Review of EVA Air flight from Taipei to San Francisco in Business

This series covers a recent trip to Shanghai, please refer back to Part 1 for the background.

As a key market for BR, SFO gets 3x daily B77W service (BR8, BR18, and BR28). Since I was spending the night in Taipei, all flights were an option, but I opted for the morning departure on BR8 to get into SFO first thing in the morning. There is a UA flight that leaves at about the same time, but no competition from JX/CI at this time block. The route for this trip is:

This report will cover the flight from Taipei-Taoyuan to San Francisco and a look at the BR Infinity Lounge.

Novotel Taipei Taoyuan International Airport

Based on my arrival time at TSA and departure time from TPE, I opted to just stay at the Novotel Taipei Taoyuan International Airport. It offers a functional product as an airport hotel with its main selling point being its location. At check-in, I had requested a high floor facing the airport, which was granted.

I woke up at 05:00 and was treated to a beautiful sunrise over the airport.

This is also when the first arrivals start to pour in, here comes 9V-OJJ in Pokemon livery arriving as TR898 from SIN.

B-16715 in *A livery arriving as BR15 from LAX, which I didn't know at the time, but would be my plane to SFO.

I had breakfast at the hotel knowing that the BR lounges have below standard food and beverage offerings before taking the 07:00 shuttle to the terminal.

Pre-flight

The bus ride from the hotel is short and we were pulling into T2 just minutes later.

The signage is clear leading one upstairs to the departures hall on 3F. After going up the moving walkways, the BR priority check-in area is right in front of you.

I was helped within a minute and the ground staff even took my suitcases from me and loaded them onto the conveyer belts. SFO was confirmed as my final destination and I was handed my boarding pass. She asked if I needed directions to the lounges before instructing me to go to the end to confirm that my bags clear screening before continuing through security.

Instead of heading into security, which is right next to the bag screening area, I headed off towards the North observation deck. It is on 5F and is accessed by a long escalator.

There is a food court up there along with a Lego model of Taoyuan.

The terrace opens at 6:30 and is capped at 300 people. There is a security guard there who checks your bags and informed me that no food/beverages are allowed outside. The upper deck is adorned with the Formosa bears.

The lower deck is larger, but more exposed to the sun.

I’ll only put in a couple spotting photos, but this deck was well positioned along Runway 23 and the major taxiways.

CI A321neo in Pikachu Jet CI special livery.

BR A333 in BAD BADTZ-MARU Travel Fun special livery

BR A333 in Celebration Flight special livery.

CI A359 taking off.

After spending an hour out in the sun on what was going to be a 34C day, I went back inside and headed to the departures hall on 3F to clear security and immigration. Both were cleared within 5 minutes, although if you do not hold a passport eligible for the E-Gates it would be longer.

After picking up some duty-free items, I went back towards the BR lounges that are located upstairs just after clearing immigration. There is a map showing the location of all the airline and third party lounges. I wanted to go try the new Oriental Club Lounge since it is supposed to be the best Priority Pass lounge at TPE, but it looked very crowded, so I opted to just go into BR’s Infinity Lounge.

Eva Air Infinity lounge

BR has four lounges at TPE with different access requirements. As a business class passenger, you are directed to use the Infinity Lounge which shares an entrance with the Club Lounge (which is where BR Golds and *G in other cabins are directed). The Infinity Lounge is supposed to be slightly more high-end.

Entering the lounge an agent comes and greets me at the door and scans my boarding pass directing me to the right towards the Infinity side. Entering at 09:00, it is noticeably less crowded than when I used the lounge in Part 2 earlier in the morning. I was able to immediately find an empty seat. The lounge is not only too small for the passenger traffic, but most seats have no access to any sort of charging points.

The small buffet alcove, which is always very crowded. Having had breakfast at the hotel, I just grabbed a coffee.

Drinks station.

Since boarding was marked to begin at 09:45, I left the lounge at 09:30 and started the trek towards C9, which was estimated to take 9 minutes from the duty free area.

T2’s renovation is still on-going in some places and our gate is one of those places. C9 is not one of their themed gates, but rather accessed through a utilitarian hallway.

Inside, agents were there to check passports before allowing passengers to go downstairs into the gate area. Lucky us, we have B-16715 in *A livery waiting outside.

Heading downstairs, the gate area is already filling up.

An announcement was made that boarding will be slightly delayed due to refueling, so I take the time to admire our plane through the blue tinted glass.

boarding

Boarding was called at 09:52 with Zone 1 first.

The purser was at 1L to greet passengers and direct them down the correct aisle.

I selected a seat in the forward J cabin for this flight. Our plane is in the 77M configuration with 38J, 64W, and 221Y (in 3-3-3). As a 2009 built B77W, it will have the older version of their seats mainly differentiated by the dated IFE components. A FA was there to greet me and told me that the slippers and menu are already at the seat so that I could start to get settled in and she would be back later for drink orders.

Pre-placed on the seat are pillow, duvet, slippers, and headphones. BR’s pillow is large and firm and their duvet is one of the best.

The Thunder headphones and Jason Wu branded slippers for long-haul.

Pre-placed on the side table are the menus, a Valhrona chocolate, and poem.

Legroom is of course excellent and the open storage compartments are great for shoes and other personal items.

These Sicma seats are old, but their footwells are very large both in terms of depth, width, and height. Unless you are >185cm, there is almost no foot constriction.

This plane unfortunately has the original version of the seat (Refer to Part 1 or Part 2 for the newer version). It only has a single USB-C port, which is not fast charging and the IFE remote does not have a screen.

The literature compartment contents are the expected safety card, airsickness bag, and SkyShop catalog.

A FA came up the aisle and took pre-departure drink orders. The options were sparking wine, water, or juice. I asked which juice and she told me it is the guava/pineapple juice, which she recommended. This was promptly brought out along with a scented towel.

The purser then came to introduce herself and informed me that the flight time would be right about 11 hours today. She asked me if I wanted pajamas, which were promptly handed out.

While boarding completes, a quick look at the menus today.

In addition to the offerings onboard, there are also a number of additional entrees that can be pre-booked online.

The drink offerings are substantial in terms of quantity and quality. Since our flight is departing TPE, we will have access to additional items.

Boarding was completed extremely fast, I noticed the 2L jet bridge had already been retracted by 10:08, meaning the entire B77W was boarded in less than 20 minutes. The FAs then came up the aisles performing meal orders. I had pre-ordered my meals online, so the FA came to me last to confirm my choices and asked what drinks I wanted to start each meal with.

flight

At 10:15, the safety video started up as we prepared for pushback.

Some BR B77Ws at remote stands as our GE90s come roaring to life with their unmistakable sound. T3 is desperately needed since T1/T2 are clearly not sufficient to meet the demands of BR/CI/JX.

The ground crew waves goodbye as we start our taxi out.

The south observation deck is visible above gate C6. TPE T2 was renovated inside, but looks very rough around the edges outside.

Reaching T1, we can see CX’s TPE sub-station operations which are likely much more limited than pre-pandemic when they had an extensive network ex-TPE into Japan.

On the other side of T1, we have the miscellaneous carrier collection with a number of visitors from Japan and Korea.

A sibling rivalry.

The captain comes on and announces that due to a runway restriction limiting operations to 23R we are #10 in line so it will be ~30 minutes before we are able to take-off. So there will be plenty of time for spotting, which I will put in the bonus section below to spare those not interested.

A look back at the queue as we finally reach the runway.

We hold up short to let a CA A321 drop in from HGH.

Aligning onto 23R.

Spool up and take off from Taoyuan:

We took off at 11:08 almost an hour late and started our u-turn to start our trek northeast towards the Ryukyu Islands.

Goodbye Taiwan.

These older B77Ws have a lower resolution screen and the older Star Gallery interface with a vintage moving map that is non-interactive. There is Wi-Fi on these planes, but it never worked on this flight either so I won't go into any details here on how to connect or their prices.

As soon as we leveled off, the purser came down the aisle with a cart handing out amenity kits in a dust bag and Evian water.

On flights from TPE, a tan hard case is provided that also includes a matching card holder.

The contents have everything you need: eye mask, ear plugs, brush with mirror, dental kit, and Malin+Goetz products (facial mist, lip moisturizer, and lotion).

Soon after, the linens were laid to start the lunch service.

The amuse bouche is Dried Fig with Jalapeño Salami and Carrot Creme Brûlée with Crab Meat and Caviar.

A cart then comes down to set the table and serve drinks.

The table is set.

The logical choice for libations today, Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle.

Santé!

Crossing over Okinawa just north of Naha. Kadena Air Base is visible.

I opted for the Celebrity Chef's Banquet, so we begin with the hors d'oeuvre, which is Tan's Mung Bean Jelly with Abalone and Fresh Shrimp.

Crossing over Matsuda and Kushi with their shallow waters and sea glass beaches.

Breads are offered from a basket, I took the onion bread again.

The soup course is Tan's Stewed Pork Ribs Soup with Red Date, Lotus Seeds, and Peanuts.

The salad course is a Garden Vegetable Salad with choice of Mint Yoghurt Dressing or Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing.

Crossing Yoron with its beautiful waters. The airport, RNJ, is visible on the top left corner.

The main is Tan's Steamed Eight Treasure Duck with Sticky Rice.

After the table was cleared, coffee/tea was offered so I went for the Simple Kaffa to try their Taiwanese coffee options, which was served with a small chocolate.

The cart soon came down the aisle to allow selections from cheeses, fruits, and desserts.

I opted for the fruit plate and a duo of sorbet and ice cream.

Hennessy XO cognac to accompany my dessert.

Our entertainment for dessert was glimpses of Fuji-san poking its head through the clouds as we continued our run up the eastern coast of Honshu.

After the meal, turndown service was offered. The seat topper is thin, but better than nothing.

Scented wipes were finally distributed.

The sun sets as we start our trek across the Pacific.

A view of the cabin mid-flight.

The lavatory near the cockpit was surprisingly large and featured a fold-down bench, which made changing into pajamas an easier task with the turbulence over the Pacific. Otherwise, the contents are standard for Boeing other than the Acqua Colonia products (facial mist, body spray, hand soap, and lotion) and tray containing dental kits, mouth wash, and ear plugs.

In between the J cabins, a bar area was in the process of being set up featuring drinks and snacks. There was always at least 1 FA in the galley, who would quickly offer help.

Since only available on flights departing Taiwan, I asked the FA in the galley for Passion Fruit with Tapioca Mixed Green Tea, which she brought out along with some snacks. I then asked for the Taro with Fresh Milk, which was a very literal interpretation. JX's boba is probably better than either of these.

A cup of tea and a comfortable bed for a nap after getting some work done.

The LED stars lighting the cabin.

Cabin lights were abruptly turned on at 05:00 (20:00 TPE) about 2h out from SFO.

It is already sunrise outside.

Hot scented towels were offered and linens were laid at 05:05. This was immediately followed by my pre-ordered drink, an Illy espresso.

Everyone around me got food except for me. After waiting for 15 minutes, the FA came by to apologize and informed me they were still heating up the congees so asked if I wanted anything else to drink while I waited so I opted for some oolong tea. 

My breakfast as delivered.

Stir Fried Maitake Mushroom and Chicken.

Traditional Side Dishes to accompany the congee.

Shrimp Cheung Fun.

Fermented bean curd.

A nice pair of chopsticks on offer with metal tips.

The sky is slowly getting lighter outside.

After the tray was removed, my fruit plate was brought out and this time I tried the other Taiwanese coffee, VWI by CHADWANG.

After the meal service, the California coast was in sight with Mt. Shasta off in the distance.

As we began our descent into SFO, the purser came through and thanked me for flying and offered candies from a tray.

A foggy June morning in the Bay with nothing to see as we circle around the Peninsula and do the standard approach from South Bay. We landed about 40 minutes late, unable to make up any time.

Final descent into SFO:

AA A321 in PSA retro livery.

Back to the home of UA.

We held up off of Concourse G to let this UA B772 taxi out.

We then pulled into our gate next to our distant cousin from United.

Deplaning through L1 was slow, but the pilots came out and took pictures with all of the kids in our cabin and brought them into the cockpit for tours while waiting.

The long trek to immigration, which was empty and then a longish wait for bags before quickly heading home on a quiet Saturday morning on the 101.

That concludes this short series, thanks for stopping by!

flight details

EVA Air, BR8
Equipment: Boeing B777-300ER [B-16715, delivered December 2009]
Departure: 10:15 (ATD: 11:08)
Arrival: 06:30 (ATA: 07:12)
Flight time: 11:04