Review of China Airlines flight from San Francisco to Taipei in Business

Routing

Pre-Flight

I arrived at SFO ~3h prior to departure and quickly found CI's row of counters in Aisle 9. Approaching, an agent quickly came out to greet me and lead me to the counter. She handled everything professionally and efficiently and had me on my way within 2 minutes.

As expected, security at the A gates was back-logged with the high volume of TPACs departing. TSA PreCheck was significantly shorter and took just 5 minutes to clear airside.

Airside, the lounges in Concourse A are all to the left after exiting security (expect BA and EK), but I opted to do a loop of the terminal first to see what spotting could be done.

Tonight, there will be 4 flights departing for TPE from Concourse A within a 40-minute window in addition to UA's service from Concourse G.

CX B77W prepping for its return to HKG.

One of the two BR B77Ws that we would be following to TPE.

And our plane, B-18007, which would be taking us to TPE tonight sporting the Boeing livery. At 9-years old, it is the youngest of the 10 B77Ws in CI's fleet featuring a C40 (1-2-1) W62 (2-4-2) Y256 (3-4-3) configuration.

China Airlines Dynasty Lounge

After the loop of the concourse, I went back to the main lounge area that houses 5 of the lounges in Concourse A. CI only operates 3 lounges outside of Taiwan and SFO is surprisingly one of them (BKK and NRT being the others).

CI's lounge is upstairs on the 4th floor.

The grand entrance to the lounge.

CI's lounge is part of PriorityPass and DragonPass, but it is reserved for CI passengers after 18:00.

The lounge has been recently remodeled, but is still tiny occupying just this small area in addition to a private room for CI elites behind the check-in desk. During peak season, they operate 2x daily flights and I don't think this lounge has enough seating to accommodate the number of premium passengers and CI status holders. Overall, it really is far off the standards of the AF/KL lounge downstairs.

There is a noodle bar as well as a self-service drinks counter.

Expecting a full meal on the plane, I opted for just a coffee and water.

The furniture is much improved, but still doesn't change the fact that this space is small and offers little privacy. There was also a buffet in the back with hot and cold items, but I did not partake.

Boarding

Despite the late hour, the airport is still very busy.

Boarding was listed as 00:25, but pre-boarding started at 00:10 and the queues started to form. CI elites, business class passengers, and SkyPriority holders were then called to board at 00:15.

After a warm welcome by the FAs at L2, I passed through the galley and turned right into the mini-cabin. This is my first time seeing this product in person and it really does look a lot better than pictures portray. The cabin is laid out in the expected 1-2-1 configuration with fairly standard Super Diamond seats.

My seat for tonight. Pre-placed on the seats is just a pillow.

I was instantly greeted by the FA working my aisle and she asked if I wanted the mattress pad attached now. She set up the seat for sleep and left the duvet for me to open later.

Seat Tour

The side table features a reading light, literature pocket, and side lamp.

CI does not have an in-flight magazine anymore, but does offer 2 shopping catalogs, an air-sickness bag, and the safety card.

The standard storage compartments found on Super Diamond seats.

The deeper left side contained a plush, thick pair of slippers, Evian water, IFE remote, headphone jack, 2x USB-A ports, and the 110v universal outlet.

The shallow right side contained the amenity kit.

The Moschino branded amenity kit is a dark grey faux leather and contained a matching luggage tag, eye mask, dental kit, ear plugs, and brush.

The left arm rest is adjustable in height and contains the headphones.

I did not use them on this flight, but they do look decent quality and are active noise-cancelling.

The foot cubbies on the Super Diamond seats are decently sized, but I find them tight to sleep in given the knee restriction caused by the tray table's storage location.

There is a small compartment inside for storage that was large enough to accommodate a pair of shoes comfortably.

The seat controls are basic and intuitive.

This design of the Super Diamond seats is not the most private, but with only a load of 2/16 in the mini-cabin, this was not an issue.

Looking forward, the bulkhead does appear to offer the most privacy and storage, but lacks windows and is right next to the galley.

Departure

After setting up my seat for sleep, the FA returned with a tray of drinks with a choice of water, orange juice, or apple juice.

The coasters with ink prints are a nice touch.

The purser came through to welcome me on board, which was then followed by hot towels.

The FA then returned to confirm my pre-ordered meals and talked me through the sections of the menu. No wine list was offered on this flight, though it could be found on the IFE.

Unlike BR, CI offers a full meal service after take-off.

There are small dishes available for order mid-flight.

Breakfast has two options.

There is a range of non-alcoholic drink options including collaborations with WooTEA and a number of Taiwanese teas.

The alcoholic options similarly include some collaboration cocktails with BLAH BLAH Bar and SUNMAI in addition to a decent list of wines and spirits.

In the absence of a paper wine list, the champagnes served across North America, Europe, and Oceania could be found on the IFE. For flights to/from North America, they are currently serving Laurent-Perrier Brut Millésimé 2015. A slight step down from the Grand Siècle that BR was recently serving, but still a very strong offering.

There was also a selection of red and white wines.

The doors closed at 00:45 and it would be a very light load tonight with just one other passenger in the mini cabin.

The safety video played as we sat at the gate. CI's video is very basic and straight to the point.

The captain came on and announced that we were ready to leave, but would need to sit at the gate for ~25 minutes further due to our arrival slot into TPE.

The IFE was active after the safety video, so we'll tour that while waiting for pushback. The interface is decent and the content was above average for an Asian carrier.

We eventually pushed back at 01:13 and were able to enjoy the iconic whine as the GE90s roared to life.

SFO is a ghost town at this hour so we did our lonely taxi out to 28L and quickly aligned for take-off at 01:25. We lifted up over San Bruno and quickly disappeared through the marine layer over Daly City.

First Meal Service

There were some bumps off the coast, but meal service started at 01:41 (16:41 in Taiwan) with a calligraphy patterned table cloth.

A healthy pour of Johnnie Walker Blue Label was accompanied by a plate of packaged mix.

The mix contained almonds, cashews, pumpkins seeds, and raisins.

Drinks were topped off as the meal tray was delivered containing the appetizer, salad, and bread courses.

The appetizer was Prosciutto with Cantaloupe and Grilled Asparagus. A classic combination that was well presented.

The salad was Walnut Cranberry Green Salad with Vinaigrette. The nicely presented toppings on top were covering a rather sad industrial offering below.

The breads were pre-placed on the tray and were a French Roll along with a Pumpkin Sunflower Seed Roll, which were served along Beurre D'Isigny.

CI's cutlery is accompanied by a towelette and tooth pick.

After finishing my appetizer, the soup course was brought out which was Pork Rib with Cordyceps Militaris Soup and was one of the most flavorful components of the meal.

My main was then brought out which was Steamed Black Cod with Egg Fried Rice and Vegetables. I would have gone for the duck confit, but opted for the lighter fish course given the time of day. The cod was very flakey and moist.

The Laurent-Perrier Brut Millésimé 2015 served was quite drinkable.

The meal concluded with a cheese and fruit plater along with the option of ice cream or a tart for dessert. Again, the FAs offered a healthy pour of the Baron Otard XO Gold cognac.

The dessert was a Tropical Fruit Flavor Tart.

Coffee and teas were also offered, so I had an espresso to close out the meal.

Mid-Flight

The cabin was soon plunged into darkness for sleep, but I opted to stay up longer to adjust to the destination time zone since it was only 19:00 in Taipei.

The side lamp offers a nice ambience in the dark cabin.

The FA stopped by periodically while I was up and offered more drinks so I tried the Jin Xuan oolong tea to settle in for sleep.

The lavatories near L2 and R2 are not the largest, but feature a window and large fold down bench. They were kept spotless throughout the flight. Another note was that the crew would remove trash and service items from your seat while you were in the bathroom, which is a nice touch.

Some amenities were on offer to supplement the amenity kit's offering.

I grabbed a second pillow from an empty seat, made my bed, and settled in for some sleep.

After 4 hours of solid sleep, I awoke as we were approaching the Detroit Seamount.

CI offers complimentary Wi-Fi to business passengers and a voucher is emailed ahead of the flight. I can't understand the rationale of only giving North America/Australia routes 12h versus the 24h offered to other regions. I waited until after sleep to activate to ensure it would cover the next sector as well. The prices otherwise are $3.25 for 15MB, $11.95 for 1h, $16.95 for 3h, or $21.95 for 24h.

I went up to the galley to grab another water and the FA asked if I wanted to try one of the snack menu items or wanted any drinks. I declined her offer of food since I was still full from dinner, but accepted the offer to try the WooTEA Passion Fruit Black Tea Sparkling and perused the Taiwanese snack offering.

After another 2.5h nap, we were soon crossing over Japan as the lights began to cycle on for breakfast.

Second Meal Service

Coffee, tea, and juices were offered first so I took another espresso.

That was then followed by hot towels.

Linens were then laid for breakfast.

I opted for the congee, which was all served on a single tray. In addition to the congee, there was a small steamed bun and salted duck egg. I've never had to peel an egg on a plane before so that was unique.

The back left featured Seasoning Snow Cabbage Roll and Sauteed Shimeji and Asparagus as the hot dishes.

The back right featured Fish Floss Mixed with Seaweed and Dried Shredded Bean Curd with Vegetables.

In addition to metal cutlery, a towelette and chopsticks are provided. The chopsticks are very good quality and the back instructs you to take them home for re-use.

The fruit plate was decent, but the pieces were too large to practically eat since no knife was offered.

Drinks were topped up throughout the meal.

The sun was soon rising behind us as we approached Taiwan.

Arrival into TPE

The standard Taiwan arrival information was broadcasted as the cabin was prepared for arrival.

Arrival documents were offered. I like the nostalgic feel of the transfer folders offered to keep your documents separated.

The sunshine above the clouds was soon replaced by grey rainy skies.

We punched through the clouds as we reached the coast north of Taoyuan.

After crossing the JX hangar, we had a kiss landing on runway 23R at 05:56.

The GE90's reverse thrust is highly effective at clearing rain off the tarmac.

A warm, rainy day in Taoyuan.

We had a short taxi over to the terminal and pulled into gate A9 next to A350s of CI and JX.

A last look at the cabin before deplaning.

Warm goodbyes from the crew as we deplaned through L1.

Since Taiwan is part of OSS, a flash of my connecting flight boarding pass allowed me to circulate directly into the gate area to head off towards my connecting flight without re-clearing transit security.

I'm surprisingly the only business class passenger connecting, everyone else is entering Taiwan.

A quick reference of my connecting gate information and I head off in search of a shower.

That concludes this flight, thanks for stopping by.

Flight Information

China Airlines, CI3
Equipment: Boeing B777-300ER [B-18007, delivered May 2016]
Departure: 01:05 (ATD: 01:25)
Arrival: 05:35 (ATA: 05:56)
Flight time: 13:32