With excellent onboard service and delicious dining, EVA Air’s 777-300ER Royal Laurel business class has a lot going for it. It remains one of our favorite ways to fly across the Pacific Ocean.

View other posts in this series:

• Trip Introduction: Springing for Sakura
• Review: oneworld Qantas Business Lounge LAX
• Review: Starlux A350-900 Business Class LAX-TPE
• Review: Starlux Galactic Lounge TPE Terminal 1
• Review: Starlux A330neo Business Class TPE-NRT
• The Airport Limousine Bus is Indeed Friendly
• Quite a Grand Stay: The Tokyo Disneyland Hotel
• Thoughts on Tokyo Disneyland
• Thoughts on Tokyo DisneySea
• Japan Pro Tip: Luggage Delivery Services
• Review: Park Hyatt Tokyo
• teamLab Planets: I Don’t Understand The Hype
• Cuteness Overload: A Review of the Pokémon Cafe Tokyo
• You Fished Your Wish: Zauo Fishing Restaurant
• Tokyo with Kids: Perhaps The Largest Playground on Earth
• Japan Pro Tip: IKEA Has Cheap Eats
• Review: Starlux A350-900 Premium Economy NRT-TPE
• Review: EVA The Infinity & The Star Lounges
• Review: EVA Air 777-300ER Royal Laurel TPE-LAX (this post)

Booking

I booked this flight right around 11 months in advance of the journey, using United miles directly on the united.com website for a total of 440,000 miles (88,000 miles each seat). At the time, there was a flood of award space that appeared, making it easy to find the needed five award seats in business class. While EVA business class could be booked cheaper using other airline miles, my Air Canada miles were tied up for other flights. Unfortunately, the price to book these flights using United miles has significantly gone up since booking, as it now costs a painful 110,000 miles per passenger. If you wish to book this journey yourself, you’re better off using Air Canada’s Aeroplan program where the same flight costs only 75,000 miles per passenger. Thus I’m not going to talk about how to earn United miles as I feel it’s far more worthwhile to earn Air Canada miles instead.

If paying cash, expect the one-way fare to cost around $3,000 on this route. That isn’t a truly fair representation of what I would have paid if I didn’t have access to miles (as it’s generally cheaper to book roundtrip international flights than to book one-ways), but it is nice to be able to offset a huge cash expense to book five tickets and just use miles instead.

Earning Air Canada Miles

The good news about Air Canada Aeroplan is that many major bank points programs transfer points at a 1:1 ratio. That means you could sign up for credit cards from American Express, CapitalOne, or Chase and then transfer your points over to Air Canada Aeroplan quite easily. That means you could sign up for the following (as examples):

• The American Express Business Platinum card (referral link) offering 150,000 points for spending $20,000 in three months.
• The CapitalOne Venture X card (referral link) offering 75,000 points for spending $4,000 in three months.
• The Chase Ink Business Preferred card (referral link) offering 100,000 points for spending $8,000 in three months.

You could also sign up for the Aeroplan credit card (not a referral link) to earn 70,000 miles when spending $3,000 in three months, which is nearly enough for a one-way ticket on EVA Air across the Pacific.

Aeroplan also sells miles cheaply from time to time, sometimes as cheaply as 0.0114 USD per point, which is an excellent rate. If you were to buy points at that rate, you could buy 75,000 points for only $855, making it quite a steal if you can get that award space for this flight. Honestly, I would strongly consider this option if you’re not looking to open a credit card.

As Air Canada is a Star Alliance carrier, you could also credit your Star Alliance flights here to get more points, but depending on your travel patterns, this could be a slower-developing strategy.

Boarding and First Impressions

With our flight scheduled to depart just before midnight local time, it meant we had to deal with children who couldn’t stay awake for the boarding process. Thankfully, we were used to the procedure by now. Flight attendants guided us to our seats, rows 6 and 7 located at the rear of the forward section of business class.

While the flight attendants were busy preparing the cabin for departure, we were handed a pre-departure beverage of our choice, along with pajamas and an amenity kit (those will be detailed later). Jenn went with a glass of water (good for her to stay hydrated right before sleep) while I went with some champagne. It was an efficient process and we were settled in quite quickly.

The Seat

The Royal Laurel cabin on EVA’s 777-300ER features a lie-flat seat with plenty of legroom. Found at the seat are a pillow, blanket, and slippers. There is enough padding in the seat to not be uncomfortable during the lengthy flight back to the United States. There are no doors on the seats, but it’s not necessary–the reverse herringbone design is good enough at providing ample privacy.

By the footwell is a small storage compartment, big enough to store your water bottle when sleeping.

The seat and TV controls are found in a convenient location, though I must admit the controls themselves didn’t operate as smoothly as hoped. I needed to press hard on the remote to get the commands to register and the TV monitor wasn’t a touch screen. That meant for some difficulty at times getting the volume just right and to select programming. The same held true for the seat controls, which sometimes did not register what I was pressing.

Also found at the seat was a small welcome chocolate and a poem to welcome us onboard.

Headphones are also provided, but I found it a bit difficult to use them extensively through the flight.

You can ask the flight attendants to put the mattress topper on at any time once in the skies. It added some extra cushion but I’ll admit it’s not quite as thick as I would have hoped.

As a bit of an aside, I have to admit that I somewhat fear reverse herringbone seats as a parent of younger children. That’s because it can be difficult to tend to their needs given how far apart the seats are and it’s especially true for those seats where there is a privacy divider in the center. Thankfully for us, there is no privacy divider and it’s quite open in the middle, making it rather easy for us to look after the little ones. On the flip side, if you were flying solo in the center seats, you would probably have a different opinion on the privacy offered.

I also enjoyed the fake stars in the ceiling when the lights were turned off for most of the flight.

Food

EVA Air has a small but effective dining menu on this flight, which makes sense given the late night departure. Choices include the standard menu options of braised pork or sea bass, or you could opt for the Din Tai Fung collaboration and go for the braised beef noodle soup. If I’m ever offered Din Tai Fung on a plane, I’m taking it. Sadly, there are no xiao long bao on the flight (though honestly I don’t think that would taste correctly cooked in a plane kitchen and consumed up at altitude).

The dinner course started with a drink and appetizers: a dried fig and a small bite with crab meat and caviar. Who says you have to be flying first class to get caviar on a plane? Naturally, I chose champagne to accompany the appetizers. I thought the dish was a good start to the meal.

Next came the braised beef noodle soup with some accompaniments. The meal hit the spot and was one of the better airplane dishes I’ve had in a while. That being said, comparing it to the Din Tai Fung I’ve come to know and love on the ground, it did taste like it was missing an element to it. Perhaps it just needed a little bit of extra salt to it. But overall, I’d say I was quite pleased with the selection and I’m happy the Taiwanese brands decided to team up.

And don’t think I didn’t notice you hiding out there, Hello Kitty. Despite this not being a Hello Kitty-themed plane, it looks like some tray cloths made it onboard. We flew one of the Hello Kitty planes back in 2017 and were amused by all the Hello Kitty items onboard (like a Hello Kitty barf bag, of all things), but that’s a story for another day.

Dessert was some fruit and a mooncake. I enjoyed the freshness of the fruit but the mooncake felt a bit heavy for me after that meal. Plus, I’ve been more used to the typical pre-packaged mooncakes to fully appreciate this one.

The kids meal, which was offered mid-flight rather than at the same time as everyone else’s meal was served, ended up being some pasta, hot dog, and vegetable combination, with fruit, bread, and dessert on the side. I’d say the meal was welcomed with some minor success, but I think they tried too hard to have something for everyone by mashing everything together into one bowl.

For the second course shortly before landing, I started with some green tea.

I chose the Western course, which starts with a smoked salmon salad. It was light and refreshing.

Next, the main course came out, which was a spinach and chicken sausage quiche. It was deliciously greasy and comforting to have before landing.

After the meal, another course of fruit was served. I feel that fruit is an underappreciated dessert item.

Of course the flight attendant also asked if I wanted another drink to enjoy, so naturally I had to oblige. I opted for another glass of champagne, though the flight attendant came back to profusely apologize that all the champagne was consumed on the flight (whoops, did I do that?) and could only provide for half a glass. The flight attendant also insisted I order another glass of wine since half a glass wasn’t enough and I chose the port. Thus I ended up double-fisting wines during the breakfast course. It’s five o’clock somewhere, right?

The kids meal for breakfast again felt like a hodgepodge of items, with a sausage, half a hard-boiled egg, and grilled chicken as the main course. Again, something for everyone, but there isn’t really a theme here.

Amenities

The pajamas for this flight are a collaboration with Jason Wu. I can’t say I’m too familiar with the designer, but I will say that they are quite comfortable and stylish. These are pajamas that probably wouldn’t look bad if I were wandering around outside with them on (not that I would but it’s good to know that I won’t look too out-of-place if I mess up).

Flight attendants also saw that I was going to have trouble transporting pajamas for the whole family and proactively offered a cute, sturdy EVA-themed reusable bag.

The amenity kit offered is a Giorgio Armani-branded kit that comes in its own protective bag. I’ve seen enough higher-end bags to know that you need a bag to protect the bag, and this is no exception. Inside you’ll find the same standard items you’ve come to expect in these kits. The one extra item that stands out though is a small travel wallet. If nothing else, it will give me another fake wallet to use if I’m traveling somewhere, though Jenn would likely not be thrilled with the idea of me using a Giorgio Armani wallet as a decoy.

The kids were also handed an amenity–an airplane-themed set of magnets. This entertained four-year-old Char better than it did seven-year-old Alex, but it’s still nice to be offered a gift for the kids on the flight.

Entertainment

The entertainment options on this plane lags a bit compared to other airlines. I already mentioned the controls were a bit stiff, making using the monitor small chore. But the selection of films and TV shows was on the smaller side. I don’t think it was just the English options were light as there didn’t seem to be many options in Chinese either. This is probably one of the most disappointing features of this flight (which, honestly, isn’t all that bad of an experience if this is the worst part of the flight).

Kids programming was also on the lighter side. So after watching Migration on each of the three prior flights, you’d think the kids would watch something else, but you would be mistaken. So from that perspective, I guess they were satisfied with the options? It all goes to show that if you bring your own entertainment to supplement what’s offered onboard, you won’t be dissatisfied.

The Wi-Fi network was easy to use. Everyone is offered 30 free minutes of Wi-Fi, after which you’ll have to pay a high price to continue using your devices during the middle of the flight. I didn’t experience any issues with blackouts or periods where it couldn’t be used.

If you’re just trying to access the free Wi-Fi, I’d recommend not registering an account. There’s no point in wasting time creating an account unless you’re looking to pay. Plus, I was able to connect multiple devices and sign in as a guest on each, allowing a free half hour for each device I had.

Service

I found the service from the flight attendants to be quite polished, professional, and excellent overall. Staff seemed to anticipate our needs quite well, which isn’t expected when flying in business class and I’d say the crew went above and beyond to make our experience enjoyable. They proactively offered to delay heating and serving the child meals until midway through the flight, which was awesome. They also proactively offered an EVA-branded reusable bag to help carry all the pajamas off the plane as they knew I would have my hands full. I appreciated the flight attendants also apologizing for not having enough champagne on the flight — they certainly could have left me a half-empty glass without saying anything and then I would be instead wondering the reason for a small pour. The flight attendants also seemed to enjoy having the kids onboard, and looked for creative ways to make sure they were comfortable (including offering my daughter many of the welcome chocolates when they realized she likes them). There was absolutely no language barrier with this crew, making for a stress-free experience from start to finish.

On EVA Air, Starlux, and China Airlines

It’s only natural that I compare the three Taiwan-based airlines as they all offer nonstop service from Taipei to many destinations. I should caveat that I haven’t flown China Airlines since 2018, so recent (post-pandemic) observations are a bit light, but I do recall liking China Airlines the least of all three of the carriers. I found China Airlines to struggle a bit more with English fluency and service was a bit rough around the edges though still well-intentioned. Their aircraft was also a bit dated and their lounge offering was not impressive (this was when there was extensive construction on the newer facility, which I heard is much better now). I wouldn’t go so far as to say avoid them, but I would say that if all three are available, I wouldn’t prefer to take China Airlines.

As for EVA Air and Starlux, I think it depends on what you’re looking for. I found service and food on EVA Air to be marginally better than Starlux. On the flip side, the seat and hard product offered on Starlux were marginally better than EVA Air. The lounges for both airlines leaves something to be desired. But we’re talking about marginal value here and I think either would be an excellent way to fly across the Pacific Ocean.

Of course, remember this is just my opinion. Any one given flight could easily skew opinions, so take any rankings with a grain of salt.

Recommendation: Yes!

With excellent service and delicious food, what else could you be hoping for in a transpacific business class flight? Sure, the in-flight entertainment wasn’t the greatest, but it helps when you come prepared with your own entertainment. The thing that made the flight for me was the excellent, customized service offered to us. We’ve come to expect that service when flying true international first class, but to experience it on a business class flight just sets EVA Air apart from the other carriers out there. Just make sure you’re using the right points to book your flight to avoid overpaying for the experience.

Have you flown EVA Air Royal Laurel? What were your thoughts?