TPE transit
 

Hello,

I am looking to transit TPE by flying in on EVA but the onward destination would be via Starlux a few hours later. Could someone explain how the transit with a checked bag works? I understand that I would be arriving in Terminal 2 and then have to head over to Terminal 1, but I am not clear whether I am clearing customs and immigration or not. The website mentions that i would make my way over to a terminal 1 transfer desk after taking the SkyTrain. I assume that I am picking up my bag but is this a sterile transit or no?

Thanks!

There is an airside transfer from Terminal to Terminal in TPE but I do not know what your baggage situation would be? If your bag is thru checked then no need to.

If both flights are on a single ticket, BR will tag your bag through, and you'll just make a regular sterile transfer on arrival.

On separate tickets, I don't think BR will tag it through to JX, so you'll have to pick up your bag and recheck it at the JX counters. Which would of course mean clearing arrival formalities.

For sure on seperate tickets they will not connect your luggage. However, TPE is super fast compared to most airports in the world at getting youor luggage to you quickly. It takes about 60 seconds on the link from T2 to T1. Bear in mind the facilities in T1 are pretty lousy and so is the Starlux lounge if you have access.

You have to clear Immigration, get your bag, clear Customs and then do a landside transfer to Terminal 1. Three ways: Skytrain, shuttle bus or Metro. Either Skytrain or shuttle bus will work fine for you, not sure which one is easier/faster. You can ask at the information counter after exiting Customs

Yes, Skytrain is fast but you need to get to it and board so maybe allow more than 60 seconds :). I left the Starlux lounge when I asked where the restroom is and was told they don't have any. So probably no showers, either! Very surprising, hopefully they will in the future. I heard the food was good with things on order, but I did not take a look myself.

OP, T1 security in the morning can get backed up a bit, so not knowing how long you have I would say do not linger anywhere. Once you are airside in T1 you can go anywhere, even walk or take the Skytrain back to T2. Everything is connected airside and makes for a nice long walk if you have the time and inclination.

I haven't used T1 for years, but if the JX lounge is on the 4F along with other lounges, there are public showers next to the PP lounge. Those public showers don't have any amenity. The PP lounge provides a shower basket with towels and amenity for its guests, and I remember people without PP access can purchase them as well. Not sure how if the JX lounge would have those.

Assuming illico arrives on one of BR's TPAC, the lines shouldn't be too bad. The security lanes usually are the worst between 7-9am in my experience.

Will be landing at 4am and transiting on 7am flight. Is there any lounge or place I could go between that time? Flying CI J if that helps

The CI lounges open at 5:30. If you have access to Plaza Premium (PP/Amex/Cap1), the Plaza Premium at T2 opens at 5am.

I'm not familiar with CI, but I think it mostly operates from T1? If so, the free rest area near the lounges (4F) are opened 24/7 I believe.

CI has a lounge at T2 as well. These timings they have online is not correct. They have all the lounges closing at 11pm or 1130 pm. I have done a flight last month too and all the lounges on EVA, Plaza Premium Lounge were opened the whole night.

Which PP is opened the whole night? The one in T2? The last entry is 11pm and they do close at midnight (except for the private rooms).

T2 and we stayed the whole night. I went out and came back too but this was in end of May though we entered during the day.

I booked CI SFO-TPE (in business class) arriving at 4:50 AM and need to continue onto ICN (not booked yet) and I have a checked luggage. Currently I have two options to book:

Option 1: Book the 7:55AM departure on CI and maybe they interline my bag but if not the layover is ~3hrs so hopefully enough time to go through passport, grab my bags and recheck-in
Option 2: Book the 7:05AM departure on BR. I'm sure they will not interline my bags and I wonder if 2:15 is enough time to go through the whole process.

My preference is BR because of my United status, etc but not sure if 2hrs is enough time. Has anyone done this and have any recommendations?
FWIW, this will be done arriving on a Friday in late March.

Check which Terminal CI operates from. If it is a different Terminal to BR, I would stick with CI. If you book on CI to ICN, I see no reasons why they would not thru check your luggage since it is the same carrier and you have a short connecting time.

This is actually an interesting situation. as CI uses T2 for US flights but uses T1 for regional (except Japan and China) flights. So if you stick with CI, you will have to change terminal but won't have to collect your bags. But if you fly BR on TPE-ICN, you can stay at T2 but you will have to pass immigration, collect your bags, then go to departure to check your bags with BR.

In the latter scenario you will only have 75 minutes to do everything as BR check bag cutoff is 60 minutes. It will be tight, but should be doable as long as your inbound is not delayed and bags are handled correctly.

(I actually don't know CI's interline rules so all these are based on the assumption that CI interlines their own flights but doesn't with BR.)

Not exactly, but here are some recent data points.

• JX->BR connection, JX at LAX checked bag all the way thru. Ask CI if they have interline agreement with BR to check bag thru to final dest.
• Personal experience (Nov 2023): USA-TPE, TPE-Asia connection with JX (arriving T2, connecting to T1) does not require transit security, so you're airside the whole time. I assume same is true for any such connection regardless of operating airlines. Of course, you need to have connecting ticket; I'm unsure if there's airside transfer counter to get the ticket.