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

Background

This series covers a recent TPAC trip, which starts with a familiar flight on BR17 from San Francisco to Taiwan-Taoyuan. For the same flight in June 2024, see here.  As mentioned in that report, BR offers 3x daily SFO-TPE service on B77Ws with BR7 operating during the day and BR17/BR27 operating at night. BR17 and BR27 depart within 30 minutes of each other, so I usually just pick my flight based on which flight has the better window seat availability. The routing for this series thus starts as:

This report will cover the flight from San Francisco to Taiwan-Taoyuan and the Air France Lounge at SFO.

Check-in / Security

I booked a ride and was deposited outside SFO’s international terminal at 21:45.

Heading inside, BR's check-in counters are located at Aisle 5. The check-in for BR17 and BR27 opens at 21:30, there were no lines for priority passengers and I was immediately helped. I informed the agent that I had a connecting flight on a separate *A ticket and asked him to check the bag through to my final destination. He simply chuckled, and told me they aren't going to even try. That will make my upcoming connection a lot more interesting… Either way, I was handed my boarding passes and a lounge invitation to the Air France Lounge and sent on my way.

As I approached the security check point, I looked at my boarding pass and saw that PreCheck didn't get picked up despite putting in my KTN. I asked the security agent if I could still use the PreCheck lane with my physical Global Entry card and he told me I'd have to go back to check-in to get the boarding pass re-issued. I have a feeling that this is due to the new OSS system since they now print OSS all over the boarding pass where PreCheck normally would be printed (my boarding passes from June did not have the OSS marking). Since there were only ~10 people in the priority line I just proceeded with the regular security and was through in less than 5 minutes.

Exiting security into Concourse A.

A quick look at the FIDS tonight at SFO, our flight is on time leaving from Gate A5.

The lounges (sans BA and EK) are accessed through a small door to the left after exiting security. BR sends J passengers to the AF Lounge.

Air France Lounge

The AF Lounge is on the main level and doesn’t require an elevator to access. Approaching the door, an agent came out to greet me and scanned my boarding pass welcoming me in.

The lounge had about a dozen people inside when I arrived, but they were all clustered around the buffet. The lounge is AF chic since it was newly opened last summer and matches their new global branding.

I settled into a nook near the bar. The décor is nicely appointed and there are abundance of outlets positioned throughout (with USB-A and USB-C ports). Wi-Fi was quick and I had no problem working although the lounge noise is moderately high given the compact area it occupies.

My offering.

By the time I left the lounge at 23:45, it was pretty full with the ~80 J passengers leaving on BR17/BR27.

Boarding

I did a loop of the terminal to see what was around, but spotting is very challenging in Concourse A.

The only gate with correctly positioned windows was A9 that had this KE B789 that would be operating KE26. 

Our B77W is not easy to spot since it sits in between 2 sets of windows. Our flight tonight will be operated by B-16731, a 2016 built B77W with BR's 77A configuration featuring 39J 56W 238Y (still in 3-3-3).

Our neighbor will be a CM B737-MAX8 heading down to PTY.

CX A359 and CI B77W are the other planes left to leave tonight.

A look down at the gate area.

Flight

Boarding started at 00:15 with Zone 1. The greeting at 1L was friendly by the purser who directed me through the galley and to the right.

A look at the forward J cabin, which has 23 seats across 6 rows on this 77A configuration.

At the time of booking, I was able to secure my preferred window seat in the rear of the mini cabin, which has 16 seats across 4 rows. The flight would go out 100% full in J.

My seat, 11K, which is just in front of the W cabin bulkhead so has good privacy and is far enough away from the galleys/lavatories. The only traffic past this seat is the FAs moving between cabins. The B77W cabins still have the old Cirrus product unlike the B787s, but it is still a very good product. Pre-placed on the seat were pillow, duvet, slippers, and headsets.

The very large pillow and duvet.

The Jason Wu branded slippers.

The Thunder noise cancelling headphones, which are good quality though I would use my own.

On the side table, a Valrhona chocolate, poem, and menus were already pre-placed. Immediately after settling in, the FA for my row came to introduce herself and asked me what I would like to drink for pre-departure beverage. The options were sparkling wine, water, or juices (apple, orange, tomato). She returned promptly with my drink and scented towel.

Seat pitch is of course excellent. On the right are the main storage compartments for shoes and other small items.

Everything you need to access is just off your shoulder with universal AC outlet, 2x USB-A ports, headphone jack, reading light, and IFE remote. The storage is large enough for a laptop, but I would have prefered a closed design to help keep small items from falling out.

The seat controls.

The IFE screen is certainly not HD, but of acceptable size/resolution. As is the case with a lot of reverse herringbone seats, it needs to be folded for take-off/landing. This design is better in my opinion since you have more space when sleeping versus the built-in monitors found on Super Diamond seats.

Literature is located in the back of the seat in front of you, but is limited to safety card, air sickness bag, and Sky Shop catalog. The in-flight magazine can only be accessed digitally.

The FAs distributed Giorgio Armani amenity kits in a dust bag. The dust bag changed from cotton to a synthetic material since my last flight.

The amenity kit for flights departing from outstations is a black soft case. Inside the case are also a matching coin purse and key chain. The rest of the contents are: eye mask, ear plugs, dental kit, comb with mirror, and a set of Malin+Goetz products (facial mist, lip balm, and lotion).

Let's take a look at the menu. Since our flight departs after midnight, we will have Supper service instead of Dinner. The difference is the removal of the soup course, salad course, and cheese course in order to speed up the service and offer a lighter meal before sleep. BR only allows passengers to pick the main course, but with the quality of their catering I have no complaints with the lack of choice for the starter.

BR enables meal selection starting from 21 days prior to departure enabling the selection of additional entrees beyond what is catered. For our late night departure, we have a supper and breakfast service to select. For supper, there are 5 pre-order options in addition to the 3 mains available on the menu bringing the total choices to 8. For breakfast, there are no pre-order options, with only the 3 mains available on the menu.

BR's beverage options remain one of the best J offerings in the sky. The champagne rotation for Q3 means that we will get 2015 Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame on the JX competition routes (SFO/LAX/SEA), which makes its welcome return following the termination of EK's exclusivity agreement.

The front doors closed at 00:44 and the cabin was prepared for departure. Our twin in the old livery operating BR27 is visible next door.

The FA came up the aisle kneeling at each passenger taking orders. She confirmed both of my pre-ordered meals and asked what I wanted to drink before each meal as well as if she should wake me up for meal services. The purser then came through the cabin welcoming each passenger and offering pajamas.

We started our pushback at 00:52 and the secret agent themed safety video played.

After pushing back past our twin, the GE90s came rumbling to life with their distinctive whine and we started our taxi out at 00:58.

With the re-opening of Runway 28L, there was no wait tonight and we quickly aligned for take-off at 01:14.

We departed on Runway 28L exiting the continent south of Daly City.

After leveling off, the moodlighting changed to signal the start of meal service as the cabin lights were slowly turned on.

The large sturdy tray table, but it can't be pivoted so you have to carefully slide out if you need to leave during meal service. The other criticism is that although it is bifold in design, it can't really be used unless unfolded.

The crew sprung into action about 20 minutes after taking off to lay the linens.

That was followed by the amuse bouche: Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese Profiterole and Deviled Egg with Bacon.

As mentioned, they are currently serving 2015 Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame to SFO.

After clearing the plates, the cart came down the aisle to set the table and refill drinks. BR does consistent branding with Isigny Sainte-Mère and A l'Olivier products offered even from outstations.

The purser came down offering warm breads from a basket.

The hors d'oeuvre was served: Lobster with Crab and Avocado Tower.

My pre-ordered main was brought out: Stir Fried Lobster with Ginger and Scallion Served with Egg Fried Rice.

Drinks were never left empty throughout the meal service.

The meal concluded with dessert: Almond Pear Tart and Fruit.  I accompanied this with a cup of Pu'er tea (served with a small chocolate) and Hennessy XO cognac.

Service concluded with a scented towel and distribution of Evian water bottles. The entire supper service was completed within 90 minutes, so quite efficient to ensure everyone can go to sleep quickly since it was already 02:30 in SFO.

Turndown service was offered by the crew after the meal. The mattress topper is thin, but sleeping on a cotton sheet is still more comfortable than nothing. The advantage of sitting in 11K is that all the extra pillows are stored in the overhead bin above this seat so it's easy to grab an extra.

The seat in flat bed mode. The duvet is excellent quality and remains one of my favorites. The cabin temperature was kept cool and I never felt too warm under the duvet despite the lack of individual air vents.

I find the footwell large and comfortable in all sleeping positions and like the vertical space afforded by the Cirrus seat layout.

Sleeping under the LED stars.

After almost 6 hours of deep sleep, I woke up as we were approaching Shatsky Rise. We definitely did not take the great circle route tonight, likely due to the low head winds. There was also very little turbulence on this flight, which is rare for a TPAC.

Pressing the call button, a FA was at my side in less than 5 seconds. I ordered the Ricotta Fig Toast and Honey and a cup of milk tea. Linens are laid even for mid-flight snack service. In addition to the items on the menu, there was also a small bar area set up near 2L with drinks and packaged snacks.

The open face toast is served with some dehydrated raspberries.

BR's IFE is called Star Gallery. The interface is easy enough to navigate and the screen is responsive to touch. You can access the in-flight menu, Voyager 3D moving map, and other items through it. There is an expected bias towards Asian content with limited Western options. There was very little new content since the last time I flew them, but with sleep as the priority, this negative point does not bother me.

The "newer" cabins have IFE remotes with screens.

Every time I set foot in the lavatories, they were spotless. The FAs cleaned them after almost every passenger, which is an aspect I really like about BR. The lavatories are well stocked with Ideology products (hand soap, facial mist, lotion, and aroma mist) as well as a tray with dental kits, mouth wash, and ear plugs.

Orchids in the lavatory.

I slept for another 2 hours before waking up south of Japan.

BR's B77Ws are fitted with Panasonic Wi-Fi, which was easily accessed through the portal. This trip, the Wi-Fi connection was solid every time I connected throughout all of my flights so I am not sure if BR updated their software recently.

A number of Wi-Fi plans are available in addition to 30 minutes of complimentary access (Note: they updated their system to remove the glitch that enabled you to keep doing 30-minutes free on the same device with different e-mail addresses). The prices are quite steep reaching ~$40 for a full flight plan. Since sleep was a priority on this flight, I only took advantage of the complimentary 30-minutes twice (phone and laptop) after using up my free data voucher.

BR offers free Wi-Fi vouchers to passengers based on fare class purchased. Despite the gesture, the quantities of data offered are quite low and they have to be redeemed with a narrow window pre-departure (48h to 30min before departure).

There were always 2-3 FAs in the galley area between J cabins who were quick to offer assistance. A sampling from the snack bar recommended by the FAs. They are also very generous with the distribution of water bottles to stay well hydrated and reduce the burden of jet lag.

About 2h to arrival, the mood lighting turned back on to signal the start of the second meal service.

Breakfast service started with the linens being laid and being offered a hot scented towel.

As pre-ordered, my Illy espresso was promptly brought out afterwards.

The tray for the Chinese style breakfast as delivered.

Stir Fried Egg with Tomato.

Stir Fried Pork with Bell Pepper.

Fermented bean curd.

Traditional side dishes (Pork floss, vegetables, and peanuts).

After my tray was cleared, a fruit plate was delivered along with a cup of Oolong tea.

Meal service concluded with a scented towel.

Taiwan is big on their customs information and we were forced to watch ~10 minutes of clips on arrival procedures and customs regulations.

As the cabin was prepared for landing, the purser came through offering candies from a tray and thanked passengers for flying with BR.

I was clearly on the wrong side of the plane, nice views of the city were on offer on the port side of the plane with our approach into Taoyuan.

Making landfall as we drop into Taoyuan.

We had a soft landing at 04:33 (about 40 minutes early) on Runway 23R, which meant a long taxi around the airport to reach the C gates of T2.

After completing our loop around the airport, we get to see some visitors (5X and BA) in town for some maintenance at the Evergreen hangers.

BR B787-10 at remote stand awaiting its morning mission.

We pull in to our gate C7 at 04:40 next to our sister.

As soon as the seatbelt sign was turned off, the FAs came up and curtained off the J cabin to ensure we could deplane ahead of W. A friendly goodbye from our crew as we head into the humid jet bridge on what was going to be a rainy 34C day in Taiwan.

Transit in TPE from the US is simple with the new OSS (one-stop security) system introduced late last year, there was an agent at the end of the jet bridge directing arriving passengers to the left and transiting passengers to the right. All transiting passengers were just asked to show their onward boarding passes with OSS printed on them before being let back into the gate area. No transit security is required.

Eerily quiet TPE at 04:45.

After walking through the gate area and heading upstairs to the main level of the airport. Transfer gate information posted.

One final chance to admire our plane from the gate area despite the blue glass of TPE.

I will leave off this series here as I begin my transit in Taoyuan. Thanks for stopping by!

Flight Details

EVA Air, BR17
Equipment: Boeing B777-300ER [B-16731, delivered September 2016]
Departure: 01:00 (ATD: 01:14)
Arrival: 05:10 (ATA: 04:33)
Flight time: 12:18