Flight routing
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- 5BR087 - Business - Taipei to Paris CDG
transfer in Taipei
I have just under two hours to make my connection in Taipei. I head up to arrivals on the first floor, which is where security takes place for connecting passengers.
The transit area is littered with high end retail, mainly ladies' fashion. Outside it's already dark, so I figure I might as well go in search of the lounge.
EVA Air Lounge
The EVA Air lounge is rather small, especially considering that this is their hub and therefore should be the flagship lounge. But it's nice enough, with plenty of seating available.
The food options are interesting, but not really very appealing.
I mean, grilled sausages?
I settle for three tuna sandwiches, which, strangely, taste rather sweet.
Boarding
At 23h00, my flight shows up as 'go to gate', which is good, because I'm about to fall asleep otherwise. There are two airbridges attached to the aircraft, with the left one for Business Class passengers. There is no First Class cabin.
The cabin & seat
The B 777 has an older seat than the B 787. The cabin is configured in a 1 + 2 + 1 revers herringbone layout.
The colours may be a tad strange, but it's a very comfortable seat with good storage space.
Amenities
At my seat when I arrive are the menu, slippers, earphones, and the amenity kit. The latter is different to the one I received on the VIE to BKK flight. The content is the same though.
This time, the cabin crew hand me an XL pj.
The crew & Service
As on my previous flights, there is a small piece of chocolate and a card with a Chinese poem at my seat.
Once I'm settled, they bring me a hot towel and take my orders for a welcome drink. I just have water.
first meal service
The menus don't really sound all that appealing to me and I'm tired anyway.
So when the cabin crew come to take my order, I tell them I'll be skipping dinner and going straight to bed. I manage to sleep for about five hours.
mid-flight snack
I awake, and of course, now I'm feeling hungry. So I call for the cabin crew, who offer to serve me dinner. However, I ask them to just bring a bowl of noddles.
Much to my surprise, once I'm done with the noodle, I place my seat back in the lying position and go off to sleep for another seven hours.
second service - breakfast
I awake about two hours out of Paris. The crew is just setting up for the breakfast service.
Before I do anything else, I ask for a coffee with milk. Coffee is something they do really well on EVA.
The breakfast is served on a tray.
Not sure what the green fruit is, but it's very hard and impossible to cut.
For the main dish, I've pre-booked the omelette.
arrival
Just after we cross the boarder from Germany to France, we start our descent, which takes us over the city of Luxembourg and then further West. We land and make our way to the new satellite at CGD's iconic Terminal 1.
I just love the architecture of Terminal 1.
And always remember, kids: Paris loves you!
From arrivals I take the Roissyval train to Terminal 2, from where I catch a TGV train heading for Lille.
Lille is only about an hour away from CDG.
Agree that EVA Air are really underrated. They are quite a premium carrier, but for some reason have less brand recognition than a lot of other Asian carriers. I think a lot of it has to do with the smaller long-haul market to/from Taiwan, though it's a huge market for short-haul regional within Asia, where they have a lot more brand recognition than in Europe and the Americas (minus maybe the West Coast of the US and Canada which is pretty well served by EVA. It's funny how tiny startup carrier Starlux, also from Taiwan, have managed to create so much buzz and name recognition in so little time.
Yes, the cabin's colours are quite drab and the seats are getting a bit old (which seems crazy to say), but it's still a very competitive and comfortable product. Being that the 787 cabins are newer, I would assume the 77W cabins will be getting a retrofit in the new few years.
The TGV station at CDG is certainly very convenient for getting to Lille and a bunch of other cities within quick reach by high-speed rail. Unfortunately, I'm originally from the middle of nowhere in the southwest of France with no TGV (and barely regular trains), and an 8h drive from Paris, so CDG isn't really much of an option for me anymore as I haven't been through in years.
Thanks for sharing!