I was originally supposed to have an almost three hour layover in Taipei, as my flight from Los Angeles was scheduled to arrive at 5AM, while the connection was supposed to depart at 7:50AM. However, due to the significant delay, we only arrived at 6:35AM, meaning my connection was a bit over an hour. On…
Continue reading: Review: China Airlines Lounge Taipei
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The First Class part of the lounge is also used by China Airlines Emerald and Paragon members.
The main lounge at TPE is much nicer, though is seemingly less well-known. It also tends to be more on-par with F lounges as there's an actual menu and dining options like you'd experience at the Concorde Room, for example. The interior is also much more chic. Service is incredibly attentive and food/drink are presented very well. It's definitely a place where you'd want to spend some time before a flight and actually make a point to arrive early.
Keep in mind there are actually 3 lounges - you visited the older, yet-to-be-renovated lounge. The main lounge is reviewed below, as is the lounge reserved for Dynasty Flyer and Sky Team elites. The lounge you visited and that reserved for the top tier elites are nothing to write home about. You definitely missed out.
I compared the beef noodle soup at the lounges of China Airlines, Eva Air, and Cathay Pacific in TPE. I would rated them as 1) Cathay, 2) China Airlines, 3) Eva Air. I actually feel Cathay has the best business class lounge at TPE. It's new, huge, and never crowded. They give you the buzzer when your noodle is ready, which makes it a bit better prepared than China Airline's noodle bar. The chair for lounging is extremely comfortable.
Could the first class section also be used for other airlines that use the CI lounge and have first class (SQ,KE, etc., though not sure if they have first class to/from m TPE)?
I'm not sure if other passengers flying Skyteam first class flights can use it. When the CX lounge was undergoing renovation I was given access to the CI business class lounge while flying CX F. I tried to get into the F section of the lounge but was chased down by an attendant. I wasn't impressed by what I saw. The F section was small and the buffet selection was way smaller than the business section. I can't comment on the a la carte dining but I'm guessing it's not something special. I think overall CI lounge is good, but not out of this world. The buffet section is a little bit better than CX but CX has a better noodle bar.
What kind of travel blogger does not walk 15 minutes (to T1) to check out the new nice CI lounge?
I was just in the T1 China airlines lounge a couple weeks ago cause I was flying Emrities business class. The lounge is gorgeous. Lots of seating and some long tables in the back. I arrived at 9pm and was starving so I was looking forward to the food. Very unimpressed. I ended up eating just a little.
What kind of travel gourmet blogger stopped at CI's noodle bar and skipped their beef noodle?
The lounge you did not visit is the better of the two ( the third is only accessible to CI status members). The one you didn't visit has a far superior selection of food, is less crowded, better bathrooms/showers. No natural light but a much more pleasant than the dungeon covered in this review.
Interesting review especially a part "I don’t recall ever seeing so many people approach a gate area at once… perhaps there was a large tour group, or something." Can you write an article on observations how you see people travel from different parts of the world. It seems in a lot of Asian cultures they bring everyone in their family.
I'm surprised to see Cargolux listed for lounge access. Even if it's for crews, wouldn't their flights leave from the freighter terminal?
@lucky
The sign you pictured says "Handling for" and the list of airlines there is the list of airlines that CI does ground handling for at TPE. They absolutely do not all use the CI lounge. Most of Star uses the EVA Lounge except for Air China who uses the CI lounge and SQ who has their own lounge. I'm not sure who MH/PR uses and Cargolux obviously has no passengers.
The CX lounge at TPE was really nice...huge too (probably their second biggest station after HKG, so makes sense). Noodle bar was excellent too. In truth, Cathay is very good at making sure outstation lounges are nice for the most part. Would be interesting to compare noodle offerings with CI (and BR too).
There's a new plaza premium lounge in the airport that just opened a month ago...it actually has much better food than what Eva and China airline have offered...I know it's surprising but it's true at least when we visited couple of weeks ago when not many people knew about it..and their beef noodle soup..much better than China airline surprisingly. If anyone stop by Taipei...try this lounge and you won't regret.
Two other lounges you did not visit are one in T2 4th floor near immigration for top elite and new lounge in T1. I like the elite lounge better, followed by the one you visit in D4 due to better food and lighting design. However, I actually used T1 lounge the most due to my flight mostly out of T1 and I Can tell everyone this is not a very good one if you use often. You will have a good first impression but once you use it on weekly basis you will find out nothing here were designed for passengers. Just purely for design.
The CI lounge at T1 has better hardware but the food isn't that great. The one at T2 serves too many airlines. I went there once..... but decided to go to Plaza Premium instead.
embarrassing t2 lounge---- like LAX's korean air "business" class "lounge" mistake. Salty taco chips, salsa, old fruit, and crap coffee. Who would pay thousands for this mistake of poor quality nothing.
Have been to EVA's lounge numerous time, and first time in Cl lounge. Not sure why but it feels like the people are more rude here, a young kid running around, people play videos out loud instead of using earphones - what's going on. The Plaza premium next door is quieter and serves nicer food.
I took the TPE-LAX flight on 5/19/2018, and this main T2 concourse-level lounge has been closed for renovation until 9/2018. According to CI’s website this started just a few days prior on 5/16/2018. At business class check-in, we were invited to use CI’s Supreme lounge on T2 Level 4, visible from immigration.
A priority for my traveling partner and I was to take showers after a full day in the city. Upon arriving at the lounge and inquiring about this, we were informed there was only one shower available with 8 people on the list 2 hours before our flight departure. Assuming no one else gave up, we were not going to make it. Perhaps not surprising considering three transpacific flights (LAX/SFO/YVR) departing from T2. Asked about other options, the staff noted that there is a free shower available nearby maintained by the airport, but that towels need to be purchased from a nearby store. In retrospect, they could have proactively offered towels for us to borrow, and perhaps if guests ask this is possible. Next we asked if we could use the main lounge in T1, which we knew has two showers from a visit earlier in the week. They said it was possible but cautioned about the distance. Again in retrospect they could have offered to call over and put us on the list. Nevertheless, we opted to hike over there, where fortunately there were only 2 people already on the shower list when we arrived, which turned out to be about a half-hour wait. The walk back over to our departing gate in T2 was about 10-15 minutes, so it ended up working out, though we didn’t have much time to relax.
Hopefully the lounge management recognizes that the current system for showers during the T2 main lounge closure is not customer-friendly and works to be more proactive in balancing demand with supply among the remaining three open lounges/other airport alternatives. In addition, we could have planned some backup lounge/shower options outside of CI’s, given the importance for us.
August 10 2019
Cockroach crawling over the fruit and the tongs provided for serving it. That’s the second time I’ve seen this in the past 2 years ( ...and ,although having only limited knowledge of cockroach life expectancy, I’m guessing there’s more than one). Last time I reported it.
I’ve seen a mouse in the lounge in T1.
I won’t use this lounge again.
Awful lounge. Probably hasn’t been renovated. I’m traveling with my elderly mother so I can’t easily go over to the T1 lounge. The kicker? Flights of stairs without an elevator. My mother trying to drag her little roller bag down the steps. Finally we understood that they would hold her roller bag at the entrance for us.