At the moment, saver level award availability across the Pacific is more limited than ever before, with one exception. Specifically, EVA Air has good business class award availability, but only if you book through the carrier’s own Infinity MileageLands program.
The good news is that these miles are potentially easy to come by. The bad news is that the process of booking through Infinity MileageLands sometimes leaves a bit to be desired. While I wrote about the program several months ago, I wanted to take an updated look at it, given that I recently booked my first EVA Air award through it. Let’s go over everything you need to know.
In this post:
Earning miles with EVA Air is easy
If you don’t fly with EVA Air often and/or don’t live in Taiwan, how can you earn EVA Air Infinity MileageLands miles? The program partners with two US transferable points currencies:
- EVA Air is transfer partners with Citi ThankYou; transfers are at a 1:1 ratio, and transfers generally take one to two days
- EVA Air is transfer partners with Capital One; transfers are at a 2:1.5 ratio, and transfers generally take one to two days
As you can tell, using Citi ThankYou points is better than using Capital One miles, given the more favorable transfer ratio.
Redeeming miles with EVA Air Infinity MileageLands
Some airlines release more award availability to members of their own frequent flyer program than to members of partner frequent flyer programs, and EVA Air is among those. While EVA Air has very little long haul business class award space through Star Alliance partners, availability through the Infinity MileageLands program is very good.
Do be aware that booking through the EVA Air Infinity MileageLands program can be a pain, especially if you’re trying to redeem for tickets for multiple people, or if you need phone support. So expect there to be a bit of a hassle factor, but there’s still a lot of value to be had.
EVA Air award pricing & availability
EVA Air Infinity MileageLands has competitive award pricing, and you can find the award chart below (note that this applies exclusively for travel on EVA Air metal).
I’ll specifically call out that a one-way business class award between North America and Asia costs 75,000-80,000 miles, depending on where you’re originating. This allows travel beyond Taipei if you’d like, so you could fly from Los Angeles to Taipei to Singapore for 75,000 miles, or from Chicago to Taipei to Bangkok for 80,000 miles.
EVA Air does pass on carrier imposed surcharges on awards, though they’re quite low, typically around $100-150 one-way for business class. So the fees shouldn’t be a reason to avoid this program. You’ll find that EVA Air often has two business class award seats available per flight.
When booking way in advance, I’m seeing award availability on almost every date, while when booking within a few months, I’m seeing award availability on maybe half of flights. That’s a generalization, of course, since there are lots of factors, but the point is that EVA Air has so much more transpacific saver level award availability than any other airline.
EVA Air’s award booking process is tedious
Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I’m convinced that EVA Air’s online award booking process is intentionally awful. There’s just no other explanation I can come up with.
To search award availability through EVA Air, you first need to create an Infinity MileageLands account, which is free and instant. Make sure you note what your account number is, because it may not be emailed to you, and trying to recover it is a test in patience (and that’s being charitable).
Once you have an Infinity MileageLands account, you can search award availability at this link. If it’s just one person traveling, it’s fairly straightforward, so let’s start with that. You just enter your origin, destination, dates, and preferred class.
You’ll see availability for five days at a time. You’ll either see a particular date as “available” or “waiting.” The latter means that you would need to waitlist, and that there’s not award space available.
Even if you select a flight that shows as available, you’ll still see that it says “unconfirmed.” That can cause some confusion… is it available or unconfirmed? In my experience, this simply means that it’s unconfirmed until you ticket, but you should expect that it’s available.
As you can see, this doesn’t show a price. However, if you select a specific flight, you’ll see the number of miles required listed (though it won’t display the taxes and fees unless you have enough miles in your account for a redemption).
This is straightforward enough, unless you want to redeem for someone else, or want to redeem for a companion. Then it gets more complicated. First of all, to look up award availability for multiple people, during the search process you’ll have to enter their membership number and password.
Then to actually book an award ticket that includes travel for someone else, you’ll need to go to EVA Air’s online service forms webpage.
You’ll need to complete the online service form, which you can then email to [email protected] (or you can fax if you prefer, which is actually what’s recommended by the airline, lol). This essentially authorizes you to use all your account functions online.
This also prevents you from having to complete a nominee registration form, which is even more complicated. As you can tell, the whole process of booking an award for anyone other than the account holder can be a pain.
If at all possible, I’d recommend just booking awards out of separate accounts. In other words, if you’re traveling with your spouse and you each have a balance of Citi ThankYou points, ideally just transfer points to your individual Infinity MileageLands accounts, and book that way. It will save you a lot of hassle.
EVA Air partner awards are worth avoiding
In theory, EVA Air has attractive redemption rates on Star Alliance partners as well. You can find the Star Alliance award chart below, with roundtrip pricing shown (one-ways are available for half the price of a roundtrip).
For example, a transatlantic one-way first class award will cost you 85,000 miles, or a round the world business class award will cost you 325,000 miles.
However, do yourself a favor, and avoid these redemptions. The frustration factor is just way too high, there are carrier imposed surcharges, and there’s a lot that can go wrong. That’s why I’m focusing specifically on redemptions on EVA Air metal in this post, since that’s the greatest competitive advantage of the program. For partner redemptions, EVA Air’s Infinity MileageLands is arguably even more complicated than All Nippon Airways’ Mileage Club, and that’s saying something.
EVA Air mileage expiration policy
If you are going to earn miles in the EVA Air Infinity MileageLands program, be aware of EVA Air’s strict mileage expiration policy. Miles expire 36 months after they’re earned, regardless of any account activity. So they have a hard expiration, which is more limiting than with most programs.
EVA Air award stopover policy
What’s the EVA Air Infinity MileageLands policy for stopovers on award tickets? You’re not allowed a stopover on a one-way award, but you are allowed a stopover on a roundtrip award, should you want to visit Taipei plus another destination. Stopovers require booking by phone, which adds another layer of adventure to the booking process.
EVA Air award ticket change & cancelation fees
If you book an award through Infinity MileageLands and need to make a change or cancel, what should you expect to pay? The program charges $50 for changes or cancelations to award tickets. That’s not half bad, though not as good as the programs no longer have fees for changing or canceling award tickets.
EVA Air business class is exceptional
Not only is the opportunity to redeem for EVA Air business class valuable because so many airlines don’t have much award availability across the Pacific, but it’s also great because EVA Air offers one of the world’s best business class products, whether you’re flying the carrier’s 777 business class or 787 business class.
The carrier has a solid (but not exceptional) hard product, while the soft product is spectacular. You can expect everything from delicious food, to great designer amenities, to some of the friendliest service in the sky.
And if you really want an adventure, fly the Chicago to Taipei route, where you can enjoy EVA Air’s epic Hello Kitty service.
Bottom line
EVA Air’s Infinity MileageLands program is underrated for the simple ability to get access to more EVA Air business class award space. While other Asian carriers have very little award space, EVA Air has plenty of availability, assuming you book through the carrier’s own program.
The good news is that redemption costs are attractive, at just 75,000-80,000 miles from the United States to Asia. Taxes and fees are also negligible. Furthermore, you can transfer points from Citi and Capital One (with Citi having a better transfer ratio).
The bad news is that that booking through EVA Air’s program can be a pain, especially if you’re traveling with a companion. With other programs, you can transfer points from another currency, and five minutes later you have your ticket. With EVA Air’s program, expect the process to take days, and get ready for some potential frustration. Also keep in mind EVA Air’s strict mileage expiration policy, assuming you’re moving over miles.
Even with this annoying process, I’d say this is still a great opportunity, given the value of a transpacific business class award.
What’s your take on redeeming miles through EVA Air’s program?
How do I thank this guy for the great and thorough post on the EVA program? This is awesome!!!
Does EVA not release last minute business seats anymore? I used to see availability on united.com then book it using ANA points.
Few things: Ben does a good job of describing how difficult it is to book business class using miles, but there are more things to know.
First, the taxes/fees aren't negligible (at least to me). They are $180-200 per adult, and a whopping $650 for an infant in lap (which is 50% more than a similar ticket on Singapore, for example). We paid this because we want to try EVA business with our toddler, but...
Few things: Ben does a good job of describing how difficult it is to book business class using miles, but there are more things to know.
First, the taxes/fees aren't negligible (at least to me). They are $180-200 per adult, and a whopping $650 for an infant in lap (which is 50% more than a similar ticket on Singapore, for example). We paid this because we want to try EVA business with our toddler, but yeah...never again. (They also bait-switched as we were originally quoted $350 but changed it $650 bc it was a different flight...)
Second, the process of transferring miles between friends/family is excruciating and slow. Budget 4-5 business days to get everything squared away, and expect to FAX documents or email PDFs. The system seems like it hasn't changed in 20 years.
Third, expect to wait 45-60 minutes to get someone on the phone. I probably talked to the entire EVA staff in North America at some point.
Fourth, make SURE your ticket AND your actual account are made/booked with your exact full name including all middle names. If you have a discrepancy, you have to fax or email a ridiculous form to make the change (while sending in a copy of your passport for verification). Please do this when you first sign up for the program.
Fifth, if you would like a personal consultation on how to actually book EVA via points/miles, I'm happy to guide you for a fee of $100 (I'm just kidding...) Or if someone from EVA is reading, please contact me so I can help you design a better more user-friendly program that travelers expect in the year of our Lord 2024.
Sixth, and finally, the 1,000 'free miles' you get for "signing up" cannot be used for your award ticket. So don't transfer 74K and expect to use those miles for an award that costs 75K miles. You can't. And they don't tell you until you try booking. So what can you do with those free 1K miles? I'm honestly not sure. Thanks for nothing, EVA!
The one good thing about this entire situation is that because it's so hard to book, you're very likely to find a ticket on EVA that works for you.
Thank you for the details! How do you know if EVA has 2 or more award spaces for the flight you need? Can you somehow see the available seats before you book? We're a family of 3 and we don't want to split, but I don't want to go through all the hassles if they don't have 3 award spaces on the same flight. Thank you so much for your input!
I've redeemed miles on 28 different carriers, and up until my recent retirement, flew 100K-200K miles a year. EVA is easily the worst program to deal with on the phone (nobody answers), through the website (their program is nothing like anyone else's, and in a bad way), and with their policies (it was not obvious that I had "booked" a waitlist seat, and could get now updates for over 6 months...it wasn't until the day...
I've redeemed miles on 28 different carriers, and up until my recent retirement, flew 100K-200K miles a year. EVA is easily the worst program to deal with on the phone (nobody answers), through the website (their program is nothing like anyone else's, and in a bad way), and with their policies (it was not obvious that I had "booked" a waitlist seat, and could get now updates for over 6 months...it wasn't until the day of the flight that they cancelled my flight because they didn't have an award seat to give me, and then they charged me $50/segment to put the miles back in my account). This is a program to avoid at all costs.
Hi, may I ask if I were to redeem a ticket with stop over , do I just utilize the award site to check availability for each of the segment and then call Eva air reservation to book and issue ticket ?
How is your experience in calling the Taiwan reservation center? I never was able to connect the US office. Thanks
On the form, who is deputy signature and applicant signature?
Can I book flight for my parents if I am not traveling with them on same flight?
Does each persons book ticket for have to create Eva online account?
I redeemed one of these one-way business fares using Citi TYP two weeks ago, agreed it was fantastic.
BTW, I live about 6 miles from one of their offices. If you happen to live near a US Eva ticket office, they can take care of all the pain of (never talking with them on the phone / dealing with the multi-person redemption), and they are very friendly. Just budget about 30-40 minutes, since they typically have to make some calls to HQ to sort things out.
ugh! I live close to their LA location, I should've done this. next time!
This is supremely helpful. There's one of these in Rosemont right across 294 from ORD so I'll absolutely be just taking the blue line from downtown if I need to do an EVA redemption. Seems impossible to do on the phone or online, especially because the EVA redemption I'd want to do is for me and another person going ORD-TPE-BNE which throws up errors on the website. Hopefully the ticketing office could piece them together into a multi-city.
I’d like to book for 2 other passengers (not myself), they are older and don’t have credit card points.
Can I be able to nominate 2 others to accomplish this? Or do they require me to travel with them?
Thanks for the post!
I booked an EVA award for two back in Nov based on the previous version of this post. had to settle for PE on one leg since I had a date change and it was kind of close in. These types of posts are why OMAAT is the best. It’s a bit of a hassle to get everything set up, but when you get a $5000 ticket for 130k points it’s totally worth it.
Does Eva Air only offer 1 business award seat for each flight? It seems very difficult to find two seats
I was able to book 2 seats in J on 1/24/2024 from LAX to TPE - confirmed and ticketed.
I downloaded, filled out, and emailed the Online Services form to the email address you provided in this article two weeks ago, and I have yet to receive any confirmation or response from Eva Air, and it is still telling me that I cannot nominate anyone because I have not applied for Online Services. The US phone number repeatedly hangs up on me. Any ideas how I can get Eva Air to allow me to book for my spouse as my nominee/companion?
Last week I was approved for Online Services in about 48 hours. I faxed the form to the Los Angeles office AND emailed it. I'm not sure which one got approved. The approval email arrived on a Saturday at 4pm Pacific time. After I nominated my wife, it took another 36 hours before the nomination cleared.
I emailed the online service form email and got a response within 48 hours but this is what they said:
In order to ensure the safety of members' rights and personal information, we have received the latest notice from the member business management department, please take the Evergreen/UNI AIR international flight segment and have mileage accumulation, and then apply for network activation, thank you! If you have any questions, please call the Taiwan or local...
I emailed the online service form email and got a response within 48 hours but this is what they said:
In order to ensure the safety of members' rights and personal information, we have received the latest notice from the member business management department, please take the Evergreen/UNI AIR international flight segment and have mileage accumulation, and then apply for network activation, thank you! If you have any questions, please call the Taiwan or local reservation hotline.
Does this mean that I can't be approved for online services since I've never flown with EVA in the past? I currently have 1,000 miles in my account from when I signed up.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.. currently in Taiwan and trying to figure out a way home..
The only reason to book EVA award flights with BR miles is the expanded availability of award flights EVA made available to its own members. BR miles are also very difficult to accumulate. Citi Thankyou points are practically the only avenue (and it isn't economical to transfer Capital One miles to BR). You can't even transfer Marriott Bonvoy points to EVA (as you can to almost any other major airlines in the world).
Awards don't come with free business class wifi.
I got a United award on EVA earlier this year and no fees were charged. Not sure why. It was a one way back to the US.
I booked an “available” award last year for my wife (through my wife’s eva air account) 6 months in advance. Post booking - this showed up as unconfirmed and I didn’t get confirmation as late as 1month out so had to book through alternatives.
Perhaps it changed by now but I am wary of booking “available” awards now..
Post for the group - the new email address seems to be [email protected] based on my recent call with them to activate my online services access. Thanks again Ben for the great content
I've recently done what's described above, as well as waitlisted (FAIL) and cancelled. I agree with Ben's instructions and admonitions. I was booking for one traveller who isn't myself. Note that the booking process includes a warning that the traveller must present the same credit card used in the online booking process. In our case, we paid the TaxFees with the traveller's card, in case they enforced this. On his Da Nang DAD-originating itinerary, they...
I've recently done what's described above, as well as waitlisted (FAIL) and cancelled. I agree with Ben's instructions and admonitions. I was booking for one traveller who isn't myself. Note that the booking process includes a warning that the traveller must present the same credit card used in the online booking process. In our case, we paid the TaxFees with the traveller's card, in case they enforced this. On his Da Nang DAD-originating itinerary, they did not. Our booking was made a month before travel and involved lots of searching, and a compromise: wanted destination YYZ, settled for ORD. Worth it all, since EVA has by far the most convenient routes/schedules DAD to North America and as Ben says accurately, truly excellent service. Worth the bad bad bad online process.
I LOVE flying EVA to Asia, and think their program is extremely underrated by most travel bloggers (who appear to tend to focus more on US-Europe awards).
One caveat/warning is that the mileage from cancellations do NOT immediately post back in your account. There is a substantial lag time. I could be mistaken on this, but I think if you cancel online, you have to call to request that the miles be reinstated to...
I LOVE flying EVA to Asia, and think their program is extremely underrated by most travel bloggers (who appear to tend to focus more on US-Europe awards).
One caveat/warning is that the mileage from cancellations do NOT immediately post back in your account. There is a substantial lag time. I could be mistaken on this, but I think if you cancel online, you have to call to request that the miles be reinstated to your account.
If you want to change your award flight, do not cancel and re-book; call EVA and jump through the hoops to change it. It takes a little more time, but better than having to transfer in additional points/miles (which is what I had to do when I made that mistake).
Same experience. Good advice. I'd go further: as with LifeMiles, so with EVA: book simple trips, only when you're sure. You won't enjoy cancelling/changing.
What phone number do you call to get EVA to answer?
Call the Taiwan one. They never answer the US ones.
@Tom - I asked them about that when I visited their office. They told me they're short-staffed in all the US offices since Covid, nobody ain't got time to answer the phone.