The Pavilion Says: EVA Air's long-haul business class is of great value, but still far from perfect (BR/C/SEA-TPE-HKG)

In the last post, I wrote that I took a trip to the States last summer, and I took EVA's business class in the return sector. I used 62,500 Avianca Lifemiles to redeem this award. (When I redeemed my miles, it was before Avianca devalued their award chart; now they charge 75,000 miles for one-way trip between North America and North Asia) I will introduce Avianca Lifemiles as well as other frequent flyer programs to you in later posts, so stay tuned!

Flight Information:
EVA Air (BR) flight 25
Seattle (SEA) - Taipei (TPE)
Departing at 02:10 on Aug 14th, 2014
Royal Laurel Class seat 9D

Flight Route

We arrived at Seattle/Tacoma airport at approximately 11 pm. It was quite funny when we were checking in; although the check-in agent was Chinese/Taiwanese, and she remained speaking English to us after we handed in our Chinese passport. When she was giving us boarding passes, she suddenly asked "do you speak Chinese?" We said, "of course." Then we began communicating in Chinese... 

Anyway, check-in was fast, and the lady who helped us was friendly and helpful in giving us the directions to the British Airways lounge, which EVA Air used, and we got our boarding pass and lounge invitation within minutes.

Seattle Airport

EVA Check-in counter

Boarding Pass

Then we passed security and went to the lounge. It is worth noting that SEA did not have a dedicated security lane for premium passengers that day. 

Can you find my flight? (Yes, yes, I realize this is a tricky one...)

Taking a train to our gates

As I have mentioned before, EVA uses British Airways lounge for their flights. The BA lounge was good in US standards. The lounge is not very large, but there are very few people (given that only passengers on BR25 are using this lounge), and the lounge feels quite comfortable. There are not many dinning options aside from cookies, sandwiches and cup noodles, but I guess no one is especially hungry at 1 am...

British Airways Lounge SEA Airport

Boarding started on time, and as a business class passenger, I got priority boarding, which is enforced effectively at SEA.

Boarding starts

This is the first time for me to fly in a reverse herringbone business class, so I was quite excited when I stepped into the cabin. (I was also excited that EVA did not change the plane into a 747, which does not feature fully flat seats) Per Seatgruru, there are 38 business class seats in a 1-2-1 layout, and each seat has direct aisle access.

My seat

Personal in-flight entertainment system

Seat controls & Storage

Those seats were comfortable and wide, and can give each passenger more privacy than other normal fully flat seats. So far, my first impression of EVA Air was very positive.

However, there are some downsides of this seat. There are not enough storage area, and I find it quite painful not able to use the entertainment system during taxi, take-off and landing since you are required to "fold" the screen during these occasions.

Magazine, in-flight entertainment system guide, and duty free catalog

One of the biggest 'highlights" of EVA's business class is the Rimova amenity kit they offer.

Welcome drink and Rimova (!) amenity kits

Then, menu was distributed and dinner order was taken. EVA allows its business class passengers to pre-order the main course of their meal online in advance. In this case I ordered a creamy seafood rice, which was not in the menu.

The menu reads as follows: (I did not take a photo of the English version of the menu, so below is the translation from the Chinese menu, which I will not include a picture in this post)

Light Dinner

Prawn & crab salad

Roasted steak with vegetables

or

Sweat & sour fish with rice

Seasonal fruits and dessert

Coffee and tea

or

Star Menu - enjoy more rest time by choosing Star Menu

A selection of appetizers

Chicken noodle

Coconut & pork meat soup

Seasonal fruits and dessert

Coffee and tea

Breakfast

Fruit juice, coffee and tea

Chinese style breakfast

Traditional Taiwanese appetizers, porridge, stir-fried chicken, fried egg

Fruit

or

Western style breakfast

Fruit

A selection of bakery

Breakfast cereals and yogurt

Egg omelette with bacon

or

Texas style toast 

Basically, you can choose between "light dinner" and "star menu" for the meal after take-off, and you can choose between Chinese and Western style breakfast for the meal before arrival.

After the flight attendants confirmed to me that I have pre-ordered my meal, dinner service started. The salad was great. The main course was edible, but it was too creamy for me, and for a meal at 3 am. The fruit tastes awful and was among one of the worst I have ever had on an airplane. Fortunately, the dessert, which was a Tiramisu cake, was good.

The service during dinner was okay. One odd thing I noticed is that the menu did not indicate which the dessert was specifically, nor did the flight attendants. 

Main course

Dessert and fruits

Overall, the dinner was a little below my expectation, which, considering the timing, was not high in the first place.

Then I got rested for about five to six hours. I slept very well, among one of the best I have ever had in an airplane.

After waking up, I requested a cappuccino, which was served after a few minutes. I have heard good things about EVA's cappuccino, but this one has a rather strange flavor, and is lower than the quality than a Starbucks one.

It is also worth noting that EVA's entertainment system was quite extensive.

(To be continued...)