REVIEW – EVA Air: Royal Laurel Business Class – Taipei to Bangkok (B77W)

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We boarded around 30 minutes late and were greeted by a surprisingly friendly crew.

Only water or juice was available as a PDB we both just took water and busied ourselves reading through the menus.

Although no amenity kits and PJs were provided for this short 1500 mile hop, I was surprised to find that the full premium drinks list was on offer once we were in the air. What better way to prepare yourself for breakfast than with some Japanese rice crackers and a glass of Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame?

The breakfast service began with a prawn, some salmon tartare and a delicious layered vegetable mousse. Although tablecloths were placed directly on our tables the food was served on trays rather than being hand delivered. Given the time constraints on this flight that’s understandable.

I pre-ordered the dim sum breakfast online and this was confirmed by one of the FAs before breakfast began. She was very chatty and friendly. “You ordered the dim sum? I’m surprised, usually only Taiwanese people order this. You like Chinese food?”
“Yes, although I’m already a bit full from all the Taiwanese dumplings in the lounge.”
“Oh really, they’re my favourite! I hope you enjoy the dim sum, I think you made an excellent choice! Can I get you more champagne?”
“Absolutely!”

After the mechanical and slightly abrasive service on the LHR-BKK flight I was really happy to experience this higher level of interaction. It is nice to see crews going out of their way to engage with customers, rather than running through the motions. Were it not for the friendly crew on this segment I may have been tempted to relegate EVA Air to the sub-stratum inhabited by mainland Chinese airlines. As it turns out, the crew on EVA Air are just like those on BA: if they can be bothered they’re great, they can just be inconsistent sometimes.

This was my first experience of a one stop flight. I was surprised at how brisk and efficient the process was. Although the briskness was more a matter of circumstances than anything else, given our late departure from TPE.

We had less than an hour in Bangkok before getting back on the plane and continuing on to London.

We were instructed to remove all of our belongings from the aircraft and were given laminated transit cards. We then made our way to a security screening checkpoint where the transit cards were taken and our hand luggage scanned.

After the checkpoint we took an escalator upstairs to the departures level of Suvarnabuhmi airport…

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