Review of EVA Air flight Taipei → Houston in Business

This report is the conclusion of a nearly month long journey combining work and leisure that took me >24,000 miles.

After spending a week in Shanghai on vacation, it was time to continue this trip to Houston for the Easter weekend before returning to Los Angeles. I obviously wanted to take any option not named UA into Houston. That's easier said than done since there are limited TPAC options into IAH. Only CA via PEK, NH via NRT, and BR via TPE met these requirements. A quick call to OZ showed J award space on NH, but no F space. I temporarily took the J award ticket PVG-NRT-IAH hoping F award space would open NRT-IAH, but that never happened. So instead, I cancelled the award ticket on NH and booked a revenue BR ticket PVG-TPE-IAH for $1,650. I felt that was better value than the NH J award ticket with the lucrative mileage haul. The final IAH-LAX segment was booked as a Basic Economy fare for $120 on the shiny new B787-10s that were doing domestic warm ups (I will not report this flight, but it will be in the bonus of this report).

The routing will thus be completed as follows:

This report will be the TPAC from TPE to IAH on BR's B77W.

pre-flight

Exiting my flight from Shanghai, I had to filter back through security to re-enter the terminal. I didn't have too much time in TPE, so just stopped by the lounge to take a shower after a hot day in Shanghai and get some work done before the long TPAC. The shorter route home was on display at the FIDS, but we be heading to Houston first.

BR has its 4 lounges in close proximity at T2. I guess having different themed lounges is a good way to disperse crowds, but it seems like it would be considerably more expensive to run since they essentially offer all the same services in different aesthetics. I used The Infinity lounge, since it's shower rooms looked the largest. The shower room amenities were good and contained 3LAB products.

The BR Lounges were reviewed elsewhere so I won't cover them here. The Infinity was quite crowded and I just found a corner to sit and get some work done. Passing through the buffet areas, the food offerings looked quite good with an abundance of hot options, but with a full meal awaiting me on the plane, I did not partake.

I left the lounge at 21:00 to go wander through TPE, which is still bustling late into the night with all of the TPACs departing. The airport is not very spotter friendly, only made worse in the night so there will be no photographs of B-16727, which would take us to Houston. Our flight was departing from the southern C concourse (CI uses the northern D concourse) along with all of the other BR flights to the US and required secondary checks to go down into the crowded gate area. Boarding pass for this flight.

Flight

EVA Air, BR 52
Equipment: Boeing 777-300ER [B-16727, delivered June 2016]
Departure: 22:00 (ATD: 22:42)
Arrival: 22:40 (ATA: 22:52)
Flight Time: 13:10

Boarding started almost 30 minutes late and was chaotic with long lines being pre-queued due to the delay in boarding. I boarded with the back end of Zone 1. The greeting was fine through L2 and I made my way to my seat. I was seated in the rear J cabin since this was one of the last window seats left since I booked this flight late. Our plane was in their less dense 333-passenger configuration (J39, W56, Y238) since it still had the old 3-3-3 Y-configuration. A window seat was not really that useful on this flight since we take off at 22:00 and land at 22:00 so it feels like the entire flight is in darkness.

Since it was chaotic boarding and there seemed to be a rush to get the plane moving, I didn't get too much chance to photograph the cabin with the onslaught of Y/W passengers filtering back past my seat. Their Cirrus product has been reviewed elsewhere, I find it on par with the CX B77W version, but with slightly nicer finishes. As I settled into my seat, I was offered PDBs from a tray. This was served with a small Valrhona chocolate, which is a nice touch, but a oshibori would have been more appreciated.

The amenity kits were then handed out by the FAs likely to ensure these coveted Rimowa kits don't walk away from empty seats. I got the maroon version, which includes most of the expected products (tooth brush, ear plugs, comb, lens cleaner, socks, and eye mask), but not of necessarily good quality. There were also Clarins products (body lotion, hand cream, and lip balm).

The menus for this flight were also handed out. They are quite elegantly designed and of thick card stock. A shame that they have now disappeared from BR.

The dining menu. BR does allow you you pre-book your meals online before the flight so I opted for a duck main in lieu of the menu options.

And since BR had already started cutting costs on menus pre-pandemic, it contains both TPE-IAH and IAH-TPE menus. With the arrival of the pandemic, the menus have now become obsolete moving to IFE based.

The wine and beverage menu. I find their selection to be very strong side with even a very good selection of spirits.

With darkness and rain outside, there was nothing worth capturing on take-off. Safety video was performed during push back as we started our taxi out. We finally took off at 22:42 to start our long trek to Texas.

After leveling off, service started with distribution of an amuse bouche, which I took with a glass of champagne. Presentation is very elegant and a nice way to start the meal service. The small crepe packet was filled with shrimp and crab meat and the tartlet was topped with goat cheese and olive.

Hot oshibori on a tray were finally handed out as the canapes were removed. I would have liked to receive this before the canape, but a minor detail.

After the oshibori were removed, the linens were laid. Interesting that they use the old pattern linens and napkin rings on this flight…

The table is set for dinner and I will continue with champagne. Warm breads were offered from a basket.

The starter was then served. A very nice presentation and excellent protein components (goose liver and smoked salmon). The champagne jelly was nice addition to elevate the presentation despite being fairly tasteless.

After the starter was cleared, my pre-booked main was served. The duck was nicely presented and well cooked, but the rendering on the fat could be better since it was difficult to cut through with the blunt knives found on planes.

A perfect cook on the duck.

The meal was concluded with dessert, no cheese plate was offered. The vanilla mouse was good, but the fruit was lackluster.

A cup of espresso to conclude the meal service. All of BR's tableware is quite tasteful in design.

Digestives were finally offered as the dessert plates were cleared. I will switch to some cognac to sip while I watch movies.

Even though the cabin was plunged into darkness for sleep, the crew was passing through regularly to check on my drink levels. I requested a cup of pu'er tea to help cut the fat from the duck and stay up later to adjust to the time change.

In addition to slippers, BR is one of the carriers that still gives out pajamas in J. They were offered after the meal service and were available in all sizes and come in Men's and Women's versions. This was when BR had its collaboration with Jason Wu. These aren't the most fancy or comfortable with the funky collar, but always a good collector item to have.

Exhausted and blurry eyed (no pun intended), I fell asleep with their starlit night in the cabin.

I slept very well and didn't wake up until the arrival meal service was starting up, which I guess is lunchtime in Taiwan? It's nice that they have 3 options for the 2nd meal. I opted for the Royal Laurel Special, which was a noodle soup with pork spare ribs. Linens were of course laid, but the meal itself is served as a single tray. The soup and noodles were good, but I found the meat to be tough and surprisingly dry in the middle.

The two side dishes were both good.

After the tray was cleared, they finished with a coursed dessert (aka, fruit plate). The fruit was again underwhelming in quality, and identical in contents to the dinner fruit plate.

What I disliked most about this flight and the most vivid memory I have of this flight is the underwhelming service. Nothing about the service really felt personable and after completing the 2nd meal service, the crew just vanished from the aisles. The FAs were all in the galley repacking their own suitcases and chit-chatting instead of clearing service items. My fruit plate and coffee mug were not cleared until 20 minutes before arrival after sitting there for over an hour. Based on other reviews praising their crews, perhaps this was just a one-off, but it definitely led me towards other carriers on subsequent trips.

Final descent into IAH as we are serenaded by some background music. We had a smooth landing on Runway 27 about 10 minutes behind schedule. It was a short taxi over to Terminal D with little traffic at this hour.

We pulled into our gate at a very quiet Terminal D next to a now defunct 4O A320.

Approaching midnight, immigration was empty and I was into the baggage claim quickly with a long wait for bags.

Welcome to Houston.

That concludes this month long around the world trip as I start my stay in Houston. Thanks for stopping by!

bonus - UA B787-10

To close the loop, I booked a cheap Basic Economy fare from IAH-LAX. At this time, they were doing domestic rotations with B787-10s entering service to train pilots/crew. In terms of Y, it's your standard long-haul Y hard-product. I boarded early so had some good cabin shots that are worth sharing for those interested.

The IFE is pretty standard, nothing remarkable.

Seat pitch is acceptable, but of course will feel tight on a long-haul with a seat back in your face.