Flight: EVA Air BR 15 from Los Angeles to Taipei
Duration: 13 hours 55 minutes
Aircraft: B773(Boeing 777-300ER)
Class: Business (Royal Laurel Class)
Seat: 2K (Window)
Seat Specification: True Flat Bed, Seat pitch: 81.0 “. Seat width: 26 ”
EVA Air joined the Star Alliance in June 2013. They operate the newly configured Business Class (Royal Laurel Class) as well as old configuration (Premium Laurel Class). The Royal Laurel Class features 38 fully flat beds in reverse-herringbone 1-2-1 pattern. All three daily flights between Los Angeles and Taipei feature this product.
Passengers for EVA Air can use the Star Alliance Lounge at the Tom Bradley International Terminal. I arrived about 2 hours before boarding time and the lounge was fairly occupied.
After boarding the aircraft, I was impressed with the layout and color scheme of the cabin.
I really like the 1-2-1 configuration in that when you are traveling by yourself, you can choose rows A or K and have your own private space.
The seat is fairly comfortable though a little bit hard. There was plenty of legroom.
There wasn’t that many movie choices in the AV Entertainment system but since I like to make the most use of the flat bed on these long haul flights, I did’t mind it that much.
I liked it that instead of USB charging port, they have US compatible plug sockets.
EVA Air definitely gives out the best quality amenity kits for business class. These ones made by Rimowa are of high quality although the contents inside are pretty standard. I always give them out as gifts to my nieces whenever I visit India.
Before takeoff I was also given the menu card for dinner and breakfast.
I am not a big fan of duck and so didn’t care much for the appetizer, but the presentation was nice.
EVA Air allows pre-booking meals for their flights so I had already gone online and selected Grilled Seabass for my Los Angeles – Taipei Dinner Entree. The fish was very well done and it had lots of flavor. I didn’t care too much for the rice and the vegetables though.
For dessert, it was a plate of fruits with apple tart. I am not a big fan of apple tart but the fruits were good.
After dinner, I converted the seat into a bed. In bed mode, you can appreciate the seat so much more when you see the length of the bed.
I slept for the next 7 hours. After I woke up, I felt a little bit hungry again. Since the flight had limited snack menu items and I don’t care much for noodles or cake, I opted for the beef burger with fries. The burger was average but the fries were really bad – soggy and sort of felt undercooked.
After watching “The Maze Runner”, I went back to sleep again for about 2 hours and woke up about 30 minutes before landing.
Bottomline:
Seat: *****
Service: **
Food: ***
The Royal Laurel Class is a solid product. I loved the seat especially in bed mode. The blanket was high quality as was the Rimowa amenity kit.
As far as service goes, it was so-so. I never felt that the flight attendants went out of their way to make my flight more comfortable. I much more preferred the service in Thai, Asiana and Singapore Airlines. There were also some language issues in a few instances. I did not care much about the dining onboard either.