EVA Business Class Review LHR-BKK November 2022(& May 2023)

[Pheat]

5 hours ago, purescience said:

I was looking forward to spending some time in the Air Canada lounge for my upcoming January flight. I wonder if the 8pm closing is a permanent thing or they are planning to return to the old schedule. At some point.

Also a little dissapointed I might have to wear a mask on board. I remember reading a post on another topic (I think it might have been the "flight prices getting crazy" thread) and someone was saying that they only had to wear masks for boarding. Maybe compliance is less as you move further down the plane?

I hope we can keep this thread going so that people can share their own experiences going forward. I will certainly try to do so for my own trip.

I flew EVA BC about 3 months ago London - Bangkok I took my mask off as soon as I took my seat no one asked me to put the mask back on during the flight and many were doing the same 

[hammerman]

Spent time in the Lufthansa lounge on a trip to BKK via Vienna on Austrian in Oct, used it on other occasions also as said it a functional lounge without any frills. Bonus when I was there was the Octoberfest promotion with Sausages Sauerkraut and large bottles of Spaten/Erdinger beer at 6%. I took advantage.

Only issue was feeling extremely bloated on both flights. Not recommended.

[bgtp]

Great review @davidge. Was the aircraft a B777 or B787? I recently flew LHR-BKK on Thai business, my first trip since before covid. That wasn’t my original plan, but the result of a missed connection and some re-routing. I was able to use the Singapore lounge. Hard for me to comment on the flight itself as I was pretty much a walking zombie by flight time and slept most of the way. I’ve always had good experiences with EVA including a flight on one of their Hello Kitty planes.

[davidge]

11 minutes ago, bgtp said:

Great review @davidge. Was the aircraft a B777 or B787? I recently flew LHR-BKK on Thai business, my first trip since before covid. That wasn’t my original plan, but the result of a missed connection and some re-routing. I was able to use the Singapore lounge. Hard for me to comment on the flight itself as I was pretty much a walking zombie by flight time and slept most of the way. I’ve always had good experiences with EVA including a flight on one of their Hello Kitty planes.

They use 777-300s on this route. I really like the layout.

[penboy]

40 minutes ago, davidge said:

They use 777-300s on this route. I really like the layout.

SeatGuru Seat Map EVA Air

1-2-1 ??

Yeah that is a nice layout

[davidge]

 

I thought I might as well do the return trip as well.

Taxi got me to the airport at 10.00 for my 13.05 flight. Eva have at least 2 Taipei flights before the London one do check-in had been open a while. Half a dozen Priority desks and I was called straight to an empty one. Check in very quick and they didn’t weigh hand luggage.

Queue for Fasttrack so took maybe 20 minutes to get through but Immigration was quick. Then it’s about a 20 minute walk to the Eva Lounge at the ‘F’ pier. I was in the lounge before 11.00.

Warm welcome from the staff and they set up the Wi-Fi on my phone. Plenty of room in the lounge. Staff in the lounge very helpful throughout. Main food options were, understandably, Asian but there was also sweetcorn soup, sandwiches, salad, fruit, savoury pastries and pizza. Small selection of desserts and ice cream. Obviously, drinks of various sorts. They still have the Japanese toilets with heated seats and wash & dry.

I wandered down to the gate (E5) about half an hour before boarding. Well organised with plenty of staff. Boarding slightly delayed and then we were kept at the gate until 30 minutes after scheduled departure due to slot availability at Heathrow - flight time was shorter than timetabled. There were 4 planes ahead of us on the taxiway and we took off at 13.50.

The pre-boarding announcement said masks were required before boarding but few passengers wore one and it wasn’t mentioned on board.

Welcome drink as usual and attendants came around taking meal orders. Still no printed menus on board and the IFE isn’t available at this point. I’d chosen my meals ahead of time anyway.

They served the main meal as soon as we were at cruising altitude. As on the flight out I didn’t really know what I was eating apart from the main course. I did check the IFE later and the pic is in the next post.

Appetiser, starter, soup, salad, main course. Choice of 2 red and 2 white wines. I declined the cheese & biscuits, fruit, dessert and ice cream that followed as I was stuffed! Finished with a nice cup of Earl Grey.

As usual with Eva, food and service excellent.

I didn’t expect to sleep as it was a day flight but did shut my eyes for an hour and listened to music. Watched a series of movies. Really enjoyed Phantom of the Open (a quirky British film) then I watched a Liam Neeson movie that was pretty much like every other Liam Neeson movie, a Brad Pitt movie with lots of violence that I think was meant to be funny but was just really really bad, Moonfall - daft but enjoyable and finally Spencer which is a really odd movie.

Second meal served about 2 and a half hours from London. Nothing special but plenty for a second meal. Service seemed a bit rushed this time.

We would have arrived about an hour early but ATC put us in a holding pattern. We were given permission to land about 45 minutes later. Very foggy and I couldn’t see any lights etc out of the window until we were very low. We were very close to landing when we pulled up and did a go-around - always a fun experience 😬. The Captain announced that ATC had ordered it due to another aircraft being on the Runway. We went around and landed 10 minutes later, about 5 minutes ahead of schedule, and were at the gate 10 minutes later.

The usual long trek at LHR from gate to immigration. Immigration very busy with lots f people queuing. Most of the electronic gates were open so it took about 15 minutes. Baggage started to arrive as I got to the belt and I got my case 5 minutes later. Customs was deserted. It then took 20 minutes to get a lift that would take me down to the taxi rank - they kept going straight past!

Spent the night in a hotel, just had a good breakfast, taxi coming in half an hour for my journey home to Swansea.

(food pics in next post for those interested)

 

[davidge]

The stewardesses came around several times with a trolley with the ‘Leisure Delights’ but I didn’t try them.

 

[Minstrol]

Just out of interest how much did this set you back? Considering doing it myself next time same route.

[tt2008]

I fly regularly LHR - BKK in business and use either Thai or Eva direct flights. My target price pre Covid was around £2,500 return. Post Covid Thai has been more expensive than that (£3K+), but I have seen Eva flights around that price.

I prefer the Eva service, but prefer the early Thai flight so it depends on pricing. You can credit your miles to either account, I put mine on Thai.

For my post Covid flights I've used Thai Gold Award upgrades or miles for flights but I'm hoping pricing will be back to a reasonable level for both airlines before too long for future trips.

I like either the United or Singapore lounge at LHR. United if you like western food, Singapore has a better asian selection.

I don't think there is an official fast track immigration lane at BKK for Business class passengers, but I have always gone for the far right hand lane for 'over 70's' and airline crew and they always let me though. Never much of a Q.

The Thai early flight is now operated by a 777 with First Class and the business class has 2 cabins, the first very small, 2 rows of seats, if you like more privacy.

[davidge]

2 hours ago, Minstrol said:

Just out of interest how much did this set you back? Considering doing it myself next time same route.

It was around £2900 and the same flights May to August that I’ve already booked were the same price. There was the very occasional date with a slightly cheaper price but the £2900 was standard on most dates - when I looked.

[Snowbird99]

Did LHR to BKK business on 22nd. 
 

Previous posts describe the experience pretty accurately.  The Lufthansa lounge is frankly rubbish. Poor food selection , no clean plates to put it on, had to use a mug for OJ as no glasses and indolent staff who didn’t care.

 

Flight delayed a couple of hours due to freezing fog and need to de-ice the plane.
 

There is a fast track at BKK for business class passengers. Eva air staff emphasised that I should use it. It is signposted although not especially clearly. No wait at all at fast track immigration, although the airport not particularly busy. 
 

Has booked NAM taxi to P. Driver waiting even after the delay. 

 

Cost £2550. Booked about a month ago. 
 

Edited January 26, 2023 by Snowbird99

[Bazle]

13 minutes ago, Snowbird99 said:

Did LHR to BKK business on 22nd. 
 

Previous posts describe the experience pretty accurately.  The Lufthansa lounge is frankly rubbish. Poor food selection , no clean plates to put it on, had to use a mug for OJ as no glasses and indolent staff who didn’t care.

I used the Lufthansa lounge when I flew with them, and understand your comments, but don't understand why you were there rather than at the Air Canada lounge, which is excellent. 

[davidge]

7 minutes ago, Bazle said:

I used the Lufthansa lounge when I flew with them, and understand your comments, but don't understand why you were there rather than at the Air Canada lounge, which is excellent. 

Apparently it is still closing early (8pm?) so Eva aren’t sending people there.

[Bazle]

12 minutes ago, davidge said:

Apparently it is still closing early (8pm?) so Eva aren’t sending people there.

Yes, it closed at 8pm on 31 December, but it was no great hardship not having the use of the lounge for about 40 minutes, particularly when the Air Canada lounge is so close to the boarding gate. 

[davidge]

6 minutes ago, Bazle said:

Yes, it closed at 8pm on 31 December, but it was no great hardship not having the use of the lounge for about 40 minutes, particularly when the Air Canada lounge is so close to the boarding gate. 

If it’s the same for my next flight I’ll do that as well, but at check-in this time I was told to go to Lufthansa and she crossed out Air Canada on the lounge pass.

[Bazle]

Just now, davidge said:

If it’s the same for my next flight I’ll do that as well, but at check-in this time I was told to go to Lufthansa and she crossed out Air Canada on the lounge pass.

I don't get to speak with anyone as I use the app to do on-line check in, which provides both the boarding pass and lounge invitation. 

[leeds1960]

I was on the LHR BKK flight on December 3rd which got cancelled/postponed until 15:00 on the 4th, on my return this week I got in touch with customer service in London to add my miles to my card and they advised me to email them re compensation and offered £520.

[tt2008]

2 hours ago, leeds1960 said:

I was on the LHR BKK flight on December 3rd which got cancelled/postponed until 15:00 on the 4th, on my return this week I got in touch with customer service in London to add my miles to my card and they advised me to email them re compensation and offered £520.

It's the law if you are flying from London (or EU country). I was booked on the early Thai flight out of LHR once and it got cancelled (I think plane had problem) but they rebooked me on the later Thai flight the same day. I also got the £500+ compensation (can't remeber exact figure).

Re Eva, I have found they are more prone to small delays tham Thai on the LHR-BKK route (1 or 2 hours) compared with Thai. I think it's because of the routing to/from Taipei via BKK that causes it. They can often catch up some of that on the flight.

[davidge]

Less than 3 weeks to my next flight so time to choose the meals:

 

 

[Pheat]

37 minutes ago, davidge said:

Less than 3 weeks to my next flight so time to choose the meals:

 

 

I am flying EVA BC tomorrow night Lon- Bangkok I went for the half lobster

[davidge]

5 minutes ago, Pheat said:

I am flying EVA BC tomorrow night Lon- Bangkok I went for the half lobster

So did I, though it was tough & chewy when I had it last time. I enjoyed the cod though and didn’t want anything too heavy as there’ll be a few other courses 

[Luv2Phuket]

I always feel compelled to order something that is not going to be among the 3 items offered in flight! 555

The 2 that jumped out at me with the poached lobster and cod (experienced similar "toughness" when I got lobster on a Singapore flight) and the beef slice rolled in mashed sweet potatoes.

Factoring the all of the food I shovel down and the water retention, I come in a solid 2 kgs heavier after I land! 555

....God I miss premium cabin long haul flights!

[CanadaMatt]

Interesting thread but I am curious as to how EVA has a direct flight between LHR and BKK.  Does Thailand and Taiwan have some sort of Open Skies agreement (pardon me if I got the terminology incorrect)?

[davidge]

Just now, CanadaMatt said:

Interesting thread but I am curious as to how EVA has a direct flight between LHR and BKK.  Does Thailand and Taiwan have some sort of Open Skies agreement (pardon me if I got the terminology incorrect)?

The flight is LHR-TPE-LHR but stops at BKK en route.

[rioman]

On 26/01/2023 at 06:28, davidge said:

If it’s the same for my next flight I’ll do that as well, but at check-in this time I was told to go to Lufthansa and she crossed out Air Canada on the lounge pass.

Last February I flew business Thai airways bkk-lhr and than Avianca LHR-Bogota.  Seemed to me that Eva was quite a bit more expensive than thai and I really thought thai was so much better than Avianca.  This was only my 2nd time in LHR and while I was very impressed with the friendliness/speed that airport staff processed people I was less than impressed with the Air Canada business lounge.  Found it small, lacking in variety, and that closing at 8pm thing seems very lame.  I believe my avianca flight left at 8:30PM so it was not such a big deal, but certainly something to think about if going through LHR again.  

I think any of the Asian airlines are so much better than NA/EU airline alternatives.  I have not experienced Emirates/other mid eastern laternatives, but funny enough that turkish airlines lounge/services in Istanbul really makes it a good consideration.  However, I was travelling right at time of big earthquake there so passed on it this time.