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We’re not often impressed by airline customer service in economy class. But paying the equivalent of only $900 USD for return EVA Air flights from North America on a couple of trips to Asia turned out to be a bargain – and a pleasant flying experience to boot.
Writing this EVA Air review therefore wasn’t as difficult as we thought it might be.
Contents: Review of EVA Air Economy Class
Flights from North America – Boeing 777-300ER and new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner
EVA Air inflight entertainment
EVA Air review: flights
In North America, EVA Air flies from Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto and Vancouver – offering non-stop service to Taipei, Taiwan. There are some 84 flights a week.
From Taipei, you can then connect to scads of cities in Asia.
These are the weekly flights from North America as of March 9, 2020:
- Chicago – 5 flights
- Houston – 7 flights
- Los Angeles – 21 flights
- New York – 7 flights
- San Francisco – 21 flights
- Seattle – 10 flights (increasing to 12 weekly flights on May 20, 2020)
- Toronto – 6 flights
- Vancouver – 7 flights
Since we live in Victoria, Canada, we’ll focus on the departure cities closest to us – Seattle and Vancouver.
EVA Air Seattle to Taipei:
EVA Air currently has 5 flights a week from Seattle, using the Boeing 777-300ER.
In May, 2020, EVA Airways will add two more flights a week, bumping up the number of weekly flights to 12. The two additional flights will be aboard the new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.
Seattle to Taipei schedule (from May 20, 2020)
Dreamliner – Daily, departing at 1:50 am
Boeing 777-300ER – Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, departing at 1:20 am
Taipei to Seattle schedule
Dreamliner – Daily, departing at 11:40 pm
Boeing 777-300ER – Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, departing at 7:50 pm
EVA Air Vancouver to Taipei:
On our first EVA Air flight, we flew from Vancouver via Taipei, Taiwan, to Bali. Our second EVA Air trip was from Vancouver to Bangkok, also via Taipei. (From Bangkok, we flew on to Yangon, Myanmar.)
Up until recently, the EVA Air planes used for the Vancouver to Taipei flights have been Boeing 777-300ERs.
But on February 18, 2020, EVA Air started offering a special preview service of its new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner on the Vancouver to Taipei route. The Dreamliner operates this route until May 19, 2020.
Will the Dreamliner replace the 777-300ER after the “trial” period? That’s currently not known…
Vancouver to Taipei schedule
Dreamliner – Daily, departing 12:45 am
Taipei to Vancouver schedule
Dreamliner – Daily, departing 11:55 pm
EVA Air Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner:
The airline has configured its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners to carry 304 passengers, with 26 in Royal Laurel (Business) Class and 278 in Economy Class.
What’s especially nice about these EVA Air planes is that the Economy seats are ergonomically designed and feature upgraded 12-inch HD touchscreen TV screens.
The Dreamliners also boast quieter cabins and cleaner air (with a higher concentration of oxygen, which helps you feel less tired).
EVA Air review: Check-in
It started with the ginger tea…
Both times, while waiting at the gate in Vancouver, EVA Air had a table (decorated with a large vase of fresh lilies) with complimentary help-yourself hot ginger tea and coffee. That’s the first time we’ve ever seen this service offered.
Other airlines, take note!
Hey, we got slippers!
Okay, so we didn’t get the really nice EVA Air amenities you get in EVA Air’s Business Class – like the Salvatore Ferragamo amenity kits and comfy pyjamas by Taiwanese-Canadian designer, Jason Wu.
But as we settled into our seats, we discovered green disposable slippers (really nice touch for Economy Class!), down cushions with washable cotton (not synthetic disposable) covers, and thick blankets that don’t create annoying static.
The sleep masks you get in Economy aren’t very good though, so you should bring your own. (We like the Eagle Creek Sandman brand – soft, really good coverage and they black out all light.)
How to have a better flight? Check out the carry-on essentials you need to take onboard!
EVA Air Economy seats
EVA Air legroom:
Boeing 777-300ER legroom
The seat pitch on the Boeing 777-300ERs is between 32 and 33 inches. (Seat pitch is the term used to measure the distance from the back of your seat to the back of the seat in font, i.e., a technical airline term for how much legroom you get.) Basically, this means you get 32 to 33 inches of legroom.
We liked that the seat configuration was 3-3-3 on our flights.
Some of EVA Air’s 777 planes have extra Economy seats, however, and they’re configured 3-4-3, with four (not three) seats in the middle row. (See here for details of the different EVA Air plane configurations.) That means a tighter fit. Too bad…
We hear that at least one North American carrier has reconfigured their 777s on their Asia routes to squeeze in over 100 additional seats in Economy, so Economy passengers are stuffed in like sardines.
And on Rouge (Air Canada’s leisure brand), the seat pitch is only 30 inches for European flights that we checked. No thank you…
Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner legroom
Interestingly, the Economy Class seats on the new Dreamliners have less legroom than on the Boeing 777s. Their seat pitch is 31 to 32 inches.
And it’s surprising how much difference an extra inch can make!
But there are only nine seats in a row (not ten), configured 3-3-3.
Best economy seats on EVA Air:
When selecting your seats, check SeatGuru.
Nice loos!
The loos are also set far apart from the food preparation galley areas. And they’re kitted out with hand lotion as well as foaming soap.
The larger loos in the economy cabin got us smiling with cute vases of flowers and baby change areas too.
As well, we noticed that the flight attendants freshened the toilets constantly and kept them spotlessly clean (in contrast to flight attendants on U.S. and Canadian carriers, who won’t deal with any lavatory freshening).
EVA Air food
The EVA Air meals in Economy Class on our flights were nutritionally balanced and fairly healthy (as airplane meals go).
For dinner – a choice of fish and noodles or teriyaki chicken and rice, with an accompanying salad, hot bun and plate of fresh fruit slices (plus the requisite dessert cake).
For breakfast – perhaps a cheese omelette with sausage and potatoes or pork congee, plus no-fat yogurt, a bowl of cubed melons and hot croissant.
EVA Air inflight entertainment
Economy seats on EVA Air’s Boeing 777-300ERs have touch-screen TV displays 11.1 inches in size.
The movie selection is good and includes all the latest Hollywood blockbusters.
EVA Air Premium Economy
Want to treat yourself a bit?
If you can’t spring for lie-flat beds in Business Class (called Royal Laurel Class on EVA Air), you might want to try its Premium Economy Class. We hear this class of service is pretty good – if you’re not in the middle row.
These EVA Air Premium Economy seats are available on flights using the Boeing 777-300ERs (but not on the Dreamliners). The configuration is 2-4-2. Ergonomic seats are 19.3 inches wide and have a 38-inch seat pitch and extra-wide armrests.
Along with an upgraded food service, other onboard Premium Economy perks include noise-canceling head phones, Erno Laszlo or THANN amenity kits, large down pillows and soft quilts.
If you can swing it, check out Premium Economy on EVA Air.
Price? Can you use points?
EVA Air is a Taiwanese international airline.
For our flight to Bali (with a connection in Taipei), we had a choice of China Airlines (less expensive), Cathay Pacific (more expensive) and EVA Air.
On EVA Air, we could have flown for about $100 USD less than what we actually paid. But we chose to pay more to earn more Aeroplan points on Air Canada, which is a Star Alliance partner of EVA Air’s (hoping to earn enough Aeroplan points to earn back our Silver Prestige status on Air Canada – any perk is a blessing when flying these days.)
So, yes, you can use Star Alliance partner points to book EVA Air flights.
EVA Air rating and safety record
Other travelers like EVA Air too.
The World Airline Awards have rated it one of the 10 best airlines in the world.
EVA Air is also one of top 20 safest airlines to fly in the world, according to AirlineRatings.com.
China Airlines vs EVA Air?
Both airlines are based out of Taipei in Taiwan.
But China Airlines has a 4-star airline rating, according to Skytrax, whereas EVA Air has a 5-star airline rating for its onboard product and service (e.g., cabin and seat cleanliness, entertainment and attention to cabin safety).
We had a choice, and we picked EVA Airlines.
EVA Air Economy review: Bottom line?
So, is EVA Air good?
EVA Air won our loyalty, and we’d definitely fly with them again.
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We paid full fares for our economy tickets both times we flew round-trip with EVA Air and didn’t receive any special discounts. Nor has the airline paid us to write this EVA Airlines review or influenced us in any way here. This post consists simply of our own independent, unbiased thoughts and views. Images are courtesy EVA Air.
Have you flown EVA Air? What was your experience? Do you prefer flying on Asian airlines rather than North American carriers?
Check the seat layout of the 777-300. You will see that the Premium (extra) Economy Seats are 2-4-2 vs 3-4-3. Which makes for more room than regular economy.
Thanks, Jim!
The Premium Economy seats look much nicer than the regular economy seats. They would naturally be more comfortable!
We’ll update the post to add this information. Thanks for alerting us :-).
EVA Air has adopted a new fare system effective Mar. 5th, 2019. In the past, when I booked the basic PE fare there was no charge for seat selection. Now there is, for ex. from YVR-TPE it’s something like $53 CAD. If you purchase the next higher fare there is no charge for seat selection.
As much as I like their product, I was able to secure seats without this extra fee on China Airlines, which also offers a decent PE product for a lower price. The cabin is smaller (24 seats) and they use an Airbus 350-900 for this route. Roughly departing from YVR and arriving in TPE around the same time.
Thanks for letting us know.
The airlines are always finding ways to charge us, aren’t they? Grumble…
BTW, have you flown yet? How did you find China Airlines compared to EVA Air?
Just flew with them, i love theirfood , and the taiwan terminal. repeat customer here for sure.
Thanks for letting us know. In this day when we hear of (and have) so many negative flying experiences, it’s nice when you have a pleasant one, isn’t it?
Myself and family say Eva air is SUPERB… professional… flight attendant… look at their friendly smile.{all d time}.give you more comfort… highly recommended…
Glad to hear you’ve enjoyed flying with EVA Air :-).
I am planning to fly on EVAAIR from Toronto to Taipei next week. Very interested to discover what they could offer different to other airlines.
Hope you have a good trip! We’ll be interested to hear how you like the airline (or not) — let us know :-)
Next time try to fly with Singapore Airlines!!!
We haven’t flown with them yet, but we hear good things about Singapore Airlines :-).
I flew with EVA Air from Manila to Taipei in October 2016, and they were great! For a $100 return flight price, I certainly couldn’t fault them. We even got a full meal for a 2hr 20 minute early morning flight! I live in Germany and usually fly European airlines. You might get a packet of nuts and a cup of tea for a 1.5 hr flight, certainly not a meal! Highly recommended!
You certainly got good value for money for a 2hr 20 minute flight, didn’t you! Let’s cross fingers EVA Air continues to treat their flying customers nicely :-).
Have flown several times with EVA, YVR-TPE-BKK return and always had a satisfying flight.
As you point out, the upper deck of the 747’s are a 3-3 configuration; the other bonus is that there is increased seat pitch (35-36″) vs. the lower deck economy seats. EVA does have a habit of blocking some of these seats off and releasing them closer to departure date if they haven’t been snapped up by frequent flyers. Was fortunate to secure a window seat on the upper deck on my next outbound flight from YVR.
I believe these planes are however being phased out.
Good to hear you’ve also enjoyed your EVA Air flights… We hear too that the planes will be phased out – too bad… Fliers will just have to enjoy the upper deck, window seats while they can :-).
Great review. I flew with EVA air long ago on the way to Vietnam from California and recently from Taiwan to Japan. I can’t say I’m a huge fan of them, but the staff is very nice and the food is okay. Not sure if you’ve been on an ANA flight but I like that a lot better.
Good tip! We’ll keep ANA in mind for our next Asia trip. It’s good we have several options :-). We’ve also heard good things about China’s Hainan Airlines, which recently started flying from Seattle to Beijing and Shanghai.
I don’t think EVA Air is Taiwan’s National carrier. National carrier of Taiwan should be China Airlines.
Ah, you got us! It’s more correct to say that EVA Air is a Taiwanese international airline. So we’ve changed that wording in our post. Thanks for writing in :-).
Oh for sure Eva Air offers much better service and in-flight experience, hands down, compared to other north American airlines! So glad Eva joined Star Alliance so I can keep on accumulating aeroplan miles and don’t have to suffer the tortured experience on Air Canada (yes, on their Vancouver to Hong Kong route, they managed to squeeze in 149 more passengers… by taking away seat pitch and toilets!) Eva is phasing out its older 747s and replacing them with brand new 777s, and the cabin is much nicer!
No doubt the new 777s will be nice – but we’ll be sad to see the older 747s go…
It’s great to know you enjoyed EVA Air, I’ve flown them before , long long ago in 2003 from Manila to Taipei and I remember the flight attendant literally tossed me my lunch as she lurched forward due to turbulence! haha :) They are a popular airline choice to fly from Southeast Asia to the US due to their price, also because they were one of the 1st airlines to introduce premium economy.
Yes, EVA Air is very competitive price-wise. We’re actually flying with them again when we visit Myanmar and Malaysia next year. The price is right – and so is the service :-).
Never heard of EVA before, sounds like we should keep an eye out for them. Thanks for the info.
I haven’t flown Eva Air yet, but you’re definitely not alone – I keep hearing good things about them in the industry. Will definitely be trying to fly with them on my next trip O/S.
Interesting to hear! We hadn’t heard much about Eva Air before booking and flying with them on this trip. In fact, we were a little leery (wondering if we should pay the $100 or so extra per ticket and go with Cathay Pacific instead). So our Eva flights were a pleasant surprise.
I had never heard of them until we flew LAX to BKK a couple years ago! I agree with everything you’ve said here, they were fabulous. I also loved the lavender misting spray to sort of rejuvenate you located in all the bathrooms. For one of the meals I was sleeping and they left a little note saying they didn’t want to wake me but to ask for my meal when I woke up. I did and they heated it up and everything! Eva Air rocks!
Glad to hear your Eva Air flying experience was also a good one…
Believe it or not, but I hadn’t heard about Eva Air before. After reading your review, I am more likely to fly with them next time. The prices seem so reasonable.
Thanks for bring this airline to my attention. I’d never heard of it before. Sounds like you were pleased with what you got for your money!
Yes, we were very happy – with both the ticket cost and the service (much better than North American airlines for sure).