Review: EVA Air Business Class Boeing 787 [TPE - SEA]
FROM:
Teipei [TPE]
TO:
Seattle [SEA]
CABIN:
“Royal Laurel” Business
SEATMAP:
Boeing 787-10
DATE:
May 2024
EVA Air Business class on their 787 from Teipei to Seattle offers a superb pacific long haul experience. A comfortable modern seat, exceptional service, and delicious food create one of the best business class products out there.
Overall Rating:
This flight was the second leg of a Manila to Seattle trip I had booked for returning home. The Manila to Teipei leg was on their Boeing 777, with their more dated business class hard product, so I was excited to try out their newer more premium offering for the first time.
All in all this experience was a treat – from the airport and lounge experience, to the entire 11 hour flight, if you are looking for a great way to get from Asia to the West Coast USA, flying out of Taiwan on EVA Air fits the bill.
In This Post:
How I Booked Eva Air Business Class
EVA Air 787 Business Class Pre Flight
-EVA Air 787 Business Class Lounge
-EVA Air 787 Business Class Boarding
EVA Air 787 Business Class In Flight
-EVA Air 787 Business Class Seat
-EVA Air 787 Business Class In Flight Entertainment
-EVA Air 787 Business Class Meals
-EVA Air 787 Business Class In Flight Service
Bottom Line
Photo Gallery
How I Booked EVA Air Business Class
This flight was the second leg of a Manila to Seattle ticket I booked through Air Canada Aeroplan using 75,000 Aeroplan points and 89 Canadian dollars. I wanted to check out the city of Taipei for a couple of days, so I added a 2 day stopover for an additional 5000 points.
Aeroplan is probably my favorite transfer partner for Capital One, Chase, and American Express points. All at a 1:1 transfer ratio.
I found this particular availability using Seats.aero.
EVA Air 787 Business Class Lounge
Eva Air, as a Taiwanese airline, operates their own proprietary lounges in Terminal 2. When I was there in May 2024, there were a total of 4 Eva branded lounges; The Club, The Garden, The Star, and The Infinity. Each have various entry requirements with the Star lounge for Star Alliance Gold members, the Club for Star Alliance Gold members plus Infinity MileageLands Silver members, and the most exclusive the Garden Lounge available only for Infinity MileageLands Diamond members.
I was given access to the Infinity Lounge, which is the business lounge open to EVA Air business passengers, as well as Star Alliance first and business class passengers. There were also a couple of Priority Pass lounges in the airport I have access to thanks to my Capital One Venture X card.
EVA Air Infinity Lounge | Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport
The Eva Air Infinity Lounge is located on the second floor, to the right and up some escalators after passing immigration.
The lounge is not very large, however this evening it was not busy. Friendly staff were around frequently clearing plates, etc.
There was plenty of seating for the current evening crowd.
Many couches with raised privacy walls. Only view offered is above the checkin counters.
There was a good selection of buffet style food, including hot dogs for some reason.
Local dishes including noodles as well, and Haagen Dazs ice cream ‘on tap’.
All in all a decent lounge, however as a proprietary lounge in a home airport I would expect a bit ‘more’.
EVA Air 787 Business Class Boarding
Boarding the 787-10 began about 10 minutes late, and I was greeted with the newest cabin of Eva Air’s business class product. Arranged in a 1-2-1 configuration with plenty of privacy and a modern, and I think, quite appealing color palate.
EVA Air 787 Business Class Seat
The seat is spacious, well designed, and modern. Much better looking than the dated color palate on the 777-900ER. Plenty of leg room with this front to back style as opposed to the popular ‘herringbone’ seats on many aircraft where the footwell narrows at the end.
Water bottle, amenity kit, and headphones provided in the seat. Bit of a tight fit, but adequate for headphones water bottle and a bit of storage below.
Subtle mood lighting under the wood trim. Seat has a good number adjustable features, as well as a massage function.
In addition to the amenity kit, just before dining service pajamas were passed out. Comfortable and breathable, I will be taking them home with me.
Very spacious seat and side table.
There is an additional slide out privacy screen for the aisle.
EVA Air 787 Business Class In Flight Entertainment
The screen was a good size however the media selection was pretty mediocre. A select few new Hollywood releases; Napoleon, Aquaman, Wish. A handful of HBO shows. And to my pleasant surprise, an entire genre dedicated Tom Cruise films.
Lots of ads were shown on the screen during taxi. I could not find a way to turn off or dim the screen during these.
All passengers get 30 minutes of free Wifi, and there was no additional free time for business class. The Wifi worked well, but a strange limitation. 30 MB for $5, 100MB for $15, 300MB for $30, and unlimited for $40.
EVA Air 787 Business Class Meals
A good looking menu with extensive drink and food options. Dinner and breakfast were to be served on this flight, with some really good looking options for mid flight snacking I was unfortunately asleep for.
Before pushback, flight attendants are around to take dinner and breakfast orders. Breakfast was scheduled two hours before landing, and I was asked if I’d like to be woken up for it.
Dinner
Dinner was served in courses, and all was very good. There was also a bread service during the meal
Prelude of dried fig with jalapeno salami, carrot creme brule with crab meat and caviar.
Little bread tray for the bread with the hors d’oeuvre
Wagyu coffee dacquoise
Seared Chilean sea bass with garlic butter clam sauce creamy spaghetti.
After dinner, FAs are around to make beds with a simple mattress topper. Nothing cushioned but the seat itself as a bed is quite comfortable.
Breakfast
Breakfast service began two hours before arrival. Preempted by a wake up hot towel.
Western starter of smoked salmon, scallop, and a saffron jelly.
Main of a spinach and chicken sausage quiche with parsley potatoes. Quiche especially was nice – flaky and flavorful.
A somewhat sad looking fruit plate for desert, with tea and coffee offered post breakfast. Along with another hot towel.
EVA Air 787 Business Class In Flight Service
The service on this flight was impeccable. Flight attendants were attentive, polite, and efficient. Meal service was timely, with dishes brought out and cleared in a timely manner, lavatories constantly kept clean, as well as regular non-invasive check ups to ensure passengers have everything they need.
Even among the already high standard of many Asian carriers, I felt this crew stood out as exceptional
Bottom Line
All in all a superb experience. From the hard product to the service and food everything was exceptional. With this experience Eva Air certainly (on the 787 anyways) wiggles its way into my favorite airlines for business class travel.
[…] houses 3 fantastic airlines, 2 of which I have flown a number of times before, EVA and Starlux. I have flown the reverse of this flight, Taipei to Seattle, the first time a couple of years ago and was thoroughly impressed with the entire package – from ground side to in flight. So I was […]