I tried Eva Air’s Premium Economy class for the first time on my most recent trip to Thailand. The first leg of the flight was from Los Angeles to Taipei. The flight departed at Sunday Night/Monday morning 12:45 am and arrived at Taipei at 5:00am in Terminal 2.

It was PACKED at LAX during this late hour of the night! Luckily I had left with a huge cushion of time so I was not worried but make sure to leave early for your international flights out of LAX on Sunday nights.

Check-in was relatively fast, there wasn’t a long line at all. The security line was not extremely long but it was not short either. I have my Global Entry pass and had TSA Pre-Check preapproved on my ticket, but annoyingly TSA Check was already closed for the night.

The Economy class boards directly after business class. There are just 64 seats in premium economy, and it typically costs about an additional $400 to book the ticket. It’s definitely worth it as there is quite a bit of extra comfort an amenities.

First of all the flight attendants are much nicer in premium economy rather than economy, although it’s totally true that Asian airline flight attendants are generally nicer than flight attendants on other airlines.

Quickly upon settling in, I was treated to a welcome drink, slippers, bottled water, and amenity kit. Shortly after, I was shown the menu for the flight.

The Amenity Kit was sponsored by North Face, came with a toothbrush and toothpaste and egg plugs. I love that it also came with a Laniege Water Sleeping Mask!

I didn’t try the Wi-Fi but I watched plenty of movies on board for my entertainment!

Eva Air Premium Economy Seats

I will say that I do wish that the premium economy seats leaned farther back but the seats are comfy and there is plenty of legroom. The seats measure 38-inch long x 19.5 inches. Also, the seat next to me was empty. glorious! The pitch is 38 inches.

I sat in the very last row, right next to the bathrooms, which I preferred. I need to go to the bathroom fairly frequently, so I always ask for an aisle seat, and being right next to the bathroom is super ideal, because I hate waiting in lines! For this particular flight, there was a curtain separating the area from premium to economy so only the premium economy people were able to access the bathrooms, win!

Meals (LAX to Taipei)

I was very satisfied with the meals on the flight!

There was a Western and Asian main course, and the shrimp and scallops pasta sounded absolutely divine but I opted for the Chinese braised chicken and mushroom with steamed rice. It was solid and tasty but I wished that I had picked the pasta instead.

For some reason, it just seems so generous that the meal came with a full-sized snicker bar? The duck appetizer was also quite nice, it had grilled vegetables, a very luscious, fatty duck, and smoked salmon. Dessert included Haagan daaz ice cream!

Breakfast consisted of a stir-fried pork noodle with mushroom and greens which was piping hot and tasty!

There was also a snack included on the flight. The options were ham and cheese burger or a tomato pesto burger. Throughout the flight, attendants walked around with packaged snacks, water, and juices.

Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport

We landed in Taipei on time at 5 am. It was a bit weird, they couldn’t give me the ticket for the second leg of the flight, from Taipei to Chiang Mai, and I missed the station where I was supposed to get my ticket. It wouldn’t normally be an issue because I could just get it from the departing gate but since it was 5 am in the morning, the gate wasn’t opening anytime soon. I had a 2 hour and 25-minute layover, and the next flight was taking off at 7:35 am. The gate wouldn’t be open until 7 am ish.

The reason that I absolutely needed my ticket was that I wanted to check in to the Plaza Premium Lounge in Taipei, which is open 24 hours. So I walked around for another 30-40 minutes, determined to get my ticket and get into the lounge and I finally made it there and it was worth it!

Plaza Premium Lounge Taipei

It was pretty packed in the lounge but there was plenty of seating. Anyone with a priority pass can get into the lounge, which you have access to with certain credit cards. I am currently working on earning a bonus with the American Express Platinum Card so I was happy to put my new priority pass to use.

The Plaza Premium Lounge is a great lounge! I only stopped by real quick because I wasted so much time wandering around the airport but I had plenty of time to sample the food!

One of the best things about this lounge is that it has four rotating hot dishes they are already made and quickly assembled (almost instantly). For this early morning the options were:

• Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup
• Taiwanese Chicken Rice
• Vegetarian Udon Soup
• Sweet Potato Congee

I tried both the chicken rice and the congee. I’ve never had Taiwanese Chicken Rice before, so not sure how it’s supposed to taste like, but it was delicious!

The buffet section is super stocked and had tons of toppings for the porridge.

I was in and out of there in about 20 minutes!

Taipei to LAX – Return Flight

My returning flight departed Taipei at 11:50PM and at 10:12PM in Los Angeles

Here’s the menu for the return flight. Not sure why I took so few photos on the flight home, I think I was exhausted from the trip! The Braised Pork Meatball for dinner was delicious.

I always eat so much damn food at the airport, I didn’t even have room for the snacks on this flight, which included a Tomato Chicken Roll or a Sesame and Tomato Mushroom Burger.

The minced pork and sausage with noodles was quite nice for breakfast!

Overall this flight was uneventful. One thing that bothered me was that economy and premium economy class passengers had to share the same bathroom and I had to wait quite a bit to get into a bathroom. I actually ended up getting into a flight because I kept knocking on the door of the bathroom where a person was taking FOREVER, not realizing that it was a flight attendant haha.

I hate people who take forever in bathrooms.

Is the premium economy worth it? Absolutely! Economy is absolute hell and premium economy is not hellacious at all!

Premium Economy vs Business Class (Royal Laurel Class)

Check out my review of the Eva Air Royal Laurel Class

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