krispykrme

I am not trying to be offensive. I just found your comment to be overly exaggerated.

SQ lounge in HKG is a good lounge. But the comparison you made with against UA in HKG and NRT. While the UA lounge in HKG is probably the best in terms of food. It’s really not that impressive especially run down shower. May be after renovation next year it will be acceptable.

Before renovation SQ lounge in HKG is also not that great.

Everyone of their taste

longtimeflyin

My wife is Taiwanese and I am Caucasian. Taipei's BR lounge does not have Taiwanese food. (maybe short of the beef noodle soup that is offered every now and then).

krispykrme

What are you talking about?

baked sweet potato is taiwanese food
they removed Taiwanese meatball recently
still have dumplings, 饅頭， etc

the herbal jelly drink, apple cider soda- Are all Taiwanese.

richmke

I was in the lounge for RL people last week. The RL lounge (one on the right) did not have Taiwanese Meatball. The lounge on the left (silver?) did. Most of the food was the same between the lounges, but there were a few differences.

BlackHappy

I remember they used to have a video game room, which was fun for the first few months it came out!

I don't eat much in any lounges, but what matters to me are the bathrooms. I think that the BR ones in TPE are cleaner (or at least as clean) as any of the other lounges out there. There's only one stall in Garden (which is really annoying), so I do end up checking out the other lounges too. Wifi also works very well, which is also important to me.

krispykrme

Hmm- so they removed from the business lounge but kept it for the gold card lounge. To be honest, the gold lounge is actually roomier then RL lounge. The only thing that is bad with the gold lounge is the shower room is always cold water at best.

i am in TPE now. Will go get my meatball at gold lounge before my return flight then.

danmanpham

This airport is way hot. It seemed a bit sparse but there were some cool art installations.

longtimeflyin

?! I've transited through or flown out of Taipei at least 40 times in the last 4 years.

This has never been the case. Try NRT or HND if you want a hot airport, or ICN as someone else recently mentioned.

evergrn

I agree that the food selection at Star/Infinity lounge is overall superior to UC in HKG/NRT. UC is better at HKG than NRT imo. But UC at HKG needs to be judged differently based on morning vs evening. Breakfast offering at UC HKG is poor, not much better than UC in America. This is compounded by the fact that the place becomes a zoo up until ~10am with inability to get your own table. Evening is a different story. When I've gone, the place is dead but the food offering is pretty good. Not as good as SQ or Royal Orchid, of course. But a few tasty hot items including one or two dim sum... certainly enough to make a legitimate meal out of it. BR lounges in TPE have good food selections, but it's just not up my alley. They have hot dogs, Haagen Daz, and then everything else is sort of weird, esoteric stuff that I don't really care for. But this is a matter of personal taste. In the evening, I'd rather go to UC in HKG than BR lounge in TPE. When transiting in TPE, I go to SQ lounge in the morning, inevitably BR in the evening (since SQ is closed). You say BR caters a lot more towards their domestic base. I guess that explains it. But SQ's TPE lounge always features many items that are supposed to be either Taiwanese/Chinese (many kinds of steamed buns, minced meat thing, etc) that are still very delicious and presumably more palatable to non-Chinese than the stuff at BR.

I don't think it's a cultural thing, and they certainly don't like it warm any more than any other races per se. I see many Japanese people visibly struggling during the summer, even when I don't think it's that bad. Trains in Tokyo are plenty A/C'd during the summer, but you're right that there are many buildings that could be cooled more. It might be a cost thing. Electricity is more expensive there than in US, and everyone's a lot more cost-conscious over there when it comes to utility. It's why so many hotel rooms in Jpn are designed to make heat/AC turn off when you leave the room. Hotel fridges in Jpn are often turned off at default, and you have to remember to turn it on if you're going to use it. I also think more people over there grew up being more tolerant of being either hot or cold, because many homes over there don't have central heating or extensive A/C.

Food offerings are superior at BR lounges for sure (generally speaking), but I do agree that the general ambiance at BR lounge leaves a bit to be desired.

mapleg

Op here and back in Taipei. Experience this time.

longtimeflyin

Priority queue for departure is not something I have ever seen, I think, for any European and Asian airport I have been at. (I have never gone through such with a cane or visible disability)

Davvidd

Every time I have flown through Asia and its a lot, I have always heard announcement made for passengers needing help to come forward. Yes there is no separate queue but they always board the Wheel Chair passengers first, followed by passengers needing assistance and families with children.

Pascal Liu

Not every single Taiwanese passport holder is allowed to use to the e-gate, for example, male aged over 18 that have not spent 4 months in the army.
Also, it is not easy to force passengers use airport less than once per year to use e-gates since you will need to have your identity card for applying.
You have to be over 16 to use e-gate in HK isn't it?

mapleg