Review: EVA Air

One of the Worst Airline Flights I've Ever Taken

I flew on EVA Air, a Taiwanese airline, last year and I must say it was one of the worst flying experiences I've ever had. Sure, the flight from Los Angeles (LAX) to Bangkok was cheaper than other airlines were offering but, in hindsight, I would have gladly paid the extra money to get a good flight. Flying from LA to Bangkok is more than 18 hours flying time, so an enjoyable flying experience is very important. What I got from EVA couldn't have been further away from 'enjoyable'.

I took the flight with a friend, who was flying to Asia for the first time. He was already reticent about the 18 plus hours flying time, but I told him to bring plenty of reading material, and sleeping pills if he had them, and the flight would go quite quickly. Plus, the airline had extensive entertainment on board so there was always something to watch or do, right? Wrong!

As soon as we got on board and realized the plane was ancient, we were already beginning to grumble. Unlike every other international flight I've taken recently, this plane did not have mini screens in front of every seat. Instead, it had tiny TV screen interspersed throughout the cabin. The one closest to us was about 5 seats away, so you had to squint to even make out what was on the screen. Fine, I'll squint, at least it's entertainment, right? Wrong!

The flight took off after a 45 minute delay, during which time we sat waiting on the runway. When you have a 17 hour flight ahead of you, a 45 minute delay is a big deal. The plane finally took off with a relatively smooth take-off. The TV screens came on and, surprise surprise, ours didn't. Neither did any of the TV screens on our side of the plane. The other screens were so small it wasn't possible to make out anything on the screens in the middle or right hand side of the plane, so several people called the flight attendant. After struggling with some TV control for about 20 minutes we were informed that, unfortunately, there would be no entertainment on our side of the plane for the whole flight. Twelve hours with nothing to do but talk to each other or read. I was already deciding this would be my first and last EVA Air flight.