See You Next Year Taipei!
Posted by Stephen on
June 14, 2007
A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Airport….
Yesterday was my last day in Taipei so I checked out and took a hotel car to the airport. Everything seemed OK till I got to the ticket check in counter. My last day at the hotel was the June 14th, but for some reason, the ticket had a date of June 15th for the departure date despite the fact that my email had a June 14th departure. I remember that the travel agent was doing something with my flight to try to get me out of there on the same airline as my flights to and from Vancouver. I guess something got screwed up.
At any rate, I went on standby and things didn’t look good. All the flights were booked and it would seem that I would need to spend the night in Taoyuan Airport till my scheduled flight the next day at 4:40 PM. Luckily, EVA decided to add one more flight and I was on it 3 hrs later.
Only SUPER BUSINESS CLASS was available and they wanted $75 US for it. I thought, what the hell. I didn’t pay for the flight anyway. I might as well kick in to get there when I planned to so here I am being greeted by three stewardesses. I even have my own TV and a video game system. Heck, I even have a place to hang my hat.
The seats are like super recliners. They’re set inside buckets so you don’t bother the guy behind you when you recline and the leg room is almost limitless. I couldn’t even reach the other seat with my legs.
The seats had so many buttons and gadgets that I spent at least half the flight playing around with them. The seat had all sorts of trays and gadgets.
In Super Business Class, you get noise cancelling headphones made by Sennheiser, and not some cheap ass disposable stuff. Unfortunately, they used some really weird proprietary connector that I’d never seen before on an aircraft. Otherwise, I’d snag them and use them later.
I was surprised by the quality of the dining experience. They laid out table cloths, gave me fresh buns. They even gave me mini salt and pepper shakers instead of those horrid packets that rip and you end up with too much on your food. As for the food itself, it was probably some of the best airline food I’ve had in a while. The seafood wasn’t overcooked, the fruit was fresh, and the dessert was pretty good. I got all the juice and coffee I wanted.
Is Super Business Class worth the extra green? Well, if I didn’t have to be in Hong Kong that day, I probably wouldn’t have spent the cash. Also, because this is a pretty short 2 hr flight, all these extras were definitely overkill. However, if I could get myself into SUPER business class on the way back to Canada for cheap enough, I might just swing for it.
Next stop: Hong Kong!
hey stephen when you are traveling after john left were you traveling alone or are you meeting up with new tech friends or just partying it up
I’ll probably meet up with some people I know including Carl when he finally gets home from Japan. He lives in Hong Kong.
looks awesome, of course i’ve only flown Southwest so anyhting is better than that!
When I took a flight to LA last month, we flew business class with Air Canada (used Aeroplan miles) and got similar treatment. There was a table cloth, real cutlery, fresh buns, mini salt/pepper shakers, etc. They even gave a complimentary newspaper. No Sennheiser headphones, but the seats were massaging chairs!
AC is EVA’s partner. They probably learned a thing or two from them. EVA really knows how to take care of its passengers, even in Economy Class. I did see cup of noodles go back there when we had our fresh fruit snack on the way to Taipei. Free newspapers were provided as well.
Yes, the seats all massaged my achy back. I thought the button looked pretty clear in the pic. The noise cancelling sennheisers were definitely a nice touch.
Nice work on the upgrade, for $75 bucks like you said it’s a freakn steal! I have yet to travel in Business Class or First Class. I have the same Under Armor hat…I see you’ve been putting yours to good use.
BTW, the USB flash drive arrived yesterday. Thanks for sending it again.
Glad the drive got there safe. Wasn’t sure if it would make it. Yeah, I love that Under Armor hat. It’s bad ass
$75 is worth the extra luxury even for a short trip like Taiwan to HK. I’ve flown economy in a plane full of Chinese people and it’s no fun. Chickens jumping around and goats running up and down the aisles . . .
LOL i’d pay money to see that happen in real life… of course, from the luxury of first class
But no, in all honesty ive only flown once and it was an absolute nightmare. The service was decent enough, but I discovered that I have severe issues with ear pressure when landing. I was nearly in tears each time we touched down… i was actually afraid my ear drums would get damaged
$75 bucks is nothing! Seems like a small price to pay for comfort.
I got upgraded to first class once and was surprised at how great it was, really. On my flight to Japan, three cute flight attendants greeted me at the door. One girl took my coat, another asked me “A glass of wine, champagne or orange juice, Mr. Lau?” and another handed me a bag full of stuff including noise cancelling headphones, slippers, toiletries, sleeping mask and some other stuff.
I’m not sure it’s worth it if you fly on a regular basis but on a long, long flight…it’s definitely a more enjoyable experience rather than a chore.