Review of EVA Air flight from Taipei to Beijing in Business

Routing

Transit Experience

After arriving from SFO, it was back into a very crowded TPE at ~06:00 in the morning. Since Taiwan is part of OSS, there is no transit security requirement from flights originating in the US so it is a very seamless process.

BR's lounges are all located upstairs near the food court.

BR The Infinity Lounge

The Garden is reserved for BR elites with *A Gold and Business Class passengers using the Infinity and Star lounges across the hall. Entering, I was scanned in and went up to the front desk to join the shower queue. I was told it was going to be at least a 45 minute wait and shown to the right to enter the Infinity lounge.

BR's lounges are nothing to write home about, they are small and over crowded especially around the arrival/departure blocks for the flights to North America and Europe.

There are lockers near the entrance, which is a nice feature to unload items.

The small business center, which was the only free seating I could find so I squatted in here.

The buzzer went off after just ~25 minutes, so a much shorter wait time than told. Since I had said a shower room without a toilet was okay, I was taken over to the Star side of the lounge and into one of their shower suites. They are smaller than the shower rooms on the Infinity side, but have all the required amenities.

The lounge was quieter after my shower as people started to filter off to their connecting flights and I took a seat and had a coffee.

Airport Experience and Boarding

About 30 minutes before boarding, I left the lounge and did a loop of the terminal to get some exercise.

Christmas decorations were already up.

We were assigned C5R, which is a bus gate. It is accessed by a set of stairs behind duty free.

The FIDS for the bus gate. It is primarily only used during the peak rush hour (morning/afternoon) when gates are at a premium.

The waiting area was crowded.

Spotting is easy being at tarmac level with B-16331 outside in its Bad Badtz-Maru livery. 

Boarding was delayed 5 minutes and we started boarding at 08:35 with Zone 1.

Once the 25-30 passengers in Zone 1 were on, we took off for the plane. Passing a BR A321 to HKG enroute.

BR B789 to CGK.

Arriving at our A333, B-16340, which was delivered to BR in October 2017 and has their standard J30 (2-2-2) and Y279 (2-4-2) configuration.

Getting off the bus into the rain, we can see our GE CF6.

Up the stairs we go.

A look into the turbine.

Entering the cabin, I was greeted by a couple FAs and shown through the galley and to the left.

BR's regional cabin with Parallel Diamond seats in 2-2-2 configuration.

Seat Tour

My seat 10K, in the rear of the cabin. The load would be ~66% with most solo travelers getting their own pair of seats.

Pre-placed on the seat were pillow, slippers, and headphones. Blankets were offered later by the crew.

The head rest is fortunately adjustable since it is positioned extremely low.

Over your left shoulder is the literature compartment and the reading light.

Over your right shoulder is a small storage compartment for water bottles and anything else you want to fall behind your seat.

The touchscreen IFE remote, USB-A port, and AV jack are located behind your right elbow. My USB-A jack did not work well and charged intermittently due to a loose connection. This is right where your elbow rests, so it probably has been hit too many times.

The seat controls are located on the other side.

110V universal power outlets are located on the front of the console.

The IFE screens are large and responsive to touch, but very glossy. The proximity of the screens would likely be very distracting if sat next to someone, I had set one screen to the moving map and watched a documentary on the other.

The tiny foot cubby, but I'll get to that later.

Pre-Departure Service and Menus

Shortly after sitting down, the FA working my part of the cabin welcomed me on board and asked what I would like to drink: water, sparkling water, sparkling wine, juice, or smoothie. I opted for the smoothie which was delivered with a hot towel.

Menus were pre-placed on the center console.

For today's flight, we will have 3 options for the main. The FA came back and confirmed my pre-ordered meal selection and asked what I would like to drink with the meal. The purser would stop by as well to welcome me on board.

BR offers pre-order online starting from 21 days before departure with an additional 3 main options. I was a bit concerned about the catering on what was going to be a 3+ hour flight when it is described as a "Light Meal."

The drinks menu is much more substantial with a wide range of alcoholic and non-alcoholic options.

Push Back, Taxi, and Take Off

As we readied for push back, the safety video played.

Plenty of BR planes on display as we start our taxi out.

Crossing the Evergreen maintenance hangars with plenty of visitors in town for some work including a BA B772, NH B788, OS B789, and OS B767.

We aligned on runway 05R and took off at 09:27 quickly rising up into the rain clouds.

It was a bumpy climb out of TPE until we hit clean air above the clouds.

Meal Service

The meal service starts with the distribution of linens.

BR uses tray service for regional flights, but think that with such a small number of items they could have been placed directly on the table without too much extra effort. The tray contained an empty glass that was poured by a second FA, French butter, a bread plate, and the starter.

Marinated Seafood in Lime Vinaigrette, Bamboo Shoot Salad. It was good, but not memorable and nice to see starters not containing salmon.

Breads were offered by basket.

Crossing into mainland China just south of Wenzhou.

After I finished my starter, more drinks were proposed along with the delivery of my pre-ordered main.

Tan's Stir Fried Prawns with Black Bean and Chili Sauce, Steamed Rice with Black Sesame. Another good flavorful dish from Chef Huang Ching Biao that I would order again if on the menu, but still feel his braised pork belly is better.

It contained only two prawns, but they were huge (butter dish for size reference).

Crossing mountains over central Zhejiang.

The tray containing the main was taken away and replaced by a new tray containing the fruit plate, ice cream, a latte, and a hot towel. Again, the tray seems unnecessary with only 4 items and all of the items could have been easily just placed on the table.

The fruit plate was nicer than what we had received ex-SFO.

The Biscoff ice cream was way too sweet and I would have preferred a more basic flavor.

The meal service ended as we were crossing Taihu.

After the meal, more drinks were actively offered.

Mid-Flight

Crossing the Yangtze River.

The cabin mid-flight with most opting for a nap post meal.

The forward lavatories were clean and contained Ideology products (facial mist, aroma mist, body lotion, and hand soap).

Complimentary, unlimited Wi-Fi is available to all passengers with a single click.

This plane has the older Star Gallery IFE interface which feels clunky to navigate, but the same content as the previous flight. Their content is large, but is skewed towards Asian cinema/programs as expected on an Asian carrier. I did not watch anything and just had the moving map on.

This is the longest flight I have done on their A330 so decided to try out the bed for a nap. The Parallel Diamond seats are narrow and tight around the shoulders/head with this narrower version used on the A330, but the arm rest does lower to give some extra width. The foot cubby is also restrictive in width along the side wall of the plane. I was still able to nap for ~1h, but not a seat that would be comfortable for sleeping on a longer flight.

Arrival into Beijing

After napping from Nanjing to Jinan, I was awoken as we were starting our descent into Beijing over Shandong.

The China Customs arrivals video played.

The purser made her way through the cabin offering the standard candy offering and thanking me for choosing BR.

China has switched to e-arrival cards at the end of November 2025, but paper customs forms are still offered.

Arrival would be delayed as we turned east to head towards Tianjin, which meant a holding pattern. Also suggested by 29 minutes until arrival with only 80 miles to go, trains complete the run from Tianjin to Beijing in less time.

Aerial of TSN as we loop over Tianjin.

Downtown Tianjin along the Haihe. Tianjin Station is the white building just off the river.

Making some turns over the farmland east of Beijing.

As we align for our short final over Universal Studios Beijing.

A nice sunny, albeit cold day in Beijing as we drop into PEK.

We had a smooth landing on runway 01 at 12:31 slightly ahead of schedule.

CA 748I at remote stand.

PEK's control tower.

Arriving on runway 01, it was a very short taxi to T3E where we took stand at 12:34 just minutes after landing.

A last look at the seat on arrival.

Arrival Experience at PEK

We were off the plane quickly and then it was a long walk to immigration.

CA A359 in *A special livery.

Reaching the immigration check point. From time stamps, it took ~30 minutes to clear immigration.

After exiting immigration it was down to the train connection to T3C, where the baggage claim is located.

Exiting the train, it was still another decent walk to the baggage claim area.

Finally reaching the baggage claim at 13:22, 50 minutes after landing. The only positive is that the bags were already circulating, so I quickly grabbed mine and headed out to get a ride to the city.

Signage is clear towards the pick-up areas.

I'll leave off this series here as I start my stay in Beijing, thanks for stopping by!

Flight Information

EVA Air, BR716
Equipment: Airbus A330-300 [B-16340, delivered October 2017]
Departure: 09:05 (ATD: 09:27)
Arrival: 12:40 (ATA: 12:31)
Flight time: 3:05