EVA Air 787 Business Class: Bottom Line Review

Over the last couple of years, I’ve yapped on and on ad nauseum about how much I like Citi ThankYou Rewards, in no small part because it’s the only major bank currency that transfers 1:1 to EVA Air…and I love EVA Air. The airline has a good business class product, great availability for its own MileageLands customers, tasty food, and competitive pricing on non-stops to Taiwan. A few weeks ago, I travelled from Seattle to Taipei and was just as impressed as ever.

EVA Air 787-10 Business Class Bottom Line Review

EVA Air’s 787-10 business class is a great way to fly to Asia. Catering is tasty, the beverage selection superb, the seat is spacious and comfortable – even for a 6’3″ behemoth like me. Service is on point and warm. Outside of the mediocre in-seat storage and relative paucity of entertainment choices, it’s tough to find downsides here. Thumbs Up.

• How we found it: We were able to find the availability by searching EVA’s website for the dates/times that we needed, but that process is probably one of the biggest reasons that relatively few points and miles folks utilize it. In order to search for more than one seat, you have to create a separate account for each passenger and then add them (along with their passwords) in order to complete a search. It can be unintuitive to figure out whether or not there’s availability…but there often is. Note that partner sites rarely show even close to the amount of available seats that EVA offers its own customers.
• How we booked it: My wife and I each transferred 75,000 Citi ThankYou points to EVA after finding availability on the exact dates we wanted. We booked two tickets from Seattle to Taipei for 75,000 miles + $120 per ticket. Because both my wife and I have the Citi ThankYou Rewards+ card, we received a 10% rebate off of the transfers, for a total “out of pocket” cost of 67,500 Citi points each. That 10% rebate only applies to a maximum of 100,000 transferred points per year, which is why we each transferred separately.
• Cash Price: ~$3,500 per person.
• Route: Seattle (SEA) – Taipei (TPE)
• Ground Service:
  • Check-in: Nothing special, as most of the ground staff contract with several different international carriers.
  • Departure Lounges: Like most international airlines in Seattle, EVA partners with one of the smallish lounges in the South Concourse, in this case, The Club at SEA. Unfortunately, both the StarLux and EVA flights to Taipei left within 30 minutes of each other, so the lounge was packed when we got there. It’s a fairly average US domestic lounge.

• Business Class Seat:
  • Comfort: The Eva Air 787-10 has 34 Royal Laurel (business class) seats that are arranged 1-2-1 over one cabin. Instead of the reverse herringbone configuration that’s more common in business class these days, these point more or less straight forward. As a result, the seat has a generous ~23″ of width and is 76″ long when in lie-flat mode. Because I’m 6’3″, the footwells in many 1-2-1 business products can feel pretty cramped, but the space here was great and my legs didn’t feel scrunched at all in lie-flat mode. If traveling solo, seats in rows 2,5,7, and 9 have the side table on the aisle and feel the most private.
  • Storage Space: This is the seat’s biggest shortcoming, in my opinion. On the plus side, each seat has a sizeable partition/side table that’s a terrific place for drinks, phones, books, etc. However, outside of that, there’s one partitioned cubby to the side and another very small compartment where the headphones hang. That’s pretty much it. While the permanent table beside the seat gives some additional space to set things on, backpacks either have to be on the floor next to the seat or in the overhead compartment.
  • In-flight Entertainment (IFE): The 787-10 has a terrific 18″ In-Flight Entertainment screen with excellent resolution. Noise-cancelling headphones are provided, and seemed more or less equivalent to the industrial Bose headphones on many carriers. The selection of movies and shows could be bigger. Although it will be fine for most people on one or two flights, it’s noticeably slimmer than many carriers’ catalogs.
• Food and Beverage: Excellent. There are Western and Chinese options for dinner and breakfast. Dinner service was broken into two sections: “Royal Laurel” dining, which is served in multiple courses and “Star Special,” which comes more or less at the same time and is a nice option for those wanting to go to bed as quickly as possible. I opted for the Royal Laurel beef filet, while my wife had the Star Special Taiwanese Braised Pork Noodles. Both were delicious, as was the fruit plate and pistachio mousse for dessert. The wine and drinks options are well-chosen, and I love that they serve the surprisingly good Taiwanese single malt whiskey, KAVALAN, as well as one of the better tea selections that I’ve encountered. EVA is known for providing very good champagne in business class, and we had the 2015 Vintage Veuve Cliquot, La Grande Dame, on our flight (which retails for ~$150-$175 in the US).
• Service: EVA’s service is reliably stellar. Our departure was at 1:00am local, so almost everyone on the plane wanted to quickly eat and then get to bed…and the staff knew it. Dinner service was efficient without losing any sense of warmth or care. Beds are made up quickly, staff is quiet but attentive during the night and in general manage a nice balance of being proactive but not overbearing.
• Cabin Ambiance/Temperature Control: My wife and I both thought it was great. Although the seat “pods” don’t have doors, their orientation combined with the various privacy shields make them feel quite secluded…you’re never really looking into someone else’s space. The cabin was kept a touch on the warm side for my taste, but nowhere close to the sauna that most Asian carriers seem to favor. The “night sky” display on the ceiling when the lights are off is fun. There is a fairly large light on the middle bulkhead that stays lit during the evening and would make me want to avoid those seats.
• Internet: EVA has a variety of internet packages, with a complimentary 30 minutes for all business class passengers. Prices are quite high given that many carriers now include it. Plans start at $4.95 for 30 MB and go all the way up to $39.95 for unlimited data. If the speeds I found when using my 30 free minutes are any indication, it’s not worth the price. However, starting July 1st, MileageLands members in business and premium economy will begin receiving free Wifi with unlimited browsing.
• Amenity Kit: Includes a Giorgio Armani amenity kit with slippers and a variety of Jurlique toiletries, facemask and earplugs. EVA provides Jason Wu pajamas in long-haul business, one of the few carriers that still does.
• Would I choose to fly it again?  Absolutely…and I’ll seek it out. Both the hard and soft product are great, availability from the West Coast is some of the best around and “saver” pricing is very competitive, especially with the Citi Rewards+ rebate.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Great value points option from the US
• Usually has very good availability, especially for those of us on the West Coast
• Spacious seat that’s 76″ long in lie-flat mode
• Excellent catering
• Seat is very comfortable for sleeping in lie-flat mode
• Service is efficient and warm
• Well-managed cabin temperature

Cons

• Mediocre in-seat storage
• Wifi is expensive and on the slow side
• Inflight entertainment selection is more sparse than many other Asian carriers
• Booking direct is unwieldy and unintuitive

Image Gallery

EVA 787-10 Business Class Middle Seat

EVA 787-10 Business Class Inflight Entertainment System

EVA 787-10 Business Class Food and Beverage Menu

EVA 787-10 Business Class Food

EVA 787-10 Business Class Amenity Kit

EVA 787-10 Wifi Pricing

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