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EVA Air Airbus A330 Business Class
Hello from Jakarta! While a full review will follow soon, I wanted to share my initial thoughts on the EVA Air Airbus A330 business class product with a mini-review. This flight was operated by a newly delivered plane (only 3 months old) and featured fully-flat seats in a 2-2-2 configuration. While the seats felt a little bit on the narrow side, they were perfectly comfortable for the medium-haul flight from Taipei to Jakarta.
Boarding began right on time at 8:30am and I was greeted by the friendly cabin crew who directed to my seat, 9A. I was really happy to see the refreshed cabin, having read previous reviews featuring an angled-flat product similar to what Singapore Airlines offers on some routes. Business class features 5 rows in a 2-2-2 configuration for a total 30 seats, and felt a little bit tight on the A330, especially in the aisles. I found the colours and overall aesthetic of the cabin pleasant, and there was definitely still some ‘new plane’ smell.
I appreciated that the seats were somewhat staggered, with a small privacy partition for added privacy. The cabin was nearly full by the time the door closed, though thankfully the seat next to mine remained empty.
Waiting at the seat were slippers, headphones, and a comfortable pillow. During boarding the crew came around with menus and offered pyjamas, which I thought was incredible for such a short flight. I wasn’t even offered pyjamas on my 10-hour flight from San Francisco to Tokyo on United Airlines in Polaris business class. Furthermore, headphones were the same noise cancelling set offered on long-haul routes and are of excellent quality. It’s little details like this that makes EVA Air one of my favourite airlines!
We pushed back on time with the friendly female captain announcing a flight time of 5 hours to Jakarta. She said the weather looked good but expected some rough air on the climb out of Taipei (she was right). My one small complaint about this product is lack of storage. There is no floor storage for taxi, takeoff, and landing, and personal storage space is sparse. Each seat had the typical reading light, literature storage, and adjustable headrest you would expect in business class.
The crew came around before takeoff to take meal orders and offer pre-departure beverages with service beginning shortly after reaching cruise altitude. I was expecting breakfast to be served given the early departure time and was relieved to see a full lunch menu with three options. An appetizer came out first, consisting of smoked salmon with shrimp and cheese potato salad and chicken with fig.
For my main I chose the honey glazed chicken with rice and mixed vegetables, which I paired with some warm garlic bread. I found both dishes tasty and consider the lunch one of the better medium-haul airline meals I’ve had.
I was still fairly tired after the flight from Vancouver, so I decided to recline the seat for a short nap after lunch. The seat converts into a fully-flat bed with decent width, though the footwell was fairly narrow. The armrest can also be lowered to increase sleeping space and I had no trouble finding a comfortable position.
I managed to get a couple hours of sleep and woke up just short of our initial descent into Jakarta. I quickly freshened up in the lavatory, which featured the same amenities found in business class on long-haul routes. I returned to my seat and spent the rest of the time admiring the views of our approach.
Bottom Line
For a medium-haul route, this business class product blew me away. It’s quite rare to find a fully-flat business class seat on flights within Asia, with Singapore Airlines offering an angled-flat product on most routes and ANA offering recliners or cradle seats on most of their shorter flights. Furthermore, service was fantastic, with friendly and attentive cabin crew and above average catering. EVA continues to be one of my favourite airlines and I’m happy I was able to experience this new product on their Airbus A330.
Have you flown EVA Air business class within Asia? Tell us about your experience in the comment section below!
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