Review: EVA Air Business Class Bali to Taipei A330-300

EVA Airways Medium Haul Business Class Sitz alte Business Class

I recently flew business class with EVA Air from Denpasar (Bali) to Taipei and back in an Airbus A330-300. This review refers to my outbound flight from Bali to Taipei but occasionally refers to the inbound flight as well. EVA Air has been rated a 5-star airline by Skytrax for 4 consecutive years. How did the airline do on this flight? Read on to find out.

Check-In & Boarding

In my head it all made sense when I decided to arrive at the airport 4 hours before departure to work a bit in the lounge. Unfortunately it didn’t quite work out like that. The problem is that in Bali the issuance of e-boarding passes is not possible (at least with EVA Air). So when I checked in online, I didn’t receive a boarding pass. And the check-in gate only opens 3 hours before departure. Therefore I had to work from a café for the first 1-1,5 hours. After the check-in counter opened, the boarding pass was quickly issued. Unfortunately there was no fast security track but it didn’t take too long anyway.
The boarding was easy and efficient as EVA Air boards with groups. As I was in group 1, I was allowed to board the plane as one of the first passengers together with other business class passengers, status holders, Star Alliance gold members, seniors and parents travelling with infants.
Unfortunately boarding was delayed by 20 minutes and departure was delayed by more than 60 minutes in the end.

I was able to receive a mobile boarding pass for the inbound flight. I could not find a fast security track at Taipei airport either.

Lounges

In Denpasar you will receive a lounge access voucher to a contract lounge called Premier Lounge as an EVA Air business class passenger. But this lounge can also be accessed with a Priority Pass. The standard of the lounge is pretty low I would say. The food was looking terrible to be honest and the few things I tried were also below average. Drink selection was ok. No power plugs at any of the seats. No specific work space. The lounge became busier towards the afternoon.

I saw that there is another Priority Pass lounge right next to Premier Lounge. The name is T/G Lounge. To be honest I was impressed by this lounge. There was a live cooking station, the lounge was not as full as the Premier Lounge and food looked also a bit better. So if you are in Denpasar and have the choice between T/G Lounge and Premier Lounge, I would go for the T/G Lounge.

On the way back in Taipei I had access to EVA Air’s lounge called “The Infinity”. It is a nice lounge with a good food selection and a nice interior. It offers showers, free WiFi, a business center and much more.

Cabin & Comfort

The cabin is equipped with angled flat seats in a 2-2-2 configuration. The window seats therefore do not have direct aisle access but for such a short flight of 5,5 hours that didn’t bother me much.

There’s lots of storage space around the seat. Two compartments below the screen, one small compartment right of it for magazines and two compartments below the middle console. Furthermore there is a space for a bottle of water between the two screen and below the magazine compartment.

The seat settings can be changed in the outer arm rest. This is also where you will find the remote. The tray tables are in the middle arm rest. Below the middle arm rest you will also find a power plug, two USB plugs and cinch connectors. You will also find a reading light and a headphone connector next to your head.

The business class cabin has a total of 30 seats. There are 2 toilets available. I never had to wait for the lavatory to be available as the cabin was not fully booked.

The lavatories are nice with a good amount of amenities. The plant that has been placed above the amenities gives it a nice touch. Amenities were only partially available in the other toilet. The toilets were very well maintained throughout the flight.

These photos refer to my outbound flight from Bali to Taiwan and it seems like this was EVA Air’s old business class. However on my inbound flight from Taipei to Bali I was lucky enough to end up in the new business class with newer seats.

EVA Airways Medium Haul Business Class New business class

Food & Service

Right after boarding the crew handed out welcome drinks, hot towels and food & drink menus. A few minutes later the crew noted down our choices. The menu looked like this:

EVA Air offers additional menu items online. You are able to pre-select them before the flight. However for my outbound flight I chose the grilled beef tenderloin that was part of the in-flight menu anyway. This was the online choice for my inbound flight from Taipei to Denpasar:

Food service began about 40 minutes after departure. We received a small plate of finger food and some drinks. About 10 minutes later the starter (a salad) was served. It tasted great. I thought one advantage was that the crew handed out meals individually. If you had finished your starter, they took your plate and replaced it with your main meal. There was literally almost no waiting time in between the courses. I must admit the presentation of the main course was not so pleasant. But it tasted great. The beef tenderloin was almost a tad bit too tough. The pumpkin mash and veggies on the side were very tasty. The dessert was very tasty too. The fruits actually tasted as if they had just been cut. Outstanding!

The service was 100% on point. Whenever I pressed the service button, 5 seconds later a flight attendant was there. That’s really exceptional. The employees were all very friendly and made me feel very welcome and comfortable. They also came and offered drinks individually several times during the flight.

Entertainment

The screen has a nice size. It’s not exceptionally big but since I am not one to watch movies excessively during flights anyway, it didn’t bother me at all.

EVA Airways Medium Haul Business Class Screen

The enter button of the remote on my left didn’t work. But the screen was a touchscreen luckily, so I was able to operate it through that way.

The headphones are of very good quality and come in an expensive looking bag.

There was internet available but unfortunately at very unattractive prices and with limited data.

EVA Air WLAN
Very unattractive WiFi options with EVA Air

Extras

A Hello Kitty branded pillow, a nice and high quality blanket and slippers were at the seat right after boarding.

There was no amenity kit which I think is ok for a 5,5 hour flight. But I really appreciated the fact that there were slippers. In my opinion all medium- and long-haul flights in business class should come with slippers.

EVA Air Airbus A330-300 Business Class
  • Check-In & Boarding
  • Lounge
  • Cabin & Comfort
  • Food & Service
  • Entertainment & WiFi
  • Extras
3.92
Conclusion

EVA Air delivers a great business class product. Not much room for improvement. I would fly this route with EVA Airways’ business class any time again.

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