REVIEW – EVA Air and Thai Airways Business Class Lounges, Bangkok Airport
August 25, 2016
Sun, Snow and Sushi – One Week, OneWorld F Round The World
September 1, 2016
EVA Air (BR)
- Flight: BR 67
- Class: Business
- From: Bangkok (BKK)
- To: London (LHR)
- Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER
- Seat: 9A
- Date: October 2014
Unfortunately for EVA Air our final flight made it 4 for 4 in terms of delays. Although generally speaking I find that most flights nowadays both short and long-haul are at least somewhat delayed. This is a trend which has really been increasing of late. Come to think of it, given the complexity of some of my itineraries, I’m lucky that I’ve yet to misconnect. Although thanks to FlyerTalk I have a good idea of what to do, should that day ever come.
You’ve already seen the seat, the PJs and the amenity kit on my review of the outbound flight so I’ll concentrate on the differences between day and night flights between LHR and BKK.
Once service began, I asked for a glass of Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame. This time the rice crackers were served in a bowl rather than a packet. Very premium.
What followed was an epicurean mega-banquet, the likes of which I’ve seldom witnessed on a plane.
Course 1: Starter
The first course was a crab timbale topped with chopped avocado, Ikura (salmon roe) and sweet potato. It was spectacular.
Course 2: Soup
Next came a cream of zucchini soup
Course 3: Salad
This was followed by a crisp, fresh garden salad with peppers and cherry tomatoes with a balsamic dressing.
Course 4: The Main Course
I opted for the massaman chicken curry with wild rice and vegetables. The chicken was pretty well cooked and only very slightly dry. Which on an airplane is high praise indeed.
Courses 5 and 6: Fruit and Cheeses
I opted for the fruit, excellent local Asian choices: dragon fruit and pomelo. Two of my favourites!
The fruit served as a palate cleanser to accompany my blue cheese. This was served with water biscuits, dried apricot, almonds, carrot and celery. I washed this down with a generous pour ot Taylors’ Port.
Course 7: Dessert
The finale came by way of a trio of desserts: Creme Brûlée, Raspberry meringue and Apple crumble pie. They were all ridiculously good, although at this point, given my pre-pre breakfast at The Landis in Taipei; pre-breakfasts in the TPE airport lounges; my champagne dim sum breakfast on the TPE-BKK flight; the noodles and dim sum in the BKK lounges and the six courses I had just consumed on board immediately preceding this one, I was in danger of this happening:
My solution?
One of these:
Followed by one of these:
I managed to sleep for around 5 hours and woke up to see the beginning of a sunset which was prolonged by several hours as a result of the fact that we were headed West.
What an amazing sight to wake up to. The engines on a 777 are absolutely enormous. I felt utterly dwarfed by the power this beast was generating.
Despite waking up inordinately full, I also knew that it would be a few months until I had the chance to go all out and indulge in vintage champagne and food served to my bed. So I decided to plough ahead with the breakfast:
I made my way through pretty much all of it whilst leaving most of the congee behind…
…I had my next full size meal some days later.
Conclusion
So what did I learn from this weeklong trip to Bali, Bangkok and Taipei?
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- When required to do so, I will develop the digestive habits of a serpent, consuming a weeks worth of food in a day in order to get the required pictures for a flight review
- Taipei is more of a sleepy town than a thriving, energetic city
- Bali is awesome. Better than the hype. Definitely somewhere worth returning to.
- EVA Air has the best food and beverages of any airline I’ve ever flown in Business Class. The service is varied but capable of being excellent. The seat is second only to SQ and the amenities are second to none in business class, as well as being an improvement on the first class offerings of a number of airlines.
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- Part 1:
- LHR Terminal 2 Lounges
- Part 2:
- EVA Air: Royal Laurel – London to Bangkok
- Part 3:
- Peninsula Bangkok
- Part 4:
- Thai Airways and Singapore Airlines: Business Class Lounges – Bangkok Airport
- Part 5:
- Thai Air: Business Class – Bangkok to Denpasar
- Part 6:
- Bali – An Overview
- Part 7:
- Villa Shamballa Ubud
- Part 8:
- Monkey Forest Ubud
- Part 9:
- Alila Villas Uluwatu I (Arrival to Nightfall)
- Part 10:
- Alila Villas Uluwatu II (Sunrise to Departure)
- Part 11:
- Denpasar Premier Lounge – Denpasar Airport
- Part 12:
- EVA Air: Premium Laurel – Denpasar to Taipei
- Part 13:
- Taipei Sights and a Weird French Style Asian Art Deco Hotel
- Part 14:
- EVA Air: Business Class Lounges – Taipei Airport Lounges
- Part 15:
- EVA Air: Royal Laurel – Taipei to Bangkok
- Part 16:
- EVA Air and Thai Airways: Business Class Lounges – Bangkok Airport
- Part 17:
- EVA Air: Royal Laurel – Bangkok to London
