Review: EVA Air Business Class Boeing 787 (TPE-HKG)

For the first portion of my long journey to Abu Dhabi, I flew EVA Air. In the previous installment I reviewed my EVA Air 777-300ER business class flight from Houston to Taipei, and in this installment I’m reviewing my EVA Air 787-9 business class flight from Taipei to Hong Kong.

To cut to the chase, my EVA Air Boeing 787 business class flight was exceptional — the 787s have modern seats, the food and drinks were great, and the service was friendly. And while the airline flies this plane on some long haul routes, it’s even more of a treat when you’re on a flight of under 90 minutes. As I always say, it’s really hard to return to domestic flying in the United States after you’ve been traveling around Asia.

EVA Air offers one of the world’s best business class experiences, and that’s true on both short haul and long haul flights. Let’s get into the review…

How I booked my EVA Air business class ticket

I booked my EVA Air business class ticket using EVA Air Infinity MileageLands miles. EVA Air makes a lot more award space available to members of its own program than to members of partner frequent flyer programs, so it’s a great way to snag business class award availability across the Pacific.

I booked the following in business class for 80,000 EVA Air Infinity MileageLands miles plus $175.50 in taxes and fees:

11/29 BR51 Houston to Taipei departing 11:30PM arriving 6:20AM (+2 days)
12/01 BR867 Taipei to Hong Kong departing 10:10AM arriving 12:10PM

EVA Air Infinity MileageLands is transfer partners with Capital One (2:1.5 ratio) and Citi ThankYou (1:1 ratio), so the points are easy to come by, and Citi ThankYou is definitely the better program for these purposes.

EVA Air business class lounge & boarding

In the previous installment, I reviewed the EVA Air Infinity Lounge Taipei, which is the carrier’s primary business class lounge. Compared to EVA Air’s inflight experience, the ground experience really lags, as the lounge is quite underwhelming. I did spend quite a bit of my four hour layover just roaming the terminal and plane spotting, which I enjoyed.

My flight to Hong Kong was scheduled to depart at 10:10AM from gate C8, with boarding planned for 9:40AM, 30 minutes before departure. Most boarding gates at the airport are one level below the main terminal, so you can either take stairs or an elevator.

At the gate, I had a nice view of the Boeing 787-9 that would be flying me to Hong Kong, as it even had a special 787 decal. I was on the plane with the registration code B-17881, which joined EVA Air’s fleet in 2018.

Boarding did indeed start at exactly 9:40AM, as planned, with business class passengers being invited to board first.

EVA Air 787 business class cabin & seats

Boarding took place through both of the forward left doors on this 787-9, so I boarded through the forward door, where I was greeted by the friendly crew. EVA Air’s 787-9s have a total of 26 business class seats, which take up the entire space between doors one and two.

EVA Air has staggered Vantage XL seats in business class on its 787s. These are in a 1-2-1 configuration, and feel much more modern than the carrier’s 777 business class product.

If you’re traveling with someone, you may prefer to sit in one of the center pairs of seats. Note that all of the center seats are equally far apart from one another, so it’s not like those configurations where every other row has “honeymoon” seats that are super close to one another. Communicating with the person seated next to you will still take some effort.

If you’re traveling in one of the center seats alone, don’t worry, as there’s still quite a bit of privacy. There are even shields that can be extended for additional privacy.

Along the windows, seats alternate between being closer to the aisle and closer to the windows.

The absolute best window seats are those in rows two, five, and seven (EVA Air skips row four), as those are closer to the windows, so they offer the most privacy, and the most distance from the aisle.

The window seats in rows one, three, six, and eight, don’t offer quite as much privacy, but are still good. I ended up in seat 6K, the window seat on the right side in the third to last row (there were no “true” window seats available when I booked).

The business class seat tech is much better on the 787s than on the 777s, as you can probably tell. There was a large surface next to the seat, with a panel that contained many of the seat’s features. This included an entertainment controller, an AC and USB-A outlet, a headphone jack, and the seat controls. I appreciated that this was all quite a distance from where you sit, so that you don’t accidentally hit any of these buttons.

Behind that was an enclosed storage compartment, where you could hang headphones, or store other small items. There was also a mirror in this area.

There was an additional panel to the side of the seat with very basic seat pre-sets, allowing you to move the seat into the upright position, or fully recline it.

The tray table also folded out from the far armrest, and it was a single solid tray, so don’t expect to get up while it’s extended. I found it interesting how there was a prominent sticker on the tray showing how to use it — I guess a lot of people were having issues with it?

In addition to the small enclosed storage compartment behind the seat, there was also an exposed storage compartment underneath the seat and to the side.

As is standard in these staggered configurations, the seat had an ottoman where you could place your feet while in bed mode, and I found it to be quite a good size.

The only other thing to note about the 787 cabin is that EVA Air doesn’t have individual air nozzles, which is an amenity that many of us value.

EVA Air offers a solid hard product on its 787s — of course this is an amazing seat for a flight this short, but the airline also flies the Dreamliner on much longer routes. The 787 seats are definitely more modern than the 777 seats, though people will have varying opinions about which product they prefer.

EVA Air business class amenities

A moment after settling, a flight attendant stopped by to ask if I was familiar with the seat, and she offered to acquaint me with it. I was also asked if I wanted a pre-departure drink, with the choice of champagne, sparkling water, or juice. I selected champagne, which was served with a warm towel.

I was also asked if I wanted a blanket, which I said yes to. The blanket was a bit more basic than on the long haul flight, but that’s fair enough.

I was also offered slippers. Once again, they were different than on the long haul flight, but still quite nice.

I was then presented with noise canceling headphones, which were the same ones I had on my longer flight.

Last but not least, I was given a full menu and wine list… what a treat!

EVA Air 787 business class entertainment & Wi-Fi

On the plus side, EVA Air’s Boeing 787s have high definition entertainment screens in business class, much better than on 777s. Unfortunately the entertainment selection isn’t any more extensive, so don’t expect much in terms of the variety of movies, TV shows, music, and games.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some options, but the selection isn’t nearly as extensive as what you’ll find on many other top airlines.

For this short flight, I just kept an eye on the map feature, which is always my favorite part of any inflight entertainment system.

Also, I’m not sure if this is standard or was just the crew’s decision, but the entertainment system wasn’t turned on until shortly after takeoff.

EVA Air’s Boeing 787s also feature Wi-Fi from Panasonic, with the following pricing:

• There’s a plan that gives you 30MB of data for $4.95
• There’s a plan that gives you 100MB of data for $14.95
• There’s a plan that gives you 300MB of data for $29.95
• There’s a plan that gives you unlimited data for $39.95

On my previous flight I had purchased the unlimited access plan for 24 hours, and that still worked on this flight, allowing me to stay connected. Note that EVA Air offers free Wi-Fi to business class passengers under some circumstances — you have to request it in advance, you need to book certain fare classes (awards are excluded), and there’s a cap on the data usage.

EVA Air 787 departure from Taipei

Boarding was extremely efficient, and wrapped up by 9:55AM, just 15 minutes after it started. In business class there were five empty seats, so 21 of the 26 seats were taken.

At the same time that boarding wrapped up, the captain made his welcome aboard announcement, informing us of our flight time of 86 minutes, and our cruising altitude of 40,000 feet. Goodness, that’s 80,000 feet in altitude changes over 86 minutes, or an average of just under 1,000 feet per minute.

At 10AM, the main cabin door closed, at which point the safety video was screened. Five minutes later, we began our taxi.

We had quite a roundabout taxi to the departure runway, though that made for some great plane spotting.

After taxiing for around 15 minutes we were holding short of runway 5L, where we had to wait for around five minutes until it was our turn to depart.

We were cleared for takeoff at 10:30AM.

We had a very quick takeoff roll and steep climb out, since presumably we were nowhere close to our maximum takeoff weight.

EVA Air business class lunch service

Soon after takeoff, the lunch service began. You can find the food menu below.

You can find the drink list below, including the wine, soft drinks, coffee, tea, and more.

About 15 minutes after takeoff, tablecloths were distributed.

Then a few minutes after that, the full meal was served on a single tray. I didn’t pre-order anything, so there were two meal options onboard. I selected the fish main course, which was a deep fried nile perch fillet in hoisin sauce with vegetables and egg fried rice. This came with an appetizer of a gravlax with fennel salad, plus a dessert of fresh fruit.

There was also a selection of bread from the breadbasket, and I chose the garlic bread, which was tasty. While the food wasn’t to the same level as on the long haul flight, that’s totally fair, given the length of this flight. This was still a really tasty meal.

At the conclusion of the meal I ordered an iced latte, which the crew was happy to prepare.

Trays were cleared as people finished their meals, and warm towels were distributed.

Landing cards for Hong Kong were also passed out.

EVA Air 787 business class lavatories

Toward the end of the flight I checked out the lavatories — there are two behind the cabin (near the second set of doors) and one in front of the cabin (by the cockpit).

The rear lavatories were huge, which is always a pleasant surprise. The bathrooms were clean, and also had nice amenities from 4711 Acqua Colonia.

EVA Air 787 business class bed

While this flight was too short to sleep, I did briefly recline the seat into bed mode, and found it to be comfortable. On long haul flights, EVA Air distributes mattress pads, in addition to much more substantial bedding.

EVA Air business class service

EVA Air has phenomenal flight attendants, and this crew was no exception. They were friendly, attentive, and extremely efficient. Along with Singapore Airlines, EVA Air must have one of the most consistent service standards out there.

EVA Air 787 arrival in Hong Kong

Around 45 minutes after takeoff, at 11:15AM, the captain was back on the PA to announce that we’d be descending in around 10 minutes, and would be landing at 12PM. I enjoyed the views out the window for the entire descent.

Around 20 minutes before landing, the crew started to prepare the cabin for arrival, including distributing candy to each business class passenger.

Unfortunately due to the side of the aircraft I was seated on (plus the angle of the sun) I couldn’t take many good pictures on approach. Sure enough, we touched down in Hong Kong on runway 7L very shortly before 12PM.

From there we had a long taxi to our arrival gate. I hadn’t flown through Hong Kong since before the pandemic, so as far as I’m concerned we could’ve taxied around all day, because’s there not an airport in the world where I enjoy plane spotting more.

In addition to all the Cathay Pacific planes, I was happy especially intrigued by the MIAT Mongolian Boeing 737 MAX.

We pulled into our arrival gate at 12:15PM.

From there I headed for immigration, which took about 30 minutes to clear, and then checked into the Regal Airport Hotel Hong Kong for the night.

Bottom line

Short haul travel within Asia is a treat, and such a dignified experience. EVA Air’s Boeing 787s are great, with comfortable flat beds, good tech, fast Wi-Fi, friendly service, and tasty food. Admittedly this experience wasn’t quite as lavish as the long haul EVA Air flight, but that’s also to be expected. This blows away what you’d get within the United States on a flight of this length, eh?

What’s your take on EVA Air’s Boeing 787 business class?