EVA Air Premium Economy: “Meh” Seat, Impressive Everything Else

After flying Greater Bay Airlines from Hong Kong to Bangkok, today I flew EVA Air’s 777 premium economy class from Bangkok to London Heathrow. I’ve flown EVA Air before in both business class and economy class, though this was my first time flying them in premium economy, and my first time flying them longhaul. As the global pioneer of the premium economy class concept in 1992, EVA Air currently only offers their premium economy class on their 777s (their newer 787s don’t feature it at the moment, though EVA Air has plans to take delivery of 787s with premium economy cabins), so I wanted to check out how the product was holding up.

EVA Air features a below-average premium economy seat, though might feature one of the more impressive onboard soft products I’ve seen on any airline in premium economy class. I’ll share a full review in the coming days, though in the meantime here are my first impressions.

EVA Air’s Premium Economy Ground Experience

Alright, let’s start with a negative. EVA Air doesn’t offer any priority services for their premium economy passengers. Post-COVID, the airline only offers priority check-in counter for passengers out of their Taipei hub, and not at other airports. This wasn’t an issue for me, since I was connecting from Hong Kong using an onward boarding pass I’d obtained from online check-in.

There’s no lounge access, and shockingly no priority boarding either – EVA Air boards their premium economy passengers in zone 4, behind most economy class passengers in zones 2 and 3. From research, it seems like premium economy was boarded last as a COVID-19 measure (as those seats at the front of the cabin), and this was never redacted.

Fortunately at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport zones 2-5 are more or less boarded together, so I headed onboard once priority boarding had completed.

EVA Air Boarding at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport

Despite this, boarding still felt fairly organised, assisted by the use of electronic boarding pass scanner gates at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport.

EVA Air’s Outdated 777 Premium Economy Seat

EVA Air’s 777s feature 56 premium economy class seats, arranged across seven rows in a 2-4-2 configuration. These seats were reupholstered in around 2017, and are grey with orange finishes.

EVA Air 777 Premium Economy Class

On first glance, this seat really reminded me of Cathay Pacific’s 777 premium economy class seat. However, I believe EVA went with an off-the-shelf version of the same product – the recline isn’t generous, there’s only a bicycle-style footrest (and no legrest, unless you’re in the first row), and there’s zero storage space whatsoever at the seat apart from the seat pocket in front. Perhaps one redeeming feature is that I found the headrest very supportive, though overall I still found the seat to be subpar.

EVA Air 777 Premium Economy Class Seat Reclined

Each seat features a power port and USB-A charging.

I was still able to get comfortable, though was acutely aware of how other premium economy products such as Cathay Pacific’s A350, KLM and Qantas had blown this previous-generation premium economy seat out of the water.

This all sounds fairly negative up to this point, though onboard I felt like the airline offered one of the best premium economy class soft products I’d experienced on any airline.

EVA Air’s Impressive Premium Economy Class Amenities

EVA Air provides a great pillow in premium economy, and one of the best blankets I’ve seen in its cabin class.

EVA Air Premium Economy Pillow and Blanket

Additionally, the amenity kit was also one of the more well-stocked ones I’ve seen in premium economy.

EVA Air Premium Economy Amenity Kit

I was also surprised to find that EVA Air provides all premium economy class passengers proper slippers. Apparently even economy class passengers get (less high-quality) slippers, which is insane.

EVA Air Premium Economy Slippers

There were dedicated headphones for premium economy passengers, and they weren’t too bad (though couldn’t compare with airlines that provide the same headphones in premium economy as in business class).

EVA Air Premium Economy Headphones

EVA Air provides an awesome set of amenities, and I particularly enjoyed the slippers, which was a small investment that made a big difference.

EVA Air’s Outstanding Premium Economy Meals

Meals were a highlight of flying EVA Air premium economy. Both the post-departure and pre-arrival meal I had were delicious, and among the better-presented meals I’ve had in premium economy class.

I had a Japanese-style John Dory fish post-takeoff and a stir-fried noodle dish prior to landing; both were knockout meals, and cooked perfectly. The appetisers and side dishes served with the main course were also tasty in all instances.

EVA Air Premium Economy Meals

The website gives you a choice of pre-ordering online, from three weeks to 24 hours before departure. In my case there weren’t any pre-order exclusive options – everything I pre-ordered was available for selection onboard. This did mean our meal selections were guaranteed, and we did get our meals delivered to us before the “main” trolley went past, however the trays were collected at approximately the same time.

Between meals there was calzone (or “cheese puff”, according to the flight attendants) or fresh fruit on demand for premium economy class passengers. I had the calzone, and while not spectacular, it was nice to have a mid-flight hot snack. EVA Air doesn’t serve on-demand instant noodles in premium economy class (as Emirates and Cathay Pacific do), though.

EVA Air Premium Economy Mid-Flight Snack

Even the snack basket at the back of economy class featured a variety of Taiwanese snacks.

EVA Air Premium Economy and Economy Class Galley Snacks

I was particularly impressed to find the beverage selection in premium economy – the printed menu only features main course items, so you’ll only be able to find the full beverage selection through the entertainment system. EVA Air serves cocktails in premium economy, as well as sparkling wine, plum liqueur, local Taiwanese beers, as well as Calpis water and premium green tea for non-alcoholic options.

EVA Air Premium Economy Beverage Selection

Mid-flight I decided to ask for some plum wine, which was delicious, and served on the rocks (albeit in a plastic cup) – I’d highly recommend giving it a try if you drink.

EVA Air Premium Economy CHOYA Plum Liqueur

I found EVA Air to have a stellar food and beverage selection, among the best in its cabin class. I also won’t give service a separate category in this first-impressions post, though I found all the cabin crew members to be super friendly, efficient, and trays were cleared quite soon after passengers finished eating. Cabin crew members also came through the cabin every 20-30 minutes to offer snacks to passengers who were awake.

EVA Air’s Not-Great Entertainment System and Expensive WiFi

I’ll be the first to admit I’m not the best judge of in-flight entertainment systems, though after flying Emirates and Cathay Pacific, I couldn’t help but notice the general lack of variety in EVA Air’s entertainment system.

EVA Air Entertainment System

The airline features WiFi, though pricing is among the steep end. On my flight from Bangkok to London, WiFi was priced as follows:

• All passengers receive 30 minutes of complimentary WiFi
• 30 MB of WiFi costs US$4.95 (HK$39/£3.8)
• 100 MB of WiFi costs US$14.95 (HK$116/£11.5)
• 300 MB of WiFi costs US$29.95 (HK$233/£23)
• Unlimited WiFi costs US$39.95 (HK$311/£31)

They do offer full-fare premium economy passengers 50 MB of free WiFi, though that’s a menially tiny amount given how much more full-fare tickets cost. Be sure to select the option to create an account if you do sign up for WiFi, as that’ll let you switch between devices.

I can’t help but feel like none of these are good deals, especially for the three data-capped options. I was working on this flight, so purchased the unlimited WiFi. To EVA Air’s credit, WiFi measured 7.89 Mbps up and 3.34 Mbps down, among the fastest connection I’ve experienced in the air, and there were no “blackout” spots.

Conclusion: EVA Air’s 777 Premium Economy Class

EVA Air’s premium economy class featured a somewhat outdated and disappointing hard product, though one of the most impressive soft products I’ve ever seen in premium economy class. In terms of hard product, I wasn’t a fan of the seat’s lack of legrest and complete lack of storage options, and found that this seat lagged behind more modern competitors’ seats in those regards. The entertainment system also wasn’t great, and although I appreciated how fast the WiFi was, I wish it would’ve been more competitively priced.

However, I found the selection of amenities to be spectacular, as well as the food and beverage options. While the pre-order option didn’t add a ton of value, I thought that both meals I had were delicious and high-quality, and the mid-flight snack options and extensive beverage list were a treat as well. Perhaps the beverage selection is a little less impressive for non-alcoholic options, though that often is the case in premium economy class. The only criticism I’d have would be the premium economy ground experience, where priority check-in and boarding seem like easy additions.

The airline has plans to take delivery of 787s with premium economy class. If they come with a brand new seat, I’d be very eager to give them a try, as they could potentially have one of the best premium economy products flying between Europe and Asia.

Have you flown EVA Air’s 777 premium economy class before?