EVA Air review by J Mayer
3 January 2007

LAX to Taipei in mid-December. We were notified at check-in that the flight would stop for refuelling in Anchorage due to strong head winds. I know that several other EVA LAX to Taipei flights during this period were also re-routed to Anchorage. It turns a 14 hour flight into 17 hours plus. Luckily, we were not making a connection. I am curious how common this practice is, and whether other airlines do it, and if not, why not.

EVA Air review by Streb Lovell
29 December 2006

TPE-LAX rt in 777 Premium Laurel and then 747 Business class. Good food and attentive service almost make up for the uncomfortable lie-flats in Premium Laurel and the fact that their 747 Business class is way behind the times in AV and seating. The inflight bar on the 777 is a joke, since passengers aren't allowed to congregate on flights to the U.S. anyway and the seats in Elite class didn't look so appealing. Temporary first class lounge at LAX is a big improvement over old lounge. Same old crowded, poor lounge in TPE - way too many kids and the food is just awful.

EVA Air review by Wayne Pearson
10 December 2006

LHR-BKK return. Service excellent and inflight entertainment offered a good selection of films, music and games. I flew Elite Class, and the new 777 was nice. The seats on their 747 in Evergreen Deluxe Class reclined more and more chance of sleeping. This time the new seats didn´t go back far enough and the width was much narrower.

EVA Air review by Trisha Mayes
15 November 2006

I have just returned from a return trip to BKK and my first time on EVA Air 777. Friendly and welcoming staff and clean aircraft - travelling in Premium Laurel in both directions. The inflight entertainment was the to date with touch screen. The presentation of the food was delightful but recommend any passengers travelling in Premium Laurel pre-book their meals in both directions on line prior to travel as the choice and selection is much greater than on the day. The seats were very comfortable and spacious, although the sleeping position was too much at a lower angle.

EVA Air review by Kjeld Molvig
12 November 2006

I just took my second trip to Asia from SFO in the Deluxe class. A bargain really, especially if you are over 6 feet tall. After flying a few times in Coach on Cathay, EVA Deluxe Class offers "near" biz class legroom for only a few bucks more. The attendants were fine. The food is surprisingly bad though (couldn't figure what that "coffee" they pour really is), and I don't like the Taipei airport. That said, I can't imagine flying another airline to Asia.

EVA Air review by K Brewster
27 October 2006

I have travelled eight times between Vancouver and Bangkok, and endured the mediocre service on EVA because they once had a reasonable points program. Now they have trimmed the mileage back, in some membership levels by as much as 25%. With that, I will not waste my time with EVA.

EVA Air review by James Hogg
27 October 2006

London - Bangkok in business class, great rate via Trailfinders. Seat was business class seat with a slight slope, not flat , but comfy enough if you fiddle around with the setting, which you have 11 hours to do! Movies were good, they have an inflight snack area, where you can go and help your self, but it is behind the curtains so you have to look for it between the two cabins of business class. Food was better than I would have imagined, portions very large, and chicken was fabulous. Cabin crew were attentive, and if their English was not top notch it was made up for in smiles.

EVA Air review by Stan Mazor
17 October 2006

SFO-TPE-BKK return. Evergreen Deluxe Coach uses rows 20-31 in nose of 747-400 Combi, the quietest section of plane. Excellent service, free alcohol, regular meal. Chose 10 hour layover in TPE, with hand luggage only at in terminal transit hotel (no immigration nor customs); routed checked luggage thru to BKK without problems. On return had 25 hour TPE layover, and loved The Riviera hotel on TPE airport express bus route.

EVA Air review by Conrad Kung
13 October 2006

HKG-YYZ -HKG The first leg HKG-TPE was a new 777. Elite class seats appear to be narrower than DeLuxe seats on the 747. TPE-YVR on 747-400. The 747 looks old and cabin light was dim particularly when just stepped out of the new 777. Didn't look too bad after a while. Service was efficient and attentive. Arrived on time. Picked up the luggage and went thru immigration and customs in 20 minutes. Stay one nite in Vancouver and changed to Air Canada for onward trip to Toronto. Coming back on same routing. Toronto to Vancouver by Air Canada. Three and half hour of waiting in the Vancouver airport. DeLuxe class was almost full. Meal on the return trip always not as good which is always the case. Also no cup noodle served (cup noodle was offered to each and every passenger previously probably to cut cost). TPE to HKG a 747Combi. Flight attendants on all these flights can speak reasonably good English. One good thing of Eva Air is all the lavortories on the planes are cleaned up few times during the flight.

EVA Air review by Simon Greenway
10 October 2006

Bangkok - London in Elite Economy. Having had a good experience on our outward flight we were grossly disappointed in the service that Elite Economy gave us on the return journey. In this age of customer focussed service Eva Air have some lessons to learn if they are to compete with other Asian Airlines offering similar services. Unfriendly cabin staff, poor food quality and a very rushed meal service. Does a meal on a 12 hour flight need to be served and cleared away in 30 minutes? The extra money for Elite Economy is worth it for the extra seat place and comfort of the cabin. Having tried the service I think we are off to Thai Airlines next time for a better travel experience!

EVA Air review by Oliver Owens
26 September 2006

VIE-TPE via Bangkok; cabin crew friendly, but spoke almost no English and were quite helpless when you asked them anything. A330 was very clean, comfortable and even economy-class a pleasure. In this respect, EVA is definitely up to any modern standard. The food onboard was terrible, but the staff came through the cabin quite frequently, offering drinks. Negative remarks only about the check-in at TPE on the way back. Although they understood English quite well, the seating was a mess. I arrived four hours early, but the check-in girl told me that it is apparently impossible to book a seat in an emergency-exit row (for more leg-space), those seats "can only be booked in Bangkok" - then she suggested that I check out in BKK and back in, and this way I might... So I sighed, and asked her for any aisle-seat instead. But again, this is apparently "not possible" to get, but she could offer me a window- seat in the first row behind the dividing wall. Later, in the plane, I discovered I had seat 39-B. Between two other seats, somewhere down the cabin. This was not the cabin attendant's fault, but I was angry about the stupidness of check in staff. Eva Air staff is courteous and fast, but most of them should improve on their language-skills, and on how to deal with non-chinese passengers.

EVA Air review by H Tabar
16 September 2006

LHR-BKK return Elite Class. Outbound flight impressive, for £70 return more than BA in economy, I had plenty of space, in a smaller, quieter cabin and comfy seat on new 777. Nice blanket, and slippers rather than socks provided which was a plus. Plenty of water / juice runs throughout the flight, nice amenities in the toilets, and AVOD with a reasonable selection of movies. Priority check-in counters at heathrow. Crew very pleasant, although lacking in English. Return flight was a day time flight, again good and regular water runs, lunch, snack and supper provided on this flight. Baggage at Heathrow took an hour though as all the transfer bags were last off the plane. All in all, elite class is a civilised way to fly to Bangkok.

EVA Air review by Robin Shreeve
6 September 2006

Brisbane to Taipei in Economy, then onto London the following day in Elite Class. Brisbane leg an Airbus A330 with noticeably more leg room than Emirates. Elite Class seats were OK, leg room was good, in fact very similar to the old Qantas Domestic Business Class. IFE and food was not as good as Emirates but space was superior.

EVA Air review by R Charlesworth
23 August 2006

I am travelling with Eva from LHR to BKK in Nov using elite class, and looking at some of the comments I am begining to think I have made the wrong choice. Before even travelling I have had a bad experience with their on line seat reservation system. They tell you that can book your seats at 09;30GM exactly 100 days before your flight. So I logged on at 09:30 exactly 100 days before and found that almost every seat in the Elite cabin was already taken. I rang Eva Air the morning after and they told me that the first row of the cabin is reserved for parents with cribs, the second, third rows for frequent flyers, and that the other seats were held by travel agent from other parts of the world? I am travelling to Bangkok with my wife and young child and we would obviously like to sit together. Their on-line seat reservation system is a waste of time and I am beginning to suspect so are Eva as an airline. You may as well wait until you turn up at the airport and check in. Back to Thai Airways I think, unless Eva manage to turn things around during the flight.

EVA Air review by Victoria Mitchell
22 August 2006

LHR-BKK Elite, BKK-LHR Business. Elite was nothing special other than the few extra inches legroom which did make a difference on the longhaul flight. IFE excellent. Service excellent, food not great but served with a smile. Business (Premiem Laurel) was great. Service, IFE and food all above average. Found seats comfortable but unable to sleep when fully reclined. Managed to get comfy in a zed shape though. Lovely new 777, spotlessly clean and big toilets. Clarins goodies were a treat too.

EVA Air review by Rob Roberts
30 July 2006

I agree with several of the unfortunate passengers that have taken time to add to this forum. I recently flew BKK-LHR in the new Elite class and quite frankly I was not impressed! The seats are no where near as good as the old ED class and therefore I was very surprised to see a growing airline actually reduce the quality of this product just to have the end result of many disgruntled customers! Just how EVA can justify the premium for these seats just beats me! All Elite travellers may just as well fly economy and save the time of writing letters like this! I have reserved a Business class seat for my next BKK-LHR trip this month and I hope the seats are a lot better than the old business class or I will change airlines for future trips. I was also disappointed that the mileage accrual for FFC members has reduced for Elite travellers from 125% to 115% and 100% depending on class of ticket. Another nail in the coffin for EVA!

EVA Air review by Dirk Krommenhoek
30 July 2006

AKL-AMS return. Excellent value for money. Overall experience was equal in standard compared to other Asian carriers. Clean aircraft and toilets, leg space was a bit lacking on the Airbus. The older Boeing proved more comfortable for me, because of the extra leg space. Check in Amsterdam airport was a bit understaffed. If low fares are important to you and you enjoy a taste of another culture, just go for it and fly EVA.

EVA Air review by E de Ruiter
3 June 2006

AMS-BKK in Economy. Eva uses a 747-combi on this route and the age shows. Seated in the last row (54H/K), we had the emergency exit behind us. Cabin crew were slow and decided to use the space behind us (emergency exit!) to stow all kinds of garbage, including glass bottles. We had to confront cabin crew and purser twice before this was removed (safety hazard). Only to find out they had placed it in front of the emergency exit opposite. We complained to Eva Airways by mail, including pictures of the situation and finally got a complete non-responsive reply after 2 months and after reminding them! This is definitely an airline that should be checked more carefully by authorities! The return flight (BR75), was fine as far as cabin crew was concerned, but check- in at BKK was horrible! One ground crew member even shoved a first class passenger, instead of asking the poor man to step aside for him to put the red carpet down!

EVA Air review by Kenneth Jeffreys
1 June 2006

The new Premium Laurel seats in Eva's business class are awful if you have any kind of back problem. The seat is not horizontal in the flat sleeping position, it is angled downwards at 110 degrees. It is impossible to incline the backrest very far before the horizontal sit-on portion of the seat starts to angle downwards. On all but the front rows of the cabin there is insufficient room to bolster one's legs into a horizontal position. Regular business/first class fare paying flyers condemn this new seat. The only approval seems to be from the many passengers upgraded to fill the 42 seats of the unnecessarily enlarged business class.

EVA Air review by Duncan Whiting
1 June 2006

LHR-BKK return Premium Laurel Class. Just six seats across this 777 means a spacious cabin - seats great, not too comfortable for me in the sleeping position as I'm 6"3 but recline position comfortable. There were only 5 people in our cabin of 24 seats which added to the feeling of privacy. Cabin crew were excellent, spoke fluent english, and addressed me by name which was a nice touch - although not too difficult with only five passengers in the cabin. Food good and well presented.

EVA Air review by Francis Price
25 May 2006

LHR to Bangkok return in economy class. I was impressed by the service and thought it was good value for money. The food was decent and each seat had its own interactive TV screen with games and films on demand. The plane was a new Boeing 777-300ER but was comfortable. The legroom was good and staff were busy but did a good job. The only problem we had was that the plane was delayed about 1 hour coming back due to late arrival from Taiwan.

EVA Air review by Chris Boddice
24 May 2006

Heathrow-Bangkok return in economy. B777-300 - lovely new plane, good legroom and seat width, good choice of film on personal screens, blanket, cushion and slippers on seat when we boarded. The staff were very friendly and attentive throughout the flight. The food was fine - no worse that I have had on other airlines and edible and tasty. Return flight was very good too.

EVA Air review by Jeremy Allerton
18 May 2006

LHR-BKK. I have flown many times with Eva. I flew out in the new Elite class and returned in Premium Laurel. I was quite disappointed with the new Elite Class. The service on the way out was not very good. The seats were not as good as the old ED. I am a gold card holder and always used to get seat 20 or 24 on the 747 which was at the very front of the downstairs cabin, it was quiet and lots of space. The seats were very good and wide and only had 2 each side. On the new 777, the Elite seats were right by the engines and 2-4-2 configuration, so much more noise and less space! No perks for loyal Gold Card members. However, the entertainment was much better than the 747. 2 of the toilets didn't have any washing facilities as they were faulty. I will never travel in the Elite again. On the return, I upgraded to Premium Laurel. Food was excellent, the seats were 60+ inches and much better service. They did offer Champagne prior to take off. The service & entertainment was very good.

EVA Air review by Barry Manners
6 May 2006

London - Bangkok in business class. I'd always used their old first class on this route - rather old fashioned lie flat seats - often picking up a ticket at £2000 or so. New business was around £1300 from Trailfinders, seemed too chaep to be true. Seat slopes down at quite an angle, and your feet are wedged under the seat back in front. I resorted to building a "bed" out of extra pillows and duvets on the bulkhead row in order to get some sleep. Food was OK which was surprising - inflight food was almost comic on every other EVA flight (20+) I've taken. Came back on THAI in first - buying a new ticket. I wasn't in a hurry to repeat the EVA Air experience.

EVA Air review by J Niven
26 April 2006

London to Bangkok in Business. We were disappointed at the standard of the business class cabin, described to be luxurious was not quite the case. The food was "OK" but disappointing it was served with plastic cutlery. Selection of films also OK but not the most up to date. The seats were comfortable and we did manage to sleep on the flight for a few hours. The cabin crew were very disinterested and a little surly ! Overall a little disappointing all round.

EVA Air review by Robert Kent
22 April 2006

LHR-BKK return in Premium Laurel. Check-in at LHR smooth. SAS lounge used at LHR -a good selection of snacks & drinks, even a small kids room. Bit of a shambles at the gate as the sheer number of passengers overflowed into the general area around the gate & processing stopped until boarding commenced. They called Premium Laurel & passengers with children to board first but we couldn't get through because of the backlog. Once on board coats were taken although not addressed by name. OJ/water offered pre-take off. Full bar & meal order taken as soon as belt signs went off. Food was excellent & our children enjoyed their kids meals. Seats were comfortable & we all managed between 3 & 6 hours sleep. Few flight deck announcements but it was a night flight. Departure from LHR was a little late but most of the time made up en route. Return was a similar experience although being a day flight we saw a little more of the crew. Generally friendly, some a little shaky with their English, tended to disappear between meal runs but they do have a help yourself bar stocked with plenty of soft drinks / peanuts / biscuits (& booze I think) so no big deal. Check-in at BKK however was appalling. Firstly the check-in crew showed up late. I had left our passports & tickets on the counter to be helpful. When our check-in lady arrived she simply took them & started the check-in process. No greeting ! Finally after a good 5 minutes she uttered her first words to us. She said our flight was 10 minutes late & couldn't find out in her system if our bags had transferred from our Thai flight from Phuket & we should check at the gate. That was all she said during the whole process. Evergreen lounge was OK, limited snacks/drinks. Receptionist checked our bag status for us & confirmed all was OK. Long walk from lounge to gate. Boarding started late but arrived at LHR only 23 mins late, so not too bad. AVOD was good, plenty of films & music but a bit lightweight for the kids. Overall, I would recommend EVA & Premium Laurel.

EVA Air review by Anthony Tsai
20 April 2006

KHH-TPE-SFO in First Class. On KHH-TPE, a MD-90 was used. This was only a connecting flight, so not much to comment on. Just that the plane was showing its age! A B747combi was used on TPE-SFO segment. I must say that EVA AIR need to update their planes as soon as possible. First class and Business class are located on the upper deck of the plane. I was shocked that they call those seats First class. The seats can recline to a 180 angle flat, BUT it isn't as comfortable compared to Singapore Airlines or JAL's new flat shell seat. The inflight meals are great, especially the first meal. I pre-ordered DingTaifung. I couldn't believe that the quality was the same compared to DingTaifung's shop. I must say that the FA isn't that attentive. They didn't come to the First Class cabin to serve drinks, etc. Beverages were only served before take off and meals. Nervertheless, their amniety kit by Sisley was a good touch. All in all, I will give EVA Air 5/10 on this flight.

EVA Air review by D Bingham
18 April 2006

BNE-TPE-BKK-LHR. Originally booked the flight due to competitive pricing for premium economy on the intercontinental sector. Have travelled direct with SQ/MH/CO in the past and thought the day time combination of flights with an overnight in TPE would be a jet lag buster - no 14 hour red eyes. I received good service all round with Eva on this occasion , crews were professional, planes clean and new, food and drinks service pleasant and more than adequate (good catering BNE-TPE TPE-BKK was mediocare but BKK-LHR excellent), even the transit service in TPE was well organised and more than adequate - you shouldnt expect the Hilton on a transit and the hotel was worn but comfortable. A bugbear did impact the trip - BR's scheduling TPE-BKK-LHR is unrealistic at best - negligent at worst - there is no way you will make a 2100 connection from LHR because there is no room for problems with weather or ATC BKK- LHR - they need to review this schedule because of the difference in performance 744-773ER and have not done so. I knew we could not make it - no BR flight has made LHR on time in months - so this was not good , I watched about 3 people I had met on the flight try to make connections - we gated at 20.40 and they did not make it. Why not admit defeat and realistically schedule the flight. Apart from that BR offered a pleasant and value for money service , when you book them watch their schedules - I will fly with them again, we arrived on time in TPE and 10 minutes late BKK - so its their LHR route that is the problem.

EVA Air review by D Nguyen
12 April 2006

SFO to SGN-SFO via TPE Business Class from SFO-TPE on 747-400 Combi was terrible. I cannot believe EVA even call those seats Business Class. The seat recline was bad - if the seat in front of you reclines, there is no way to get out if you are in the window seat. When the seat reclines, it's literally in your face, and there is no in-seat power. The meals were above average. But there is no mid way snack. On the 14 hours flight, there is only once the flight attendant offer water. The return also on Business on 747-400 Combi. The seating and service were unchanged. For those who want to fly business on the 747-400 Combi, do not waste your money - you can get better seats in the Evergreen Deluxe and better service. I did not have the luxury of the new 777 planes from EVA but on the 747-400, I'll never buy the business class.

EVA Air review by Bill Edwards
8 April 2006

EVA business on the London Bangkok run over the last few weeks. The cabin very pleasant. Flat seats are like Cathay / old-style Virgin models and business class is broken into two sections with the toilets and the and the galley in between. EVA has a 2x2x2 config. As ever with the flat but sloping seat, you tend to wake up crumpled down in the footwell - it feels to me like the seat slopes a bit more than others I’ve tried. Food is great - drinks service needs bit of work. You only get a soft drink when you board and the cabin attendant will take an order for a drink after take off. But my last flight was about half full and it took an age for my order to arrive, with the staff wandering up and down with one drink at a time. It won’t cost anything to fix this, so EVA should. Take care with the meal drinks too. They can be a bit quick to move on with the trolley! The other negative is that EVA isn’t in any major alliance, so you can’t use a One World or Star card. Big disadvantage because you can hardly use EVA as your sole carrier. Something else to fix. My travel agent tells me every time I book, Eva is not bonded, so if it goes bust after you’ve handed over your dosh, I guess that’s it. My wife took a trip to BKK in standard economy and that was pretty good too. Seats in a 3x3x3 config - the bottom cushion slides forward when you recline, so the backrest intrudes less on the person behind. EVA uses the SAS lounge at LHR (which is fine except for the ridiculous dial-up internet connection). EVA has its own lounge at BKK. It’s basically a room with seats, plants and free wireless internet.

EVA Air review by Ian Gleave
7 April 2006

Second time we've flown EVA air - the delux economy class. As usual, the wide seats and more leg room make it comfortable. Just bring a neck pillow as there's virtually no head support in the seats. My two major complaints are that EVA air just does not seem to get their inflight entertainment together. They start it far too late into the flight (do they think that passengers like sitting at one in the morning, staring at the cabin while waiting for dinner?). And I do wish that they would serve the wine either before, or with the dinner - not after they've served everyone meals then going through the cabin with wine. It's just a little fragmented. But, complaints aside, great value for the buck.

EVA Air review by David Anderman
7 April 2006

LAX - TPE on Super Business Class: rode the top side of a 747-400, which was the highlight. Unfortunately, SBC is a little elderly, as are the planes. The video system is not digital, so you have to like one of the four or five movies that happen to be on when you are watching (I ended up watching the navigation display most of the time I was awake). The seats don't seem very far apart (in terms of seat pitch) and don't recline that much. I had some difficulty in sleeping because the seat was just not that comfortable. The food was pretty good, too, and there was a reasonable choice of wines. I think the seat issue for such a long flight greatly affected my view of SBC. TPE - BKK on Premium Laurel Class was excellent! The digital video system was great, with movies on demand, the food was good. The seat was excellent - I was able to watch movies while lying on a nearly flat bed. The flight was the shortest 3 hour flight I ever had. Greatly recommended.

EVA Air review by Rachel Williams
7 April 2006

TPE-LON in economy class on B777. Food is excellent if a little bland, and cabin crew neither inattentive nor intrusive - they were around when you needed them. Aircraft obviously very clean, with reasonably comfortable seats even in coach class. Inflight entertainment excellent and movie selection fair, but too much emphasis on children's movies. Inflight audio is good and strongly disagree with Streb Lovell's comment above about using DJ's from Taiwan (have you ever turned on a radio there?) Verve inflight magazine mostly Chinese and Japanese, while there are too few English stories and too much airline hype. Contents okay but the design looks a bit amateurish. Duty free offerings slim for cigs and alcohol, but a good range of cosmetics and jewellery items. I don't know how may of the advertised items are actually available onboard though. Only big complaint is lavatories, which were pretty disgusting toward the end of the flight (had to hunt just to find a usable one).

EVA Air review by John Tseng
30 March 2006

TPE-Macau-TPE. The flight itself was very comfortable, flight attendant service was prompt and polite, and food was good. My return flight was actually Shanghai-Macau-Taipei but because of the current political situation there are no direct flights between Taiwan and mainland China. At the Shanghai Airlines check-in at Shanghai Airport I was informed all flights to and from Macau/HK to Taiwan were canceled because of a severe typhoon in Taiwan, and Eva Airways would take care of the canceled flights situation upon arrival in Macau. On board we received no information or announcements about who to contact regarding the canceled flight to Taipei. Once in Macau, no information either. Even worse there was no Eva Air representative working at the airline's check- in or information desks. Instead there was a small sign written only in Chinese about contacting Eva Air regarding the canceled flights to TPE. After getting through the customer helpline I was put on another flight leaving the next day for TPE on Eva Air. I understand Chinese, but I don't see how someone who isn't proficient in Chinese could've got through with customer service without some outside help.

EVA Air review by Chris Durber
26 March 2006

LHR-BKK-LHR Elite Class 777-300ER, absolutely awful! We flew the old Evergreen deluxe 2 years ago and thought this was going to be a vast improvement. The 'Elite' Cabin is now midway over the wing so very much noisier, the service was terrible, two lukewarm drinks offered over 12 hrs! The IFE packed up after 1hr on the outbound flight and 2 hrs on the return journey. The Seats are narrower, advertised as 38" legroom but feels a lot less, the cabin environment cramped and dull and airless. EVA really have let themselves down with their new product. Seat recline minimal, food outbound edible, return journey bordering on unedible! The IFE box makes it difficult to stretch your legs, no footrest, the so called 'free form' seats are rock hard. This combined with their fares rocketing - my advice avoid! EVA are no longer the 'cheap and comfortable' way to fly for 12hrs to Bangkok. We were very very dissapointed.

EVA Air review by Linda Ashworth
25 March 2006

We have just returned from Bangkok. We paid an upgrade fee to travel in their elite class. However the seats were no bigger than in economy, they were like the seats found by the exits in economy the only difference was they had a foot rest. The seats were very hard and pinched your thighs unless you are tiny. Food was not bad however their service left much to be desired. The water they gave you was warm and the drinks round was only once. We have travelled other premium economy and they were 200% better than this. We would suggest that you do not pay an upgrade fee as on both our flights economy was less than half full.

EVA Air review by Peter Bruce
25 March 2006

LHR-BKK-LHR. First trip on the new 777-ER and unfortunately not impressed. We flew 'Elite', the equivalent of Evergreen Deluxe on the old 747 service. The seats were comfortable, but to my mind were slightly narrower than the old seats. Legrest was a great improvement and generally the seating was comfortable. The 'recline' position was much better on these seats and when the seat in front was fully reclined there seemed to be more space. IFE, whilst having a greater selection and VOD, seemed to be full of unexpected 'features' - probably better known as 'bugs' and was infuriating. The Elite cabin was noisier (being adjacent to the wing and engines) and was more cramped than the 747 - in my opinion not a good environment. Nevertheless we had a good flight out, speedy check-in, good food, reasonable service. The return flight, however, was not so good. The food and service was terrible! This included brown lettuce in a warm 'cold' starter, cool 'hot' food, dried up food, warm white wine, poor service - all in all the worst EVA flight that I have taken. A note of caution to those who enjoy window seats. Rows 21 and 24 have no main window and views in other seats are severely restricted by the positioning of the cabin over the wing.

EVA Air review by Henry Osserman
18 March 2006

EWR to TPE Super First Class Round-Trip. What they lack such as updated seating and IFE, they make up for in things like a 200% mileage bonus for First Class travel (even if only on Continental), a good lounge in Asia (Premium Laurel Garden), as well as using the British Airways terrace lounges at EWR and SEA. Super First Class (as they call it) is in the forward upper-deck of a 747 which made it very peaceful. Very large lavatory which was kept clean rather well throughout flight. Word is their new 777's will take over US & European destinations. No more Super First but their Premium laurel is comfortable in the new Business Class seats I have tried.

EVA Air review by Michael Kinghorn
15 March 2006

LHR-BKK-LHR. Not quite sure how EVA Air made it as a 4-Star airline. I think even 3-stars would be a little too generous! Give them credit where its due, they did upgrade us to Evergreen Deluxe for free on the return journey, but their inflight service leaves a lot to be desired. The 747 which flew us out of Heathrow was a tatty 'Combi' aircraft - half cargo, half passenger. It had clearly seen better days and as we shook down the runway, the air conditioning panel above me fell off and cut my hand. The crew didn't seem to bothered by the incident, took the piece of plastic off of me and started their dismal cabin service. The contents of the meal couldn't be identified. It was a total mystery. But whatever meat it was, it was chewy, grissly and undercooked. Cabin staff were miserable and not willing to help. Even a request for a glass of water was a chore for the staff. EVA doesn't offer PTVs in economy on its 747s, but for our upgrade to Evergreen Deluxe on the return flight, we did have one. Both of the TVs didn't work and the crew were not willing to reset the system as it was unfair to the other passengers. After much bribing of champagne, shopping vouchers, discount vouchers etc, we received an upgrade to Business Class. What an experience and a totally different quality of service, but even so, it wasn't fantastic. Meals were marginally better and the crew did smile (occasionally).

EVA Air review by Alex Dunn
15 March 2006

LHR BKK Return biz class, excellent legroom, food stretches to 7 courses. Managed to sleep for 6-7 hours then woken up to another lengthy meal. Upgraded to First on the way back which appears to be no different, except for the food and champagne.

EVA Air review by Dave Worley
9 March 2006

LHR-BKK-LHR on 777. Premium Laurel outbound, "Elite" inbound. Outbound, Premium Laurel was excellent. Seats comfortable, slept for hours. Food and drinks very good. Highly recommended and a big improvement on Super Business Class. Inbound, Elite class proved very poor. It's touted as an upgraded Evergreen Deluxe, but frankly it was nowhere near as good as ED used to be in the 747's. The seat depth has been reduced and so now cuts into the back of your thighs, neatly cutting down blood flow. Seats are also harder, there is now no footrest and the recline has been reduced. It used to be possible to get comfy enough to sleep - not any more. It's a real shame, but EVA have spoiled what was a great product. The wife and I shall not be flying Elite again in future.

EVA Air review by Maureen Taylor
9 March 2006

LHR-BKK. & return. Boeing 777 in Premium Laurel was fantastic. The seats were the best we`ve ever had. One slight niggle - the food both ways was only just warm. We had never heard of EVA Air before but shall travel with them again.

EVA Air review by Steve Chalker
26 February 2006

LHR-BKK-LHR Premium Laurel Class. Everything about this flight was so much better than expected. I am 6ft 4in and I could lie straight on the angled 'flat' beds. The food was the best I have had and included a 7 course lunch on leaving BKK. The designers have also thought about little things like coat hooks on seat backs and specially designed storage holes for water bottles. I agree with others about drinks not being topped up but with the 'bar' area it is good to get up a stretch your legs. My only complaint is the EVA idea of a timetable. With the inbound flight from BKK only given 12hrs 40mins gate to gate it is often late arriving at LHR - 90mins in our case - and therefore always late departing LHR.

EVA Air review by Streb Lovell
26 February 2006

TPE-SIN rt in Deluxe Class. Cabin clean but looking a little dated. All other cabin classes were packed, but there were rows of empty seats in Deluxe Class. Has Deluxe Class fallen out of popularity? Cabin crew very professional and attentive and never disappeared - why bother flying on any US airline in Asia? On time departures and arrivals. Biggest gripe - -their inflight magazine is a joke. Their audio entertainment is too obviously outsourced. There are plenty of good, English-speaking DJs in Taiwan who could lead a Western music show. How about injecting a little local flavor into it?

EVA Air review by Stephen Lloyd
15 February 2006

London-Bangkok-London in Business class. Eva Air was a new airline for me, booked by my firm because of cost. Preflight seats booked and meals chosen by the internet. You get a wider choice booking online for food. My special meal was excellent although the veg on the outward leg was a little overdone. Seating and cabin excellent - both flights had the angled lie-flat seats - not horizontal but comfortabl. Entertainment system is good - superb Schneisser headphones help. The service was variable. This is not an airline that brought drinks out quickly, or checked for refills. Walking to the crew area was a good reason for exercise and drinks served there. The return flight had a visible supervisor onboard and drink flow increased.

EVA Air review by David Chinn
10 February 2006

LHR-BKK-LHR Premium Laurel Class. First time in the 777 on this route and impressed by the new Premium Laurel setup. Good seat that is angled- flat and plenty of room - huge improvement on old J/F classes. Outbound, my wife's seat failed to recline electrically and the crew had to manoeuvre it manually. Food is better than the previous offering and 5 FAs looked after our cabin of 24 seats. FA's seemed friendlier than in the past. AVOD fine but not as much choice as say Emirates. Our baggage was tagged through to our final Thai destination but it ended up on the carousel at BKK where I spotted it by a sheer fluke and rescued it. Return flight fine regarding service but spoilt by a 5 year-old child from hell whose parents just didn't care and FA's didn't attempt to do anything about it.

EVA Air review by John Hall
10 February 2006

LHR-BKK-LHR Economy. Flew the new 777 which has light cabin with comfortable seats. The inflight entertainment was excellent and was AVOD with a good selection of films and TV programs. Seats reclined to a good angle for Economy. FAs excellent and visible throughout the flight and passed through the cabin with drinks on a regular basis. We were provided a snack in the night. Breakfast better than the dinner but still not very good. The return flight as good as outward but with improved food. EVA Air provide a great service, however there is room for improvement with the food.

EVA Air review by Ned Hopkins
10 February 2006

SFO-CKS-SGN return. Business class except for SGN-TPE, business was overbooked and upgraded to 1st. SFO-CKS and CKS-SFO were on a 747-400 combi. CKS-SGN vv on a 757 - business class seat as good as any; the 1st class was ideal. Planes were clean and comfortable. Fast and courteous check-in (with e-ticket) and decent lounges in SFO and SGN. The lounge in CKS is huge and very crowded both times I visited. The array of snacks and drinks is limited in SFO and SGN, but enormous in CKS Service and food onboard were fine - prompt and attentive without being obtrusive.

EVA Air review by Anthony Tsai
8 February 2006

HNL-TPE-KHH. HNL-TPE Airbus 330-200 was used. Their economy seats are more comfortable compared to EVA's Boeing 747-400. The reclining angle is acceptable. However it is hard to fall sleep, because the seats is too hard. Every economy passenger have a personal TV with AVOD system. However, the channels are very limited. In the same token, some channels wasn't accessible. There is a lot to be desired with inflight meals - horrible. Do not pick a seat at the exit row (row 40) or nearby, because it is very noisy. Next time I will try JAL if I fly to HNL again!

EVA Air review by Vincent Wang
6 February 2006

Apparently the TPE-SYD-TPE will cease to operate in around March. That means the only way to go to Taipei/Sydney will be through China Airlines.

EVA Air review by Oliver Michell
26 January 2006

LHR-BNE/SYD-LHR in Premium Laurel. They are great in the air, but poor on the ground. We flew the new 777 to Taipei then changed to the Airbus, both in the new Premium Laurel business class. Seats comfy, but not horizontal. Crew very helpful and served quality meals and drinks. (Especially liked the freshly brewed coffee to order). If you have to overnight in Taipei, avoid the transit hotel - it is poor and the choice of meals in the airport very limited - also the EVA Air Executive lounge is shabby and offers little choice. Apart from that, will use Eva again, due to competitive pricing, and quality onboard.

EVA Air review by Bryan Savage
21 January 2006

Business class LHR - BKK for new year. Very good seats on new 777 and nicely presented meals. However the inflight entertainment very limited, and crew not very attentive at filling your glass up - had to keep getting up and filling it myself from the galley. The inflight self- serve yourself salad bar is just a bowl of lettuce!! My companion is veggie - inflight snacks (sandwiches) all had meat in them. I did venture down to economy where they had cheese sandwiches, but they wouldn't let me have one for my veggie friend - they said they were for economy passengers only (snobbery in reverse).

EVA Air review by Herman van den Akker
21 January 2006

We fly EVA from AMS-BKK vice versa. Sometimes economy, sometimes Evergreen deluxe. Staff is friendly, seats okay, food okay - sometimes even good!! And the cheapest direct flight from Amsterdam to Bangkok. Negative - upgrade from economy to evergreen with our silver card is always a struggle, many times couldn't get it and lost our expiring miles.

EVA Air review by Goh Pui Kiat
18 January 2006

SIN-TPE-LAX-TPE-SIN first class on EVA air - very old aircraft, very old rundown seats. However, attentive and friendly FAs. Has anybody mentioned that the first class lounge for EVA at CKS airport is awesome? Good restaurant like open atmosphere and delicious pork ball soup made me wished I had a longer stopover! Taiwanese porridge was delicious. Amenity kit is standard with a box like container which is re-usable for toiletries. LAX needs a major upgrading. Tom Bradley Terminal is a disgrace. On my return trip, LAX lounges are impossible. All full and even partner lounges are packed out. Was diverted to Anchorage, Alaska for refuelling - strong headwinds?? As a result missed my connection in TPE and had to travel to KUL for onward connection to SIN. The KL first class MAS lounge is great. EVA has very good food, good attentive FAs, reasonable fares.

EVA Air review by Dennis Freeman
10 January 2006

Usually fly Deluxe Class as it is the best comfort for value from Seattle to Hong Kong. (Taipei) Decided to try their Business Class on a flight in December 05. Paid approx $3000.00 for a R/T. Aircraft was a 747-400. Very disappointing as the seating, which is upstairs, is not any better than their Deluxe Class which is in the front section of the aircraft. Business Class consists of about 16 seats (2x2 single isle). The seats are about the same as those of a typical 737 short haul domestic first class seat. Same it seems, for the 8 First Class seats. All in all, don't waste your money on Business or First Class on EVA's 747-400 configurations; at least those from Seattle to Taipei.