EVA Air Business Class For 2 People (Early 2023)
I'm back in DC, jetlagged, and getting back at it!
It's been a long time since I sent a newsletter for EVA Air business class so I'm really excited about this alert. Not only is Taiwan a wonderful place to visit, but EVA is a fantastic way to get there (or connect somewhere else in Asia).
While Taiwan remains closed to tourists, there does seem to be some interest in a path to reopening to tourists. So, with a little optimism, I thought I'd share some award space for early 2023.
Now, let's get into the details!
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Straight To The Points:
Routes: LAX/ORD/SFO-TPE
Operating airline: EVA Air
Class of service: Business class
Dates: January - March 2023
Seats available: 2 (possibly 3)
Cabin layout: 1-2-1
Book with (nonstop, per person, one-way):
- *Air Canada Aeroplan - 75,000 points
- 10% bonus on transfers of 50,000+ Chase points
- ANA Mileage Club - 95,000 miles (round-trip only)
- Asiana Club - 60,000 miles
- *Avianca LifeMiles - 75,000 miles
- EVA Infinity MileageLands - 75,000 miles
- Miles & More - 71,000 miles
- Singapore KrisFlyer - 115,000 miles
- Turkish Miles&Smiles - 67,500 miles
- *United MileagePlus - 88,000 miles
*No Surcharges
Taxes/fees (per person):
- One-way: $5.60
- Round-trip: ~$34.07
- Surcharges: ~$208 round-trip
Bank transfer partners:
- Air Canada: Amex, Bilt, Chase, Capital One, Marriott
- ANA Mileage Club: Amex, Marriott
- Asiana Club: Marriott
- LifeMiles: Amex, Brex, Capital One, Citi, Marriott
- EVA: Capital One, Citi
- Singapore: Amex, Brex, Capital One, Chase, Citi, Marriott
- Turkish: Citi, Bilt, Capital One, Marriott
- United: Bilt, Chase, Marriott
Don't forget to let me know if you book and how you did it!
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DISCLAIMER: Please be aware that the COVID-19 situation and the resulting travel restrictions could prevent you from traveling. Additionally, please make sure you understand the cancellation, redeposit, and change fees required before booking with a particular program.
Travel Restrictions and Requirements
With travel restrictions changing by the day, you can use this info page from the American Institute of Taiwan to check for updates.
Flight Experience
EVA Air does a really nice job with its business class. I've flown it twice - once on a long-haul and once on a 4.5-hour flight. I found the crew to be friendly and attentive on both flights.
The 1-2-1 reverse herringbone cabin layout provides decent privacy, especially for window seats. I was particularly impressed with the champagne as it matched what is sometimes offered in first class on other airlines.
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Available Dates
You can find award space for 2 people on the following dates. Some dates will have multiple flights with space available on the same date (see image below).
LAX-TPE
January: 1, 10-12, 16-18, 20, 22-25, 27, 39-31
February: 3, 7-10, 12-16, 19, 20, 26-28
March: 1, 2, 4, 5, 9-16, 19-24, 26, 30
April: 3-5
TPE-LAX
January: 17, 18, 25
February: 3, 7-10, 14-17, 19-28
March: 1, 2, 4-17, 21-25, 29-31
April: 1, 3-5
SFO-TPE
February: 2, 7, 9, 13, 16, 17, 21-23, 27, 28
March: 6, 7, 9, 10, 14-16, 20-24, 26-31
April: 1-5
TPE-SFO
February: 6, 7, 9, 16, 17, 20-25, 27, 28
March: 2-4, 6-11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 20-23, 27-30
April: 3-5
ORD-TPE
January: 4, 8-11, 15, 16, 19, 20, 22-27, 29-31
February: 1, 16, 19, 20, 28
March: 7, 13, 20-22, 28-31
April: 2, 3, 5
TPE-ORD
January: 17, 19
February: 7, 9, 13-16, 27, 28
March: 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12, 17, 19-24, 29
April: 1, 4, 5
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Best Ways To Book
Please keep in mind that the award rates mentioned are for the nonstop route. Connections to destinations in Southeast Asia could increase the award rate.
ANA Mileage Club: Fewest Miles For A Round-trip
ANA Mileage Club is a great option at 95,000 miles for a round-trip award. Please keep in mind that transfers from Amex can take a few days to process. You'll need to consider whether you feel comfortable risking that the award space will be booked by the time your transfer processes.
LifeMiles: Best One-way Option With Amex Transfer Bonus
LifeMiles requires 75,000 miles for a one-way award. However, Amex is running a 15% transfer bonus through May 31, 2022. That means you'd only need 66,000 Amex points to book. LifeMiles is also running a 150% bonus for buying miles if you'd prefer to go that route.
Turkish Miles&Smiles: Best One-way Without Transfer Bonus
Turkish is a great option at 67,500 miles one-way Bilt, Capital One, or Citi points. Its online booking platform struggles but you can call to hold award space before transferring points. I recommend this.
Aeroplan - Stopovers On One-Ways But Pricier From The West Coast
The nonstop is 75,000 points but you'll quickly bump up to the next tier of Aeroplan's award chart if you connect or stopover in Taipei which will bring you to 85,000 miles for a one-way. This is still the best option with Chase points.
If you transfer at least 50,000 Chase points to Aeroplan, you'll receive a 10% bonus within 7 days (generally within 3 days). The promo runs through the end of the year.
This means you'd only need 69,000 Chase points to book a nonstop or 78,000 Chase points to connect to many other destinations in Asia.
You can use GCmap to calculate your total flight distance and double-check Aeroplan's zone-based chart. You can also include a stopover for 5,000 additional miles.
Bonus Tip To Get A Third Award Seat
EVA Air's Infinity MileageLands program sometimes releases an extra business class award seat to its own members. Worth considering if you have Citi and maybe Capital One miles (transfer ratio is a weak 1:0.75).
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How To Book
If you don't know the exact dates you want to fly, keep things simple and use United's calendar search option.
- From United's homepage, select Advanced search
- Choose to show price in miles
- Select Roundtrip or One-way
- Enter the origin & destination
- Select Nonstop only (if you don't need a connection)
- Select the number of passengers
- Select your dates or choose Flexible dates and choose a month
- Select Business
- Run the search
- If booking with another Star Alliance partner, confirm space by searching with that program
- Transfer points (if necessary)
- Log into your account
- Run the search again
- Complete the booking
Once you know the exact dates you want, you can run the search with the program you'll be using to book. As always, I recommend confirming the program you're using sees the award space before you transfer points.
If you want to use Turkish miles, you can call 800-874-8875 to put space on hold then pay the taxes/fees.
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Bottom Line
If you've never been to Taipei, I strongly recommend it if you like food, nature, friendly people, etc. I'd also suggest using the high speed rail system to explore more of the island from Chiayi to Kaohsiung and more.
Happy booking!
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