Review: EVA Air Royal Laurel Business Class on the 787-9
EVA Air 787-9 Royal Laurel Business Class
A+C Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Flight Details
We flew EVA Air from Taipei (TPE) to Seattle (SEA) on BR 26 in February 2023. The flight was scheduled to depart Taipei at 11:40pm and arrive in Seattle the same day at 6:10pm. We flew on a Boeing 787-9 on this 10 hour and 30 minute flight across the Pacific.
EVA Air 787-9, registration B-17882
Ground Experience
Check In
EVA Air operates out of Terminal 2 at TPE. We arrived at Terminal 2 using the Airport Line Express service. We had been able to check in online the night before without any issues, but decided to head to the EVA Air check in desk to get our boarding passes printed. The check in process was quick and easy and then we went off to customs and security.
Lounge
EVA Air operates four lounges in Terminal 2, The Garden, The Infinity, The Star, and The Club. Royal Laurel passengers are invited into The Infinity lounge.
The lounge has an interesting design that feels a bit dated. I also found the food and seating options to be lacking for a business class lounge and especially for one in an airline’s hub. Sadly, The Infinity is not on the same level of other business class lounges within Asia.
The outside of the lounge features a giant image of the Boeing 787, which I assume will be the flagship aircraft of EVA Air moving forward once they take delivery of more 787-9 and 787-10 aircrafts.
Next time I am in Terminal 2, I will likely skip The Infinity and visit either the Plaza Premium Lounge or the Oriental Club Lounge, which are both accessible using Priority Pass.
Onboard Experience
Cabin
The EVA Air Royal Laurel business class cabin onboard this Boeing 787-9 featured 26 seats in a 1-2-1 staggered seat configuration.
EVA Air 787-9 Cabin Configuration, Credit: aerolopa.com
All seats lie flat and have direct aisle access. The staggered seat configuration has some seats closer to the window and some closer to the aisle, so those traveling solo should opt for a true window seat (2A, 2K, 5A, 5K, 7A, 7K) for maximum privacy. Couples can pick the middle seats to be closer together, but keep in mind that someone will be in a more exposed seat given the staggered configuration. On this flight we sat in the two middle seats, 3D and 3G. Based on the seating chart, the ideal middle seats for couples are in rows 2, 5, and 7, since there is not a passenger directly next to one of you in the aisle seats.
EVA Air 787 Business Class Cabin, Credit: evaair.com
Compared to their dated 777 interior, the EVA Air 787 cabin looks really fresh and modern.
Seat
The EVA Air Royal Laurel business class seat was quite comfortable and had a good amount of storage. The middle seats feature a small privacy divider that can be slid back and forth in case you are traveling either together or solo. Given that I was in the seat closer to the aisle, I would not say it was super private, especially since the person in 3A was also closer to the aisle.
Amenities
Upon boarding, the seat contained a pillow, blanket, and Jason Wu branded slippers. We found the pillow and blanket to be plush and comfortable while lounging in the seat and sleeping. Once we were situated in our seats, the flight attendants came around to offer Jason Wu branded pajamas and Salvatore Ferragamo amenity kits.
The amenity kit resembles a hard shell suitcase and has a nice premium feel. It was stocked with the usual goodies. I really appreciate the quality of this amenity kit. We will definitely continue using it to store miscellaneous electronics and bring it along for our future travels.
This hard shell amenity kit is usually only offered on flights from Taipei, while flights to Taipei usually provide a soft sided bag, also from Salvatore Ferragamo.
The Salvatore Ferragamo branded amenity kit comes decently stocked with several Salvatore Ferragamo products.
EVA Air Royal Laurel Business Class Salvatore Ferragamo Amenity Kit Contents
We were also offered a pre-departure beverage of a champagne and a chocolate, truly a great way to start our flight!
Food
We were able to preorder our meal online ahead of the flight. The online menu showed the standard meal choices along with a handful of choices that are only available online. If you select these special online only meals, EVA Air will ensure that the meal is loaded onto your flight. This is similar to the Book the Cook option offered by Singapore Airlines, except EVA has fewer choices. Nonetheless, pre-selecting a special meal is always appreciated and adds a nice premium touch.
Unfortunately, EVA Air has stopped offering physical inflight menus and instead the flight attendants carry a physical copy when discussing your meal and drink options. A digital menu can be found on the IFE, but I am often not digging around the IFE looking for the menu and strongly prefer a physical menu.
On this route, the champagne EVA Air serves is Duval-Leroy Brut Reserve. This champagne is good, but I find it is a far step down from what they used to serve onboard: Veuve Clicquot La Grand Dame.
For the first meal service, Adrienne preordered the Din Tai Fung Noodles with House Special Spicy Shrimp and Pork Wontons and House Steamed Chicken Soup, while I preordered the Steamed Chilean Sea Bass with Chopped Chili Paste Served with Multi Grain Rice. Both of these are part of the “online only” options and must be preordered ahead of the flight as they are not on the standard inflight menu.
The meal started with an appetizer along with some bread.
Next was the main course that we preordered. Adrienne had the Din Tai Fung Noodles with House Special Spicy Shrimp and Pork Wontons and House Steamed Chicken Soup and I had the Steamed Chilean Sea Bass with Chopped Chili Paste Served with Multi Grain Rice.
Din Tai Fung Noodles with House Special Spicy Shrimp and Pork Wontons and House Steamed Chicken Soup
Steamed Chilean Sea Bass with Chopped Chili Paste Served with Multi Grain Rice
We finished off the meal with dessert, consisting of a cake and fruit.
The portions for our meals were great and both tasted delicious. We really appreciate that EVA Air partners with Taiwan-based Din Tai Fung to cater meals onboard since we love their food!
For the second meal service, we both preordered the Noodle Soup with Fried Chicken. This meal was really delicious and we were both full after eating it.
Noodle Soup with Fried Chicken
Bed
Once the first meal service was finished, we were ready to sleep and asked the crew to make up our beds. Given that this was a night flight and the meal service was finished around 1:30 AM, most of the passengers were ready to sleep as well. Despite this, the crew was very efficient making up all of the passenger’s beds.
EVA Air also provides a mattress pad to help make the bed more comfortable. Combined with the plush blanket and pillow, we found the bed to be extremely comfortable!
EVA Air also has some wonderful night time mood lighting with a starry design on the ceilings.
IFE + Wi-Fi
The seat featured an 18 inch HD screen which we found really nice. The IFE had a good selection of content as well to help keep us occupied during the flight. We really enjoyed playing Angry Birds near the end of our flight, a game that used to be found on tons of flights, but is rare to find these days. The provided headphones were also pretty good quality and felt comfortable when I used them throughout the flight.
Free Wi-Fi is also available for certain fare classes when booked directly through EVA, but there is a data cap that ranges from 30MB to 100MB. Providing free Wi-Fi is appreciated, however the data cap is quite small so don’t expect it to last the entire flight. Since we had booked this flight through United, the free Wi-Fi was not available to us.
Service
The service on EVA Air was really good and we found the staff attentive and friendly despite it being a night flight. After the initial meal service, the crew had dimmed the lights, but could easily be found in the galley or by pressing the call button.
Booking
I was able to find award space roughly 8 months prior to departure. Originally we had been booked on the TPE-YVR route, but luckily TPE-SEA award space had opened up and I was able to change to this route. We paid 176,000 miles and $68.34 USD in taxes and fees for two people, meaning the cost per person one way was 88,000 miles. This flight normally costs around $4,600 USD round trip per person when paying cash, so using miles provides great value.
Conclusion
We found this to be a really relaxing and comfortable flight home. I really enjoy the soft product and updated interior on the 787 compared to the 777 that EVA Air also flies. I am sure it is frustrating to some that the only North American airport that EVA Air flies the 787 to is Seattle, but with more 787 aircrafts on the way, hopefully more US cities get to experience the updated interior over time. We loved certain elements of this flight, but other parts fell a bit sort, such as lack of a physical menu.
We will certainly be flying EVA Air again, especially since they have a direct flight from Seattle to Taiwan. However, I do look forward to the day when Starlux decides to fly directly to Seattle to increase the competition!
A+C Rating: 4 out of 5 stars