Originally Posted by LAX888

Thanks a lot HadesNL for the feedback. Seems like I made the right choice to fly on EVA.

Originally Posted by jaybert

how's RL TPE >> NYC for a lap infant? He will be ~10 months by the flight comes along. Based on my searching there appears to be no bassinet available.

Originally Posted by dtsm

I don't ever recall seeing bassinets, best to call Eva and ask directly.

Originally Posted by RTW1

You might actually be better off flying economy comfort....

There's some info here as well:http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/other...-babies-2.html

Originally Posted by bg26892

Anyone notice the flight attendants being a bit chincy with the Dom P? After the first two glasses the pours were a bit stingy and I'm pretty certain the fourth glass was NOT Dom P.

Originally Posted by littlegreenmen

Anyone else notice this? They don't really try to hold out after 1-2 glasses do they?

Originally Posted by HadesNL

The way back home:

After a great weekend weekend full of culture appraisal, shock and remembrance i can really say Taiwan touches your heart and i will be back! I rate it better organized then hongkong (must be japanese service and customs that seeped in during the time taiwan was japanese) but more authentic then singapore as english is limited to written signs in major areas, road signs or directionary signs to hotspots but when outside of the throdden tourist track all is in mandarin and you get a real taste of chinese culture and the pride of taiwanese of their independant country. Although some have different views on politics and management everyone still agreed the island has it all nature wise and us abundent in scenery. I would advise first timers to see youth culture Ximending, shopping life Shinyi, seafront Tamshui and hotspring mountain Beitou, militairistic memorial hall and martyr's monument and find scatterd between them delightfull buddhist/taoist temples where worshippers were eager to show me which deity is good for the after life, finding a sexy wife, blessing of smart children and luck with money But unfortunately in my case i"m beyond their help and powers.

Arriving early at 5.45 at Taipei TaoYuan airport for my 8.40 flight to Amsterdam via Bangkok i decided to take a good luck around for future reference.

Eva check royal laurel check-in is in the middle of terminal 2 located. There was noline and was efficiently helped with a smile by an agent. Sweets were on the counter aswell as luggage tags and stickers. My luggage got the priority tags and was correctly labelled to Amsterdam. Lounge passes were issued for same day as flight validty in Taipei and Bangkok. I walked around and found the hello kitty check-desks which were appropiate cute decorated and the self service check-in area with machines all bearing the iconic cat. Japanese and mainland chinese were all lining up to picture themselves in this unique branding environment. Display cases showed what type of hello kitty inflight amenities were available and are for purchase.

Securtiy and immigration was right after checkin. I prefer this setup as formalities are out of the way and less of an hassle. Everything was conducted properly and efficient. The airport isn't big but picked up a service directory and found out that TPE has unique boarding gates in themes. Some were; traditions of taiwan, postal taiwan, digital taiwan, flora of taiwan, cakes of taiwan, aviation history and ofcourse miss kitty herself. Her dedicated boarding gate was as sugary sweet as katey perry cream bra from california girls. Also this aiport offers complimentary massage chairs for which tokens may be picked up at the information counter. There is a massage centre by the blind, evergreen transit hotel, outdoor smoking area, children's play area, sculpted sundeck, moneychangers, vending machines, breastfeeding rooms. Food was however to fastfood and foodcourt types limited only but carried from western to eastern tastes. Shops were high end brands and showcasing products of Taiwan. What surprised me was that local taiwanese, formosan, aboriginals; food, souvenirs, products were all reasonably priced between 180 ntd till 600 ntd. Cigarettes are priced per full carton at 550ntd (13,50€). I picked up a cartload of authentic goodies for only 1500ntd (37,50€). Also each item was elegantly and attractivly wrapped and boxed like the japanese do.

Eva has 4 lounges available on level 3 of the terminal building. There is also a singapore airlines lounge with limited opening time (no star gold sign yet mentioned on star website), competitor china airlines has a lounge and there's a third party lounge.

The Club is open air and a bit loungy darkstyle. The Garden is more of a swanky garden tea room with waiter service. I visited the Infinity part of the main lounge and not the Star part but was assured by the receptionist that food and beverages were the same. I opted for a shower and was given a remote beeper which would produce 70s disco light when it would be my turn to shower. As most have said about infinity part of thelounge, it is the lovechild of love boat and tron legacy. It didnt bother me but i welcomed the fact that eva dares to do something different. Although it was busy, enough seating was available as well as a barseating and single tables. The lounge has showersrooms with japanese styletoilets in them, and soap, shower gel, shampoo and bodylotion, showercap, hairdryer. It features handshower, rainforest or side jets. Drinks were alcholic, coffee machine, soda cans and packs of local flavourdrinks. Ice cream had 4 flavours provided by Movenpick. Donuts, local desserts and cakes looked appetzing. 2 soups, steamed buns, dimsum, congee and condiments, western hot and eastern hot breakfast options rounded up a good offering. Lounge staff was fast to clean up plates with a bow for the incovenience caused. There is only 1 boarding call made per flight but it wasnt intrusive. I left the lounge to arrive at the gate where the boarding per zone was announced. Royal Laural was full but most exited in Bangkok. Service was the same dependable quality as on the way to. Hot towels, drink orders, food option confirmation, food service, hot towel, duty free. If you order the local breakfast a la carte you get the main dish and fruit and thats it. Order the western ala carte and online meal order then it comes with bread, mueslimilk and yoghurt. The flight ended quickly and in bkk no rush to get to transfer security and the eva lounge. The lounge itself wasnt full and boarded the aircraft with an empty back business cabin. As i sat down a FA appeared and advised me that as i was seating in the last row there might be noise from premium economy. I didnt mind however i told her untill she told me that there would be babies there. Well i took her offer to relocate to the front and was even more surprised that it was halfempty. Crew made an effort to let singles sit at the windows and keep the middle pair free and those that were travelling as a couple to sit in the midle pair seats and to keep the single window seats free for more privacy. All the standard service policies followed and i found this crew spectacular, english high level, no need to much, thoughtfull touches. Toilets were kept clean, service was very relaxed, inflight snacks pro-activly offered and serval beverage rounds.

A talk with the purser revealled that the Rimowa kit is an 777-300ER longhaul exclusive aswell as the Dom Perignon 2003. If you fly intra asia on this plane you won't get it and the champagne is changed to a different brand. The purser knows about the high revalue ebay sales of Rimowa kit of TG, NH and LH first and that's why it's eva policy to distribute only 1 per passenger. There were concepts to have the rimowa kit colours updated with colour palates symbolizing taiwan or the seasons but no final decision is being made yet.

About 1hour 30 before arrival breakfast service commenced with a hot towel, hot beverage and followed up by the meal. Because of the low cabin occupency crew offered besides the oriental breakfast also the option of the western breakfast. Actually the local time in Amsterdam is 17.28 and we still get breakfast? Maybe they should change it to light-dinnermeal. Afterwards we started our descent into AMS and an interesting feature was the EU customs video being shown on the IFE about foreign foodproducts and lifestock. The plane docked at the E-gates and it was a bit of a hike to immigration at terminal 3. Luggage came out on belt 16 and an eva air representative was on site. My bag was number 8 to pop out. Customs was vigiliant in checking every passenger from taipei and all bags had to be openen and labels being read about ingredients. Passengers from bangkok were allowed to pass by. After repacking my taiwanese gifts in the suitcase, i met my pick up and in 60minutes i was back home

I paid for this ticket ams-bkk-tpe 2200€ in business class D fare earning 200% on lufthansa miles and more and gaining 11746 x 2 status miles. I will post the drinks list tomorrow. And thanks for your appreciation.

Originally Posted by whackyjacky

I got 3, but I probably wanted 6. If I was in F, I'd be pissed off, but this is J. Dom in J - hard to get upset even if they're holding out on you.

Originally Posted by littlegreenmen

hrmmm... Dom in J may be rare, but the idea that the FAs would actually deny service is a little foreign to me. What exactly do they say... "sorry, you've had enough?"

Originally Posted by silent129

In my experience, the food on both sides of the EVA lounge are the same, except for the ice cream. One side has Movenpick while the other has Meiji or some Japanese brand.

Originally Posted by littlegreenmen

hrmmm... Dom in J may be rare, but the idea that the FAs would actually deny service is a little foreign to me. What exactly do they say... "sorry, you've had enough?"

Originally Posted by littlegreenmen

hrmmm... Dom in J may be rare, but the idea that the FAs would actually deny service is a little foreign to me. What exactly do they say... "sorry, you've had enough?"