Disappointing EVA experience
 

I gotta tell ya..... I was not happy with my eagerly anticipated trip from HKG to SEA last week. My first shock was the distance between the seat in front of me. (Is this what you refer to as "pitch"? I'm new here.) When I flew Business on Virgin, Singapore, CX, UA, NWA and even on such local airlines as Dragon and Emirates there was plenty of room between the seat in front of me and space under the seat to put a bag. Not with Eva. I had to slither between the seats infront of me, and there's no place for bags. I felt crunched. Also, business is upstairs, with the very front two rows populated with first class. It was unpleasant seeing the attendants doting on the 1st-class passengers, bringing them their food and drinks first and always being treated as a second-class citizen. For example, after dinner the 1st-classers were brought a heaping scoop of ice cream in glass bowls. 10 minutes later, we were handed ice cream in a paper cup. Maybe most upsetting was the video system, which is antique. Most of the time no videos were playing at all. When they were, only four or five were available. Finally, the movie I wanted to see came on, and after fofrty minutes, suddenly and inexplicably, all the videos stopped. 15 minutes later they started again, from the very beginning, but now my movie was available only dubbed in German! I thought back to my heavenly flight on Singapore Airlines, and all the excellent movies that were always playing, and I felt truly angry. This was an expensive ticket paid for with my own money, and I felt cheated. The food on the flight from Taipei to Seattle was quite good. But my return flight was another story. The flight left at 3:50am, and I was starving. One pleasant surprise was that I was upgraded to first class on this flight because business was over-sold. At least I had legroom this time. But the only dish as a plate of luke-warm fettucini with chicken and a piece of bread. No salad, no appetizer, some fruit for dessert. I was in first, and I was amazed at how little attention we were given. Maybe it was because of the strange time, and the staff expected everyone to fall asleep right away. Toward the last couple of hours of the flight I was starving, and I rang the service button and asked for some nuts or a snack. I was shocked -- my request was denied. "Breakfast will be served in about half an hour," I was told, and I had to wait. It was actually an hour. Now, on NWA and Virgin, they bring out food anytime you want it in business class. Wouldn't you think Eva could do that in first class, or at least bring me a pack et of nuts? I was simply furious. On the short flight to HKG, on which I was also upgraded, I was treated far better, with a lot of personalized attention and smiles. So maybe it was my bad luck that the flight attendant was in a bad mood or something on the long earlier flight. But still, business and first class are supposed to offer an "experience," a sense of not needing to worry about a thing. Between the food and the video and the inability to stand up and get out of my seat, it was a most unhappy experience. Why on earth anyone would fly business or first on Eva is beyond me. This was a painfully expensive lesson for me.