Introduction
Flight routing
- 1BR226 - Economy - Singapore → Taipei - Boeing 777-300ER
- 2
EVA Air
BR226
Singapore Changi International Airport (SIN) - Taoyuan International Airport(TPE)
B777-300ER
B-16715 (Star Alliance Livery)
Economy Class
Gate B6
ETD: 01:10PM
ATD: 01:12PM (on time)
ETA: 05:45PM
ATA: 05:50PM (on time)
check-in
Check-in is now mostly handled by automated counters. In fact, the staff seems to direct people to use the automated kiosks before checking in their bags. I'm okay with this arrangement but I do wish they gave out better quality boarding passes.
Taiwan was still implementing a 3+4 day quarantine at this time so the flight load was not too heavy. I would say around 65-75%? Also, since travel was restricted, they ground crew also made sure you had valid travel documents for entering Taiwan or you would be denied boarding.
After checking my bag in, I made sure to take a picture of my boarding pass before it eventually got crumpled up in my pocket.
EVA uses Row 8 in Changi Terminal 3.
Check-in was exciting but let's head over airside now.
airside
After immigration, I headed over to do some planespotting. By this time though, it was raining pretty heavily.
9V-SMC rolling to the gate.
Changi is getting more crowded day by day now that we're past the worst of COVID. Continue to stay safe guys!
Time to head to the gate. I don't have have lounge access for now but hopefully one day I will start adding lounge reviews to my reports.
Passed by the transfer area.
Arrived at the shared gate security for B5 & B6. Pretty quiet but I'm probably just early to the gate.
Gate opened about an hour before departure and I snagged a photo of the plane in the rain.
People started coming in as departure time drew closer.
20 minutes before departure, boarding is announced. Elite passengers, families and passengers requiring assistance to board first.
Boarding pass, check. Hand luggage, check. Time to board!
Economy passengers board from Door B.
The 777 is a big plane so naturally there's a queue to board.
on-board
Galley at the entrance.
Economy on EVA is laid out in 3-3-3. That's still reasonably comfortable on a 777.
I'm seated at the second half of the Economy section.
The EVA green on the the carts give it a military vibe(?)
POV from my seat today. Nice bright screen. Legroom, okay. Empty middle seat, nice. IFE system uses a 2-pin system(Why?) and provided a USB charging port.
Boarding seemed like it was going to take some time so I went to the lavatory. It was currently occupied so I waited at the rear galley.
The lavatory of EVA's 777 is spacious and I sort of do enjoy the faux wood flooring. The amenities provided by Payot were nice.
Still raining.
Seatback materials include the standard safety card, duty free shopping information and airsickness bag.
Seated near the galley and lavatory.
Once boarding was completed, the captain made his pre-departure announcement.
As we pushed back, the safety video started to play.
EVA's IFE system named Star Gallery.
Taxiing to the runway.
2000 miles to Taipei and an estimated flight time of 4 hours 15 minutes.
Interesting satellite view but seems like it only works on the ground.
Several photos of take-off.
A look at the live flight information.
Once we level off, the crew handed out a cleaning wipe and earpieces. I don't use these earpieces because they are generally not very good.
Arrival cards are handed out next.
Barely 45 minutes into the flight, the meal is served.
The meal served is definitely much more impressive than what I've seen on SQ's flights recently. For starters, there's fried fishcakes along with edamame & mushroom salad. The main course is a serving of beef stew with white rice and steamed vegetables. For dessert, several slices of fruit and a honey cake. Finally, the meal is served with a bun. For my drink(not pictured here) I took a red wine.
Meal service concluded as we passed by Vietnam.
Nice blue sky today as we head into the evening.
Taiwan is coming into sight on the flight map with Philippines on the right.
Most passengers in the forward economy section had their shades closed.
My window shade was closed too otherwise it would be impossible to watch anything on the IFE.
Flying over the south of Taiwan.
It's not long before we fly over the entire island.
Landed in TPE!
And arriving at the terminal.
Connecting passengers are given priority on disembarkation.
Did we miss the target?
Watching the ground crew unload bags.
disembarkation
It took a while but it was time for the rest of the plane to disembark.
Passing by the 2-4-2 Premium Economy. Doesn't seem like much of a upgrade but maybe I just haven't sat in one.
Passengers whos final destination is Taiwan were shepherded through the arrival procedures.
Owning an ABTC, I skipped most of the immigration queue and was able to head to the baggage claim without any fuss.
Bags are at Belt 6.
Passengers were directed to do a COVID test on arrival. The queue was very long.
Nice report as always! So nice to see things starting to get back to normal in Asia...
Almost normal anyway! Wow, I would have never believed that pre-pandemic, but now seems to be common to hear of SQ lowered quality of catering. That being said, the meal does indeed look very tasty! We can't even pay for such a decent meal on a 4h flight in the US or Europe haha, much less free.
Also so nice to have a 3-3-3 configured 77W! I know EVA also have some 3-4-3 77Ws so I wonder how long there will still be 3-3-3--the cabins are recent so hopefully they'll be around a while.
Thanks for sharing!