EVA Airlines

I am currently in the middle of a trip, traveling on this awful airline. My flight was delayed more than an hour causing me to miss the reason why I paid EXTRA for a stop over in Taipei in the first place. When I requested to reschedule via their customer service department, they seemed more than willing to make the change complementary due to the delay. When I got to the airport to check in for my rescheduled flight, I was advised that I had to pay 300+ USD– in order to be allowed on the flight. What a rip-​off! I was FORCED to pay additional fee’s in order to avoid being stuck in Taipei airport. Worse experience ever.

We give 4.5 stars… the food is good the service is excellent, seating is comfortable and lots of entertainment selections included. everything was on time and met our expectations.

I have travelled with EVA Air for many years basically since I was a child and have never had a bad experience until today. We got to JFK airport to check in and were early for our flight. We were met with the most unpleasant EVA employee I have ever met. We were trying to figure out what was happening since the EVA Air counter was roped off and wanted to ask someone. One of the airport employees asked me if I was flying with EVA air and I was walking over to him since I couldn’t hear him very well and the aforementioned unpleasant guy starts yelling at me to leave the area because the desk won’t open for another 10 minutes which was fine but there reality was no need to be rude about it. Then when the desk finally did open, he starts pushing people out of the way and yelling «one at a time in line!» I’m sure the flight itself will be pleasant but it will definitely be ruined the lack of signs indicating when the desk will be opened and by this very rude employee.

I’m hoping everything goes well with my son’s trip, but in terms of the customer service helping me cancel his original flight and re-​book, I must have spoken to four different people (my issues, not because of them) and each person was nicer than the next. Really have good things to say about their service reps.

I’m heading to Macau (near China) and EVA Air was surprisingly easy to navigate at JFK Airport Terminal 1. It’s a small intimate terminal and there wasn’t much walking. Security was very fast at 10pm although the TSA agents were a little testy. Maybe it was because if was late at night?

I usually take EVA Air to Taiwan and it’s not that bad.
Economy seats — Sitting in economy in ZONE 5, it can get a little brutal after 5 hours. The seats barely has any cushion left. The seats feel very narrow and leg room is terrible. The plus side is if nobody is seated next to you, you can pull up the arm rest and give yourself more sleeping room. As for the food in economy, it’s horrendous!
Now, you’re probably thinking why did I say it’s not that bad, well here’s why.
Evergreen Deluxe class (class between economy and business) — If you sat in this class after you experienced sitting in economy, you will notice that there’s a big difference in almost everything. It’s not quite business class but you definitely know you’re not in economy class. The food was pretty decent considering it is airplane food. They had Haagen Dazs ice cream on the menu which kinda took me by surprise. The leg room is quite nice over here and the seats are much more comfortable. The downside is the arm rest in this class does not fold up.
Business class — I sat in business class once a long time ago. It was pretty fun but I can’t remember much except that they had Super Mario World back then.
Flight attendants — Much friendlier and nicer than China Airlines.
Verdict — If you wanna fly to Taiwan, fly EVA. It’s direct flight now. Back then, it use to stop in Anchorage for a break. Now it flies direct both ways and it’s in JFK now, no longer in Newark Airport. What I also noticed a lot each time of my flight, there were a lot of folks from the Philippines that flew EVA and caught a connecting flight at Taoyuan International Airport in Taiwan to get to their country.

Someone had to update this info as EVA Airlines is now flying from JFK and not from Newark Airport.
For those of you who don’t know, EVA is one of Taiwan’s main air carriers. Over the years I’ve flown primarily EVA or China Airlines (the other main Taiwan carrier, and traditionally the nation’s flag carrier) back to Taiwan, and I have to say that as the years have gone by, EVA has most certainly eclipsed CA in terms of flight convenience, comfort, and price value.
What distinguishes EVA from CA and some other carriers is that they have a so-​called «Deluxe Economy» class. It serves as an intermediary from their far more pricey first class or business class seats. Granted those seats are flat-​beds and cost a ton, but in the DE class you basically get some of the comforts of traditional business class, like wider seats and a ton of legroom. This is key as a flight to Taiwan will eat up 14 to 17 hours of your life, so if you can afford it, it’s worth being comfortable. I always fly DE back home because the price differential between DE and Economy is WAY less than between First/​Biz class and DE. But even if you fly economy, I find that EVA’s service is better than CA. I also like how they fly direct to Taipei, which is a huge. CA currently flies to Osaka then Taipei, and the departure/​arrival times are seriously annoying versus EVA, which leaves late at night in the U.S. and arrives first thing the second morning in Taiwan. It’s far easier if you’re looking to maximize your time overseas (and here).
My flights back home have been for the most part on-​time, though the arrivals in NYC have been spotty. Their boarding process is fairly efficient, if you can deal with some of the assholes who try and cut in front of the line at times. The flight attendants are professional and relatively friendly. The duty free selections are decent and it’s nice how they have a license with Hello Kitty items/​apparel. The food is, well it’s airline food. It’s not Nobu or Ding Tai Fong. But at least you are fed. The in-​flight entertainment options are good. You get plenty of video-​on-​demand movies at your disposal, many of them are very recent Hollywood releases. You also get a nice list of Chinese, Korean, Japanese films and TV shows as well. The music playlists are good. The games are also fun, but a bit old/​basic.
I don’t really have any complaints other than the fact that the food is kind of dismal for Deluxe Economy. I know I’m not paying business class prices, but I’d still prefer to have something slightly better than Economy level food. They should take a cue from other airlines and consider establishing relationships with notable chefs or restaurants and mix up their food recipes/​selections better. Otherwise, if you’re looking for a good flying experience to Taiwan, this is a great choice.