Duringmy long journey to Abu Dhabi, I had a roughly four hour layover at Taipei Taoyuan Airport (TPE). I was arriving from Houston in EVA Air’s 777 business class, and was departing for Hong Kong in EVA Air’s 787 business class.
Continue reading: Review: EVA Air Infinity Lounge Taipei Airport (TPE)
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
EVA's branding for their business class, sorta like how BA calls their business class "First Class".
The lounge is really the most disappointing part of the airline, it needs an upgrade asap, I can't think of any "five star" airlines that have worst lounge than EVA, especially at their main hub, even Cathay which only operates a tiny hub in TPE have a better lounge. The infinity and the star are basically the same lounge, they should close one and start renovating. I hope they aren’t waiting for the new terminal, which gods know when it will open. BTW the garden one is also open for a couple AMEX cards like the Centurion and the EVA Platinum Card.
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- BA Business is Club World / Club Suites / Club Europe - I have never seen BA call their Business Class "First Class"
- BA First is BA First
I hate the signage for airport lounges. When there’s an up arrow right next to an elevator but all along the up arrow meant to keep walking straight not go up the elevator to the wrong lounge.
Americans like making fun of BA First Class when their own domestic version of Premium Economy is also called First….
I'm not American, but I do find the US and Europe both quite cute, for what they pass off as domestic "first class" or intra-European "business class". I just didn't want to make a long winded joke, no one likes that.
Lucky, how was your transit experience in TPE? Did you have to go through transit security since you were arriving from the US?
I thought I read an announcement that transit pax from the US did not have to go through transit security. If this was the case for you, do you remember how long it took you from the time you deplaned the aircraft to get to the departure/gate level? I'm assuming it was quick, no?
@ LOA -- Indeed, there's no transit security when arriving from the United States, which is great. I was in the terminal within seconds, and then you can easily proceed to any gate from there. The only challenge I had was finding the lounge.
Hmm, I don't know I was totally underwhelmed by the Silver Kris Lounge by Singapore Air at their Changi hub, especially after such a great in flight experience. I believe it is the lesser terminal (not close to Jewel) but it had 0 windows (external or internal) which is just a huge turnoff for myself and the Mrs. Food was good but the atmosphere was that of a non-hub US domestic lounge...gasp! 🙂
That's great to hear.
I'll be transiting through TPE T2 later this month, separate tix from JX1 to BR (to HKG) with a 1.5hr connection. I think as long as my inbound is not severely delayed and BR l gives me an app boarding pass, i should me fine.
But yes, I agree with finding lounges. I was there in September and had similar issues finding the lounges. :/
Isn't the play in TPE if you're flying EVA to use your credit card lounge access (if you have the right combination) to go to the Plaza Premium lounge?
This looks, uh, better than the TRON style EVA has going in The Infinity?
Hi Ben! I think British Airways made some devaluations on its chart for American Airlines flights. I always booked MIA-EGE for 11k Avios +5,60, now the price is 14.5k Avios + 5,60.....
@david when does British Airways ever call business class, first class? Get your facts right. Business is Club and first is First. You are getting things mixed up with US carriers calling first, First class when it's only Premium Economy.
I flew in March from jfk and I had to go thru transit security. Just throwing that out there. Maybe it varies?
Skip the Bombay and sip the hidden gem in the liquor list.
The cognac is worth USD150.00
Leyrat XO Hors D'Age Cognac
My sentiments, exactly. For a flagship lounge, it's a shame that EVA can't do better than this. There's nothing luxurious about this lounge, it's always crowded in the evening when their flights to various USA airports leave around the same time. However, their food is quite decent so I always dine in this lounge and then go next door to SQ Kris Lounge which is always empty.
The last time I was there in September (flying United Polaris), where I had access to the Infinity, the attendants gently suggested I use The Club instead (the lounge for EVA’s lower tier elite members) because of overcrowding at the Infinity.
The Infinity hasn’t changed in over a decade when I first flew EVA Royal Laurel class. Really disappointing.
Actually the most impressive lounge in TPE is Cathay's lounge, which has recently re-opened. All the rest are really nothing to write home about.
the transit security waiver for US inbound pax was implemented recently...maybe a month or so ago.
It really is remarkable how one of the world’s best airlines, which I’ve had my best three J flights on, and is a solid 5 star carrier in the air can have what I consider a 3 star flagship lounge. I agree with JW in GA below that SQ has some subpar lounges but nothing is as disconnected from the airline’s premium experience as EVA’s lounges. Only the Movenpick ice cream and consistent availabilty of showers differentiate it from a The Club lounge in the US. It’s really sad.
That makes sense. I recently transit through TPE from SFO and didn’t have to go through security. But on my return trip from KIX through TPE to SFO, I had to go through transit security (which was fast anyway) and I was wondering why. Thanks for the explanation.
In September I flew the same IAH-TPE flight with a connection to TPE-BKK, and there was no transit security involved.
The plaza premium and oriental club lounge are better options. They were assigning seats when I went to the EVA lounge at 630am. The food options are horrible.
You probably could've checked The Star as well, since business class passengers are usually free to choose between the two lounges (Eva considers a business class ticket to be higher than Star Alliance Gold status). The experience is just the same though, the only difference being a more traditional design instead of the "space theme".
A few days ago I checked out The Club for the first time and it was really a pleasant experience. While the other lounges were packed, The Club was pretty much empty and the waiting list for the shower had only one person before me, while we would talk about hours in The Infinity. It's a tiny lounge but so much nicer experience.
That would be the Terminal 2 Lounge, which caters to mostly regional flights and hasn't been upgraded for at least a decade. The Terminal 3 lounge is much bigger and has tarmac views. If you have time, you could go to the Terminal 3 via the monorail next time. The only drawback is that the T3 lounge gets packed during peak hours whereas the Terminal 2 lounge usually doesn't.
Interesting. I was suggested to go to the Club when I checked into the Infinity with my United Polaris boarding pass. I declined to go to the Club because I knew it was for lower tier elites and wanted the "better" lounge that I was entitled to. I did wonder at the time what the Club would be like, but I only had a short-ish stay so just stayed at the Infinity.
I'm surprised you didn't pick up the 2 years of Singapore Star Gold from the promotion for transferring 250K credit card points in last year.
@ Bgriff -- I did, but that was a couple of years ago, and the status just recently expired.
The Inifinity lounge is busy during the 11 pm bank of flights to the US. The lounge check in gave passengers an option to use the Star lounge, which shares a common check in desk.
The Club has comfortable seats and some "garden" style decoration. It's tiny and it is open to one side bringing in some noise from downstairs. Food options I think are slightly less, but good enough for me (in the end, I'm always full enough from the business class menus and don't need more than snacks in the lounge).
It only has one single shower room, but that's good enough with almost nobody in there. Of course it has toilets too.
I think at the busiest time there were around 10 people.
Overall I would always prefer to stay there, if only it would be open all day and not just during peak hours.
The Garden is the lounge reserved for Diamond Club members. That is the BEST LOUNGE in Asia. Surprised they didn't try to let you in and enjoy it. They served Din Tai Fung meals here. The Star and The Infinity is crowded, not as bad as UA Lounge in ORD. But the Garden is never all the crowded and the service is impeccable. That is the biggest attraction to keep Diamond membership.
In East Asia convenience store doesn't carry a bad reputation like in US…… So the offering is not surprising, probably even intentional.
I stay away from US 7-11 as far as possible…… Unless Chase Offer has a gas station offer :p
Hi,
Can i access any lounges in Taipei airport for my layover? I have a premium economy class ticket via Eva Air. Thank you!
I’m in TPE right now (September 2024) and things have changed.
I started in SQ and moved to the Infinity lounge for some Movempick ice cream.
Food is better, 2 choices of white wine and 2 choices of red wine (compared with 1 of each in SQ), better food, more space and it was really quiet in the EVA lounge.
Maybe it gets more busy at certain times but in this head to head experience I’d go to EVA infinity first.
Terrible lounge. Tons of people and proper food temperature is a bit dubious. I ate it anyway so I'll lyk if I have food poisoning (can't be worse than Taiwan street food though lol).
Side note - their Japanese A5 wagyu on board was RIDICULOUSLY good. Should've saved my stomach for that.