J vs Y on intra asia flight
 

Looking to fly hakodate to Taipei on an EVA A321. How is the economy product? Enough leg room? Is it worth to pay the extra for business class? What is business basic? Flight is blocked around 4 hours 45 minutes.

The economy product is decent (3x3 vs 2x2) if you are not super tall or can get an exit seat.

Business basic is a fare bucket, same product with more restrictions.

I've found BR Y to be better than any Y of an American carrier so the roughly 5 hours is not miserable. If you have long legs then exit row definitely recommended as per hlee628. I have upgraded myself about a third of the time (when I'm not on paid C) just because I wanted to nap or work en route. I've not had a bad Y experience in regional BR flights of 4-5 hours even on their A321s.

I bought an exit row seat which have a ton of leg room. I wouldn't have been able to tolerate a regular economy seat for over 4 hours so it was worth the extra cost. They weighed my bag which every other airline i have flown in the world let me carry on and forced me to check it which was a pain but otherwise a decent flight.

May I ask, how much did you bag weigh? :)

Their limit was 7kg for that flight. A subsequent flight they weighed my bag and let me carry on.

7KG is the limit for many carrier in Asia regardless of whether the carrier is actually Asian based or not. I've had run-ins with this in BLR with MH, AF, 9W and SQ. I've also had gentle pushback from BR and NH in KUL, SIN and PVG but it was soft compared to BLR where the GA flat out refused to hand me my BP.

In my experience, BR always allowed it when it's <10KG for C/J or <9KG for other cabins. Problem is with pax that carry-on luggage bigger and/or heavier than ones I check hence the airlines' reaction/overreaction.

I have made a significant number of flights in asia in all classes of service and this is the first time I ran into the issue. SQ/MH/NH and more. Always with the same bag/ weight. The only time I checked it was with Jetstar because I expected them to try to screw me to make more money any way they could. My bag was <10kg. I think the requirements were lowered because it was a smaller plane since I didn't have any issue with the EVA flight a few days later on a larger aircraft..

Interesting that EVA is relaxed about it. I have had my hand luggage checked every time though I am G and even on business class. Once they asked me to reduce the weight on the hand luggage when it was over 7 but for sure less than 9kg. OK I was in PE and was only silver then. They do not check my laptop case and even when I inquired they said it is OK.

This is so surprising to me. I don't think I have ever had my hand luggage weighed by any Asian carrier ever, whether I'm flying in J or Y. I can't even remember the last time it's happened with UA.

Happens to me often time on SQ, even in J. Always have a backup plan for what to chuck.

IME, depends on your point of departure and destination.

I've gotten checked almost every time in the past 10 years whenever departing from BLR or BOM, regardless of C/Y ticket or carrier. Occasional check when departing from KUL/SIN to those locations when flying MH/SQ. Checked when departing SEA and SFO maybe a handful of times in the 20 years of flying BR, never gotten any grief.

I can't remember the last time any carrier weighed my carry on baggage before this. Usually they just look at it and give the ok. Have flown SQ a number of times and never had issue in any class.

Mine has been weighed every time I have flown out of YYZ and also out BKK. I always make sure mine is around 6kgs at the most. The odd thing is they never check the laptop bag though I have asked them a few times if they also want to check the laptop bag. They also put a tag on the hand luggage every time.

I believe the laptop bag is considered your personal item and doesn't have any specified weight limit. Perhaps the logic is that it will fit under your seat, so it doesn't need to go into the overhead bin which might cause injury.