DAY SEVENTEEN:
Route for the day: IST-SOF (TK), SOF-VIE (OS), VIE-BKK (BR)
IST-SOF Turkish Airlines Flight# 1027
Aircraft: A320-200 (TC-JPK)
Class: Business
Seat: 2F
The benefit of staying at the Yotel is that you are only a few minutes walk from the checkin desks at IST. Turkish Airlines has a dedicated area for business class check-in at IST and at around 5:00 when I arrived it was practically empty. The check-in hall is well appointed and the inclusion of seats, both at the counter and a dedicated seating area, is a nice addition.
Check-in went smoothly and our bags were tagged to Bangkok (IST-SOF-VIE-BKK). Importantly the two of us continuing on to Bangkok (this marks the point in the trip where 1 person began to go back to the US via the Atlantic IST-WAW-MIA-CMH) were on separate reservations. When checking in the agent tagged each of our bags to BKK, but tagged each person's bag under the other's name. This will be important later. (Bag A -- Reservation B. Bag B -- Reservation A)
Directly behind the check-in hall is dedicated business class security & immigration for TK operated flights. The line was significantly shorter than the main line and probably saved us 15 to 20 minutes.
As with all departing Star Alliance business class tickets I had access to the Turkish Airlines Business Class Lounge. The Lounge is quite spacious with ample food and drinks—significantly better than the IGA lounge accessible with Priority Pass. In addition to the usual lounge amenities Turkish has a flight and golf simulator among other odd amenities.
The flight simulator
Unfortunately, my flight to Sofia would be departing from gate A4A, a bus gate. After a lengthy drive around IST, we arrived at our plane, an older A320 with typical European business class seating.
The cabin crew then brought around pre departure drinks (including their wonderful mint lemonade) and we took off after a bit of taxing. This route is extremely short with less than an hour spent in the air, but Turkish still serves a full meal in business.
Goodbye IST!
Service began shortly after takeoff with a warm towel.
Eggs are seemingly extremely difficult for airlines to get right and unfortunately for Turkish they missed the mark here in my opinion. While the watermelon and cheese, fruit, olives, yogurt, and bread were all quite tasty I could not bring myself to eat more than a bite or two of the eggs—they seemed quite solid and did not taste appetizing to me. I've had great food with Turkish in the past, but not on this trip. Both this flight and TK's service to GYD were disappointing food wise.
At just 292 miles this flight was extremely short and we soon began our descent down into Sofia.
Overall, the seats were fine for such a short flight but would be disappointing for anything longer given that most of Turkish’s narrowbody fleet has larger American style recliners in business along with IFE screens. Service was good, but there was certainly room for improvement in the food department (it seems excessive serving so much on a short flight like this, but if they do the food should at least be tasty!)
SOFIA, BULGARIA
Since Bulgaria is not in the Schengen zone, I expected to be able to do an international-to-international transfer, but on arrival I was informed that I would have to go through passport control (I’m still not entirely sure why). After clearing immigration, I stepped outside of the airport for a minute or two so that I can technically say I’ve entered Bulgaria (although I definitely need to return for longer in the future).
Hello Bulgaria!
SOF-VIE Austrian Airlines# 794
Aircraft: ERJ-195LR (OE-LWB)
Class: Business
Seat: 2F
Turkish was unable to issue boarding passes for this flight in Istanbul, so I checked back in with Austrian and received both my Austrian and EVA boarding passes. They also requested our Turkish bag tags to reenter them into the system despite them getting tagged to BKK at IST. As I would later find out only one of my bags ended up going onward to Vienna and the other stayed stuck in Sofia. I’m not sure if they made a mistake entering the information or if something else went wrong, but clearly something didn’t work as intended.
I cleared immigration again and went to our gate. Funnily enough the immigration agent stamped me out on the day prior so it appeared as though I left Bulgaria before I even entered. Thankfully she noticed, canceled the stamp, and stamped me out with the correct date--all good. Although I believe there are lounges in SOF, we didn’t have much time and I didn’t bother to look for one.
Boarding commenced on-time and proceeded fairly usually.
Austrian’s ERJ-195 is laid out in a two-two configuration with every other seat being blocked in business. The seat pitch and width is also more than adequate. Similar to Turkish there was no IFE screen, but for a short flight like this they are hardly necessary.
We pushed back for an on-time departure and were off the ground in no time.
Service commenced not long after takeoff with a decent sized breakfast. Having just had breakfast twice (first in the Turkish lounge and then on the Turkish flight) I certainly didn’t need to have a third, but if the food is right there… While not bad, I found the presentation worse than on Turkish, but the taste is what matters and Austrian’s meal was significantly better tasting than the one I had on Turkish. Specifically, the potatoes and sausages were outstanding.
After returning from the lavatory, I found a chocolate waiting at my seat—a nice way to end a good meal! The service overall was outstanding for such a short flight and the flight attendant never disappeared in the galley as is all too common with some airlines. I came in with low expectations as I hadn't heard much about Austrian's EuroBusiness product, but this flight was fantastic.
After another drink service we made our way down into Vienna.
VIENNA, AUSTRIA
With only a few hours in Vienna and the intention to visit Schönbrunn Palace we quickly made our way through customs and immigration before getting an Uber to the palace. While there is an express train into central Vienna from the airport and it is possible to make it to Schönbrunn using only public transit, I would recommend Uber if you are on a tight schedule like we were.
I think we made quite good time and were standing in front of Schönbrunn Palace just 56 minutes after we stepped off our incoming flight.
After spending some time at the palace (albeit only on the outside, we did not purchase tickets to enter the buildings) and walking around the grounds we got another Uber and headed back to VIE International.
VIE-BKK EVA Airlines# 62
Aircraft: 787-10 (B-17807)
Class: Business
Seat: 2A
Since Austrian had issued us boarding passes and seemingly checked our luggage through to Bangkok we opted to go directly through immigration and security bypassing EVA’s then not yet open check-in counters. EVA flights depart from the D gates at VIE terminal 3, but there is no Star Alliance lounge in the D concourse, so you must walk airside to the G gates where there is an Austrian lounge.
Check-in T3
The Austrian business lounge is relatively small, but remained mostly empty for the one and a half hours I spent in it. Seating options are plentiful with conveniently located outlets as well as unobstructed views of the ramp and runway.
Continuing with the theme of me eating too much food I decided to have lunch here and found the selection of both hot and cold food to be good. I ended up having gnocchi along with a bean salad and apple strudel—all of which I found quite good.
There are also a few showers in the lounge available to business class passengers. Although they are quite small compared to those that I have seen in other lounges and lacked a significant number of amenities they were clean and served their purpose well—no complaints here.
We arrived at our gate a few minutes before boarding and were instructed to get new boarding passes from the counter. They also wanted to see our Turkish bag tags and after a little bit of typing handed us the new, stamped, boarding passes.
Boarding commenced shortly after that, and I found myself onboard EVA’s beautiful 787-10. The business class cabin has a clean and sleek aesthetic and is very spacious. The seats all have direct aisle access but are staggered in a way that some are closer to the windows and less exposed than others. Thankfully my seat, 2A, was right up against the window.
2A
The flight attendant for my zone greeted me, asked how I’d like to be referred to as, confirmed my dinner and breakfast orders, salad dressing preference, drink orders, and pre-departure beverage order. Shortly after that the chief purser came around and introduced herself to every passenger by name—a very nice gesture.
As boarding came to a close someone from the ground crew came aboard and asked to speak to me about one of the two bags we had checked in. Apparently, they had identified that only one of the bags had made the flight and that while they knew the location of the other bag (I took this to believe the bag was in Vienna, but after looking at the bag tags it appears it never made it past Sofia), they needed to close the flight. He explained that upon arrival I was to contact the EVA baggage office and they were already in the process of forwarding my bags to Bangkok to ensure they would arrive before my flight to Taipei the following day. Although my bag was now lost, I really appreciate them going above and beyond to proactively inform me of the issue instead of letting me find out for myself 10 hours later when I got to Bangkok.
This is also a good time to recall back to the issue with tagging bags under different names that occurred in Istanbul that morning. They knew the name of the bag that was missing, but because Turkish mistagged the bags it ultimately turned out that the opposite bag was stuck.
Service started just before takeoff with my pre-departure beverage of choice, orange juice, along with a chocolate, and wet towel (I think I might have gotten upwards of 4 or 5 of these by the end of the flight).
After EVA's very unique safety video we taxied to the runway and took off.
Once we were up in the air EVA’s extensive dinner service began. Service started with the first dish, farmers ham and horseradish on rye bread and gorgonzola and grape canape, along with a beverage of choice, in my case one of EVA’s two mocktails, Amber Dream. Both were very good—easily restaurant quality—and the gorgonzola specifically was exceptional.
Also, every drink from here on out came with a coaster. Small touches.
Following that they brought around tablecloths, utensils and another cleansing wipe before bringing a selection of warm bread to choose from and the next dish, river crab and avocado salad timbale with chive oil. This dish was also very flavorful, and the avocado was clearly very fresh.
The next dish is one that sets EVA apart from most other airlines’ business class—the soup course. Usually, soup is reserved for first class, but that is not the case with EVA. The caramelized pea soup with crispy prosciutto was served at a good temperature—warm but not scolding hot—and was very flavorful. They also brought around a variety of different breads at this point.
The salad course was up next and didn't disappoint either. Although it may not have stood out in the way the previous two did the garden vegetable salad seemed fresh and had the dressing I had requested earlier in the flight.
EVA has an extensive online menu that you can preorder meals from that includes both preorder only options as well as the regularly stocked meals that you can request onboard. While I did opt to preorder my main course, the stir fried prawns with cashew nuts, to ensure I would get it in theory I could have requested it onboard as it was one of the three options on the menu.
The dish was filled with flavor and all around turned out to be a very good option. The rice was well cooked, the prawns seemed fresh, and the sauce they used was great.
I don't recall the name, but this was another option for the main course:
After the main course they bring a trolly of dessert options for you to pick from. I am an indecisive person and the flight attendant suggested I try them all so who am I to turn down such an offer? As expected they were all delicious.
Fruit, cheese, cake
That concludes the first meal service for this flight. This was the best food I had had at 30,000 feet by a decent stretch. Service was on point and all of the dishes seemed restaurant grade--truly exceptional. It's also worth noting that at some point they brought around toothpicks. Again, small things.
After dinner a flight attendant offered to bring me tea so keeping with the theme of me saying yes tea appeared at my seat a few moments later.
I feel like now is a good time to discuss the numerous amenities that were distributed at the beginning of the flight. Not only does EVA provide an amenity kit on their long haul flights, but they also provide slippers and pajamas.
The exterior of the amenity kit is quite visually pleasing and inside it contains everything you would need for a flight of this length: toothpaste, a toothbrush, earplugs, an eye mask, hand cream, body lotion, lip balm, a foldable comb, and a microfiber cloth. I don't know much (anything) about fashion and cosmetic brands, but amenities seem to be from Salvatore Ferragamo.
They also include quite robust slippers.
As well as very comfortable and decently well made pajamas by Jason Wu. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of them, but they were really quite good.
After finishing my tea I headed to the lavatory to brush my teeth and change into my pajamas. As I was leaving my seat one of the flight attendants offered to turn my seat into a bed by putting down a mattress pad.
The lavatories on the 787-10 are relatively large (albeit not as large as on the 777-300ER) which is good when you need to change. In addition to the toothbrush and toothpaste provided in the amenity kit EVA provides toothbrushes, toothpaste, and earplugs (I think?) in all of the business lavatories.
The lavatories were exceptionally kept clean throughout the flight.
Back at my seat, now with mattress pad attached, I got ready for bed. The ceiling of EVA's 787-10 is covered with small holes that can be lit up to act as stars. Wow.
The included pillow was great--a good balance between soft and firm and seemingly good at staying cool. All of the bedding seemed high quality.
After a few hours of some of the best sleep I've had in the sky it was time for breakfast.
First up was a glass of orange juice.
I had preordered the Chinese Style breakfast (it was also an option to pick on-board) which came out all on one tray. The Chinese option mainly consists of congee, a dish I had never had before. Thankfully the flight attendant guided me through how to go about eating it (mixing in the various parts) and I ultimately found it to be great. I really appreciate the guidance from the flight attendant--I was very close to just eating each part one by one...
Another interesting thing that EVA has that few (none?) other airline have is matcha green tea. So I naturally got a cup to try.
The last part of breakfast was another plate of fruit which was brought out separately.
To end the flight I tried EVA's other mocktail, Sonata in the Air--it really is nice seeing airlines add non-alcoholic options to the menu that aren't just soda or pure juice.
Now seems as good a time as any to discuss what I believe to be EVA's worst point: in flight entertainment. The display on the 787-10 is bright, large, and high resolution, but there just isn't much content--at least much English content. The few shows that were there didn't stick out to me as interesting and I spent most of the flight watching the in flight map (I will say this is pretty normal for me). The moving map was one of the better ones that I have seen and I have no complaints there. The lack of content was the only real "issue" I found with EVA and it would be great to see them address it.
This is also probably a good time to more thoroughly look at the seat. Overall, I really like the seat design, but I did get luck and had a seat next to the window, not one of the ones that is offset the opposite direction into the aisle. The space was very private and included a ton of space to work both on the large and sturdy tray table as well as on the counter space next to the seat. The footwell was also pretty deep and didn't seem narrow to me which allows for better sleeping. Next to the seat there is a small cabinet that contains a mirror as well as the included pair of noise cancelling headphones. Additionally, there is an adjustable reading light, universal power outlet, USB port, IFE remote, and seat controls all located directly next to the seat. Overall, an excellent seat.
Footwell
Cabinet (and headphones)
Seat controls
Reading light
With breakfast complete and a final candy passed out to everyone we began our decent down into Bangkok BKK.
To conclude, EVA Air is wonderful. This was easily the best flight I had been on up to that point. Amazing crew, amazing food, amazing seat. The only real complaint I have with the flight was with the IFE, but I have an easy time overlooking that when the rest of the product is as good as it is.
On the ground at BKK there is a priority lane at immigration for business class passengers which took only a few minutes to get through.
The one bag that we had that made it to BKK was on the baggage carousel almost immediately after we got there and shortly after that a person with an EVA vest and sign noting "MR.XXXXX" came looking for us. She apologized for the situation and took us over to the baggage counter where I filled out a missing bag report and was assured that they had located our missing bag and had forwarded it to BKK via IST of all places and that it would be arriving in just a few hours and would be delivered to our hotel, the Grand Hyatt Bangkok that evening. They gave me a copy of the report with information on who to contact if necessary and we left the airport to start our abbreviated Bangkok tour.