent many a night at the TPE Novotel and it's fine. There is a Holiday Inn Express in town easily reachable by a cheap taxi ride, and another hotel (I forgot the name) across from the big mall in Taoyuan, also easily reachable by taxi. Fairly similar to NRT, but far less convenient than HND/ICN.

If I can get a J fare for the low 2s to TPE via MNL on UA, that would be ok - but then again, it's Polaris and I would rather first try to get a BR upgrade and just go direct and pay in the 1700s-1800s. If that doesn't work out, for the 2s assuming no other good deals on JAL, I would do the MNL stop overnight and nest a separate ticket intra-Asia for onward travel.

If upgrades open up daytime SFO-TPE we might look at that, but not the overnight flight, I really hate those which is why I am even contemplating this idea in the first place, rather than just do the BR option.