At the time of writing, the B777-300ER is typically the aircraft that ploughs the Singapore to Taipei route. Therefore, if you’re flying out of Singapore on EVA Air, you’ll likely be on this flight configuration.
Coming back from our recent trip to Tokyo, we decided to redeem EVA Air Mileageland Miles for the flight back. The journey included an overnight stopover in Taipei, which is common for most EVA Air flights, as there are no direct flights to Singapore other than from Taiwan.
For our first leg of the trip between Tokyo and Taipei, we took EVA Air’s flagship B787-10 business class, on which we absolutely enjoyed our experience. Between Taipei and Singapore, the flight is operated by their older B777-300ER aircraft.
This is our full review onboard EVA Air’s B777-300ER Royal Laurel Class product.
Booking the Flight
We paid 25,000 EVA Air Infinity Mileageland Miles and 22,040 JPY (S$197.74) in taxes and fees for the flight from Tokyo Haneda to Singapore with a layover in Taipei. The flight was booked in February 2024 for flying in January 2025.
This is a great redemption if you’re looking to fly to Japan from Singapore in Business Class.
Check-in and Boarding
The check-in for our flight was a little chaotic and less than ideal. Firstly, there was no sky bridge for our flight. We had to take a bus to the plane, which was parked at a distance from the passenger gates.
Don’t get me wrong, we’ve taken plenty of flights without sky bridges, but that’s typically at smaller airports or with airlines that are not in their hubs. In this case, Taipei’s Taoyuan Airport is EVA Air’s main hub, so we were really surprised not to have a sky bridge for boarding.
Secondly, the staff on the ground were not actively enforcing the boarding sequence. Therefore, it got quite crowded and messy even though we were in an earlier boarding group.
Seat Map
EVA Air’s B777-300ER Royal Laurel Class product has a reverse herringbone 1-2-1 configuration to ensure that all seats have direct aisle access.
For our flight from Taipei to Singapore, we were assigned seats 8A and 8D. There are 2 sections to the Royal Laurel seats for the B777-300ER. Our seats were right by the entrance to the plane and therefore were very crowded during boarding. If you’re looking for more privacy, we recommend choosing seats in the front half of the plane instead.
Seats
Even though it’s also Royal Laurel Class, the hard product is a far cry from its newer B787 sibling. The seats are dull and dated. The pale green panels that line the sides of the seat give the overall area a very tired look.
Fortunately, the seat is electronic and can be controlled by the panel on the side.
At the sides of the seats, there is a small slider that acts as a mini-door, providing some form of privacy for passengers.
As someone who’s 1.75m, there’s plenty of leg room for me to comfortably stretch out my legs. Coming in at 26” in width, the seating area feels a lot more cramped and narrow than other business-class products out there.
By the side of the seat, you get a touch-enabled remote control to control the in-flight entertainment system, together with a universal charging port and 2 USB-A ports. The placement of the ports can be a little awkward as they are too close to the seat. You might hit your cables often, especially when there’s turbulence.
Lay down seats
You can electronically convert your seat into a full lie-flat bed. The bed padding was comfortable to lie on, letting me sneak in a quick nap during this short flight back to Singapore.
Accessories
As this was a medium-haul flight, there will not be amenity kits for passengers as those are only available on long-haul flights to Europe, the US, Australia or New Zealand.
However, we could still request slippers, eye masks and earplugs from the crew.
I really like EVA Air’s eye masks in particular, as they are not too tight when worn around my relatively large head. The slippers are also very comfortable with their felt material.
In-flight Entertainment
Similar to the seats, the in-flight entertainment (IFE) system on the B777-300ER is also showing its age. The IFE system can be controlled using the remote control on the side of the seat.
The screen itself is not the best, with poor colour accuracy commonly found in older LCD screens. At 15.4″, even though it’s a standard screen size, it’s a little too far from the seat. Therefore, there might be a little eye squinting involved when trying to enjoy content from the IFE.
Internally, the IFE is powered by EVA Air’s renowned Star Gallery software. There’s no shortage of content on this IFE system.
Interestingly, the IFE was not available for use while the plane was on the ground. This always confused me, as it’s natural that’s when most passengers would want to use the IFE.
WiFi
There’s free WiFi for all guests onboard EVA Air flights, regardless of your fare class or membership level. This is limited to 30 minutes of web browsing per seat.
For additional usage, you’ll have to purchase a plan based on a data capacity.
| Lite Messaging Plan 30MB | US$4.95 |
|---|---|
| Standard Plan 100MB | US$14.95 |
| Business Plan 300MB | US$29.95 |
| Ultimate Plan | US$39.95 |
With some airlines providing unlimited complimentary WiFi, these prices are steep for what they offer.
Bathroom
There are a total of 3 bathrooms reserved for Royal Laurel Class passengers on this flight. The bathroom between rows 7 and 8 is slightly larger than the 2 bathrooms in front.
When I visited the bathroom during the flight, it was clean and dry. Due to the larger space, I could even stretch my body in the bathroom if I needed to.
Bathroom amenities for the airline are provided by Acqua Colonia, a line of fragrances by the brand 4711 from Cologne, Germany. They are gentle on the skin and smell good when used.
Meal Service
Throughout this short 4.5-hour flight, we were served 1 meal right after takeoff. There were 3 options available, and I went for the Royal Laurel Special, which is Taiwanese cuisine.
The vermicelli, topped with pork and pumpkin, was flavourful. Although the food itself was tasty, it wasn’t as sumptuous as what we had experienced on our earlier flight from Tokyo to Taipei.
After our main course, we were served a plate of fruits to end the meal service.
Final Thoughts
EVA Air Boeing 777-300 ER Royal Laurel Class
Summary
EVA Air’s B777-300ER Royal Laurel Class product is reminiscent of EVA Air’s past.
First introduced back in 2014, it has already been more than a decade since the seats have been refreshed. Despite its age, the seat itself is actually very comfortable throughout the entire flight.
If you can look past the dull and old design of the cabin, and if you do not care about the latest and greatest IFE technology, the overall product is actually pretty decent. To top it all off, you’ll still be getting EVA Air’s spectacular in-flight services and meal offerings.
If you can snag a good redemption ticket on the airline, there’s really no better way to fly between Singapore and North Asia than with EVA Air at the moment.
