Braniff

I have flown Eva Air Business Class quite a bit in the past several years – mainly Europe – but am contemplating to switch my travels elsewhere – most likely to Cathay Pacific. I feel that Eva Air Business Class is simply not competitive. I’ve listed below what I consider Eva’s advantages and disadvantages …

Comparative Advantages:

· Extremely nice, genuine and responsive cabin crew – and staff overall

· Fantastic pajamas – best of any airline

· Quality inflight amenity kit – although this is going downhill with the latest hard-shell version

· Bathrooms kept immaculate throughout flight



Comparative Disadvantages:

· Outdated seats – absolutely no storage

· Poor food – focus appears to be more on quantity than quality

· Breakfast on overnight flights served ridiculously early – 2½ hours before landing

· Limited and poor inflight entertainment

· WiFi generally does not work - and is expensive

· Inflight duty free is at least 1/3 more expensive than airport duty-free

· Very flimsy paper menus – Air France is the gold standard here!

· No socks, only slippers

· Very weird safety video – “secret mission”

· Lounge in Taipei is outdated, crowded and with poor beverage and food offerings


Interested in the opinions of other Eva flyers .. Am I being unkind ?

Carfield

For me,

EVA Air business class is pretty nice especially since they have restored some of the service elements missing previously.
I actually slightly disagree with you regarding the food - meals ex-Taipei are pretty good and I actually think their portion for main courses are too small. But I agree with you that their breakfast is served a bit too early especially given that it's just two courses. I will add that their mid-flight refreshment menus can actually strengthen a bit with healthier choices and better snack options. Burgers are good but I can use a cold sandwich option like ham and cheese on wheat or a turkey multigrain roll. I don't mind the Taiwanese noodle dishes but can they me more soup based rather than stir fry options! They did not taste good after the reheating process.
About the seats, they are okay for now, but they really need to replace them soon. I don't think they can wait another year or so or until the arrival of their A350s.
I also agree with you regarding the lounge situation. EVA Air has the worst home-based lounge especially after using both China Airlines and Starlux Airlines' lounges at Taipei. They have updated the decor but what needs to be changed is a desperate need for major expansion in capacity. Food is horrible and I expect good catering, not 7/11/Family mart catering. They need a major revamp in the food and drinks department. I no longer bother with their lounges now especially I can use the Oriental Club Lounge, which has better food. I don't even mind buying my own food since food is relatively cheap at TPE. If I crave a beef noodle soup, I just go to the food court now. I only go to EVA Air lounge if I need to work on my laptop a bit or on longer layover. I usually just ate and got my coffee before going to EVA Air lounge now.

hlee628

I agree with you on most points that you've listed in terms of disadvantages, especially in comparison to CX. However, in terms of food I think it highly depends on whether you like Chinese food or not. I personally find their Chinese/Taiwanese food offerings to be of very high quality compared to CX in J. CX in J tends to offer most of their meals in "assembly line" fashion, with servings directly in the casserole type dishes that the food is cooked in.

And a good remedy to the serving time of breakfast would be to have a brief chat with the FA when they are taking your order. Often they will agree to serve your breakfast as late as 90 minutes before landing if you ask them nicely.

tomanova

I recently flew IAH-TPE-HKG return (first time on EVA)

Pros
​Warm, genuine service with name recognition
Pajamas – I never wear them onboard but am using them at home!
Food quality
Clean bathrooms and two larger ones - left side of 777

Cons
Seats – 777 was OK on the outside, way too close to the stranger next to me on the inside. 787 was OK, 330 was ancient. I likes the storage on the 777.
Lounges in TPE were way below average, both Infinity and Star. The only upside was that I could use the SilverKris lounge in HKG.
IFE had a poor selection of movies, I mostly read or used my iPad.

Since I earned very few miles on EVA, I’ll fly United to HKG next time.

BR777

I normally fly on EVA AIR when I go back to Taiwan, as it offers direct flights for me.

Pros.

Good service, although from my personal experience, I think the attendants (especially the chief purser) show more cares on you if you are a high tier EVA member (I am currently holding an EVA Gold card).

Pajamas - I have loads of these at home. They are pretty comfortable - I personally wear them when I work from home (I normally have my camera off when I do meetings with clients or my other engineers anyways).

Food - I like the food as well. The quantity and quality are both good for me. I do agree the amount of food they serve is HUGE. I normally just skip all of my meals on the day I arrive in my destinations (yes, even when I arrive in Taiwan in early mornings).
I personally don't mind them serving the refreshing meal 2.5 hours before landing. It actually allows me to digest before landing. Like I said before, I always walk out of the plane with a complete full stomach and I just can't eat anything else for the rest of the day (hey, let's save some money for food for that day right?)

Bathrooms are clean yes.

Cons.

Seats - I do agree that they need to update their seats on their 777 planes sooner rather than later. The ones on their 77M especially are extremely dated IMO. The seats are still comfortable though.
I do however want to throw my own personal opinion here. I personally think the seats on SQ A350 Long haul and ULR are better for me - I normally can sleep 8+ hours on SQ flights but only about 4 to 5 on EVA flights. I'm a short person though, so again, just my personal opinion.

Lounges - I do agree the ones in TPE are very meh. Very crowded in peak hours. I do like those comfy sofa chairs where you can lie down in the Star Lounge though

dkc192

I agree that the TPE lounge are extremely uncompetitive, but upon reflection they're not that far off from NH's lounges at NRT/HND (haven't been to JL's in a while) or KE/OZ's at ICN in terms of peak period crowding and amenities. They're certainly a long way off from CX or SQ lounges though.

I too disagree that food quality is a con of BR J. The food quality on my two recent long-haul flights were among the better J meals I've had, period.

And I cannot imagine paper quality of the menu being a deciding factor when choosing an airline.

Davvidd

I fly a lot on them too.
Pros. Very good service at check in. Especially if you are a member. Friendly and courteous staff. Food is very good and to me it is too much food. The pajamas are top class and ì wear them during the flight. Inflight service is very good and they always walk about. Then connection for me in TPE is extremely good. The toilets are clean all the time. They try to accommodate requests you make.

Cons. The price is higher than competition that provides the same service. The food in the lounge is not good for but could be fantastic for a Chinese person. Their boarding procedure is a shambles though it they manage to stop the all rush and fight at the gate. Their IFE is the worst I have ever experienced for an along time. To me the bed is not that uncomfortable as some make it out to be. I have flown in worse beds and the one in Etihad and the CX 777 comes to my mind.

Braniff

Thanks. I seem to be in the minority regarding the quality of their food. For me, the mid-flight snacks are a whole separate category of disappointment. I was served the burger once. It had been cooked/heated improperly and the patty was about twice the size of the buns. It was revolting. On another occasion, they had unwrapped shortbread cookies and put them in the microwave before serving to me on a plate. I could only smile. ;-)

Braniff

Thanks. Perhaps it's only the Western options that are lacking on Eva. I still find 1,5 hour early for breakfast in business class ;-)

Braniff

Thanks. Very much agree on the name recognition throughout the flight. Also, the large size of the bathroom on the left on the 777!

Braniff

Thanks. I have no status with Eva Air (Gold on United) but I have always felt immensely well taken care of by the crew and all EVA staff.

Braniff

Thanks. Yes, I am definitely in the minority regarding the quality of the food !

Yes, the dismal KE lounge at ICN may well be as bad as the BR lounge in TPE. The OZ lounge at ICN is vastly superior in my mind.

The paper quality of the menus is not a deciding factor by itself of course, but little things tell a story and add up...

Carfield

I am a Chinese, and the lounge food is still bad in Taipei. The quality and quantity are just poor to begin with, and bringing Convenient store food to be served in a lounge is never a good idea.
The hot dishes are always a mess, not to mention oily and unhealthy. For a hometown lounge, EVA Air is truly beyond bad in their lounge food, and they really need someone to redesign all their lounges and catch up the carrier to 2024. Look at China AIrlines and Starlux Airlines, their lounges are modern, stylish, and up to date. Taoyuan Airport is truly awful in its designs, and there is some limitation to the space but if CI and JX can manage, BR can do so!

Carfield

Stratoliner777

I have a very good impression of BR J based on a recent series of flights. Service is top notch, food was fantastic, onboard amenities class leading. The herringbone seat on the 777s is acceptable but upgrades are clearly needed. The IFE selection is also below standard. But overall I would rate their on board J product as still worthy of a 5-star carrier.

If they upgrade the seat and IFE, then they will be even better. And they do need to keep up standards especially with JX providing stiff competition amenity-wise. I am reminded I think of a Sam Chui JX vid where he interviewed a fellow J passenger who said he was a former longtime BR J flyer who felt that their seat was outdated (technically true).

My biggest peeve is with BR’s TPE lounges. Not faulting the personnel there but rather the facilities. Truly subpar. Frankly embarrassing for a carrier with a reputation like BR. I have been there both before and after their last renovation and I don’t think it improved things all that much. BR needs completely new lounges. The current ones don’t cut it. Frankly I don’t think they are acceptable as domestic lounges.

tth6133

I guess you don't fly much in the US...

More seriously, TPE isn't HKG. None of the lounges (not just BR's) impresses.