Evergreen Deluxe and Business Class on different Aircraft Types
Written: Jun 12 '02 (Updated Jul 15 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Still the best value and most comfortable carrier from Australia to Europe.
Cons: The replacement of MD11 with Boeing 767 means no Evergreen Deluxe Class to Australia.
The Bottom Line: EVA Air provides exactly the service that long distance travelers need and want with modern spotless aircraft, very comfortable seating and real service.
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| mayhewga's Full Review: EVA Air |
In 2000 my wife and I flew from Brisbane Australia to Paris on Singapore Airlines in their Business Class which I described at the time as the only way to fly (see my review there).
In 2002 after reading the reviews here, and having lost our FF points following Ansett Airlines collapse, decided to fly EVA Evergreen deluxe and I must say the reviews are, in the main, spot on.
In 2003 we again flew with Eva air to Europe, but on different aircraft type so I have updated this review to include Business Class on their 767, and the new uniforms, further down the page.
Australia to Europe is a very long haul with 2 legs of 7 and 14 hours each, so comfort for a pair of 50 somethings is of utmost importance. ED class is just perfect.
1.Evergreen Deluxe
Evergreen Deluxe has a cabin of its own with seating in a 2 3 2 or 2 4 2 layout depending on the aircraft type. You board along with first and business class, and the gift is a neat little pack containing toothbrush, handcream, eyemask and slippers.
The seats are the same as business class on most airlines, with seat back videos containing 10 channels of movie and 10 of music. The seats recline to a reasonably generous angle and the footrests extend down and out. We had no trouble sleeping in these seats (and we are both 5'10" tall). A pull out drink tray is built into the centre console, and your food tray comes out of the arm rest.
As other reviewers found, the seats are a little on the firm side, but then so are the beds in their hotels so it must be a Taiwanese thing.
The food is extremely good, the wine French and the timing perfect. The plates are made of china not plastic but are in the usual airline square shapes. Dinner for instance consists of a salad, an entree of curry puffs, a choice of a chinese or western main, a bowel of sliced fruit, a desert of Hagen Daz icecream or cake, cheese and crackers, tea and coffee. At any time you can order a bowel of Chinese noodles or a salad sandwich if you get the munchies.
Business Class.
We were bumped up to Business class upstairs on a 747 for the 14 hour Tapei to Paris leg, so we had the opportunity to compare the two classes
Seating is in a 2 2 layout, and the gift is in a little drawstring pouch containing the same as the ED gift plus a nifty hairbrush/comb and some nice toiletries.
EVA's Business Class on the 747 is only slightly better than ED class. The seats are probably 2" wider and deeper, and there is about 10" more between the seats. The recline is about the same, and the video is on a stalk coming out of the centre console, but with exactly the same controls and program.
Food is slightly superior to ED class and it is served on round plates a course at a time and with linen table cloths and serviettes. The wines and menu are the similar.
The breakfast of fruit, pastries, ham cheese egg and tomato , meats, cheese, served in ED class is upgraded to include yogurt and cereals
Business Class on 767 aircraft
Eva Air has converted its MD11s to freighters and have introduced Boeing 767 in their place. However these planes don't offer Evergreen deluxe, only Business and Economy, so we cashed in our points to try out the business class cabin.
(From Australia to Tapei, the upgrade from Economy to Business costs about US$200)
The first thing we noticed was that these seats are very comfortable and better than those on the 747. For a start you can barely reach the seat in front with your feet, and they recline a very long way back. Their brochures say that these are like first class seats and I agree.
The downside is that these seats have no individual entertainment systems, so all you have is the overhead TVs or personal music, a bit rough especially when the first movies of the night are for kids!
Service.
The cabin attendants are extremely efficient, friendly and very attractive, but have replaced the bright green suits and tight skirts with A line dresses in muted colours. I asked two of the staff what they thought of the new uniform and one said they liked them as they weren't as tight but the other said they were not as easy to wear as reaching up meant the dresses rode up! At meal times they slip a frilly apron over their dress. Their English is much better than most other Asian airlines and when you ask for something it is their pleasure to promptly get it for you.
One of the nice things is that every hour they bring around a tray of water or juice to keep the fluids up, and of course the bar at the back of the section is always open.
The entertainment channels were showing up to date movies, and you can select the language. The music tracks are only an hour long, so they became a bit repetitive.
On both occasions we flew over in May and returned in June and the programs (and in flight magazine) were the same, but that didn't really bother us because it gave us a chance to watch the rest of the movie selection. A selection of english language newspapers and magazines are available.
The colour scheme is muted mauves and blues, but they have now dropped the catchy little corporate tune played as you taxi in favour of some classical music played by the EVA air orchestra.
Tapei Airport.
The ground service at Tapei airport has to be the most helpful of any airport anywhere. As we disembarked at the CKS airport we were handed our free hotel and meal vouchers, and shown where to catch the shuttle bus, as we had a 30hr layover EVA put us up at their nearby hotel.
Seat allocation and baggage handling is very quick and our request for a different seat at a later time at the service desk was no problem at all.
The CKS airport itself is beautiful and has 4 seater lounges everywhere so you can stretch out for a kip between browsing the dozens of shops.
We used our layover to go into Tapei city and sightsee using their very clean and efficient MRT rail system on a day rover ticket. So for a bit of loose change we got a mini holiday in a most surprising city. We had no problems with leaving the hotel, didn't have to leave passports and the bus services to and from the airport are very regular.
EVA Evergreen Deluxe class provides the best value and most comfortable option for getting to Europe from Australasia, but it only flies from Brisbane and Auckland, code sharing with Qantas from other cities.
They are presently re-equipping with Airbus planes and hopefully I will be able review these aircraft next year if they put them on the Australia run.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
mayhewga
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Location: Caloundra, Queensland, Australia
Reviews written: 11
Trusted by: 1 member
About Me:
An Aussie who loves to travel, drink wine, and go to the beach.
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