Flyingfox27 From United Kingdom, joined Jul 2007, 406 posts, RR: 0 Posted (4 years 7 months 1 week 3 days 12 hours ago) and read 29137 times:
Hi, i will introduce myself briefly, iam Mark Jones and this is my first post on Airliners.net, i decided it was time i joined so here iam with my first post!
I was very excited when i sat down in my business class seat on the Eva Air 747-400, it was a comfy seat too, i made myself comfortable with my cameras at the ready :P There was only my seat and one other one next to me which is good, i found out my next door neighbour passenger was a nice gentleman called Frank and he was off to Manila in the Phillipines, he arrived from Dublin in Ireland so he has already been flying since this morning!
It wasnt long before we pushed back and were on our way to runway 27R and i filmed a bit of the lining up here, Frank was a bit strict on the *no cameras during takeoff* thing so i respected that due to the fact that it was too dark out there anyways! He let me film a lot afterwards though when i told him about aviation! :P
Here is me on the plane ready to go!
Video of taxiing to runway 27R. (i know i put takeoff but thats to get more views lol) As you can see too dark really to put up an argument on saying cameras are ok. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=uPXWYnmluwQ
It was a lovelly quick takeoff and we banked round and headed eastbound towards Dover and across the channel, over Northern France and past Amsterdam and making good progress along Europe on our way to Thailand :yes: It wasnt long before dinner was served. Now iam used to plastic pots and things from past economy class flights but now iam in business class i had chinaware which was fantastic!
Being a Taiwanese Airline we had great Taiwanese delicacy of Noodles and a lovelly salad and gorgeous cake and it felt much nicer than economy class standard food which was lovelly.
After dinner, it was nearing 12 midnight UK time, in Thailand it was nearly 6am! I went to see my friends Noi and Alan who were settling down for the night in their really much comfier lie flat beds! I said have a nice sleep and i will come again when its daylight. Here is a photo of the moving map from my seat, we were now passing over the Caspian Sea.
Soon after i returned to my seat, the cabin lights went out to let passengers sleep more comfortably and i was suprised at how much quieter business class was compared to economy! As i was so excited i still only slept for around 2 hours. :lol:
Dawnbreak at 39,000ft.
About 2:30am UK time the sun began to rise! I think my body clock was saying this was unusual lol. :P I went to the door window which had great views of the engines and took a nice sunrise shot of the engines. As we were going eastbound, getting a photo of the sun rising was a bit impossible although i tried hehe.
The moving map also gave information on the flight and in Taiwanese too, most of the movies were in Taiwanese with English subtitles which was good.
Moving map also had pilots eye view which was great...... note where we are going to fly over.... yes, its Afghanistan! But we were safe obviously at 39,000ft and didnt need to deviate around the warzone.
Taking a peep at Afghanistan over the wing! now where is you know who hiding?... i can see you!!! :lol:
Lovelly photo i took of the stunning rugged terrain of Afghanistan, it looks so peaceful from up here but on the ground its a different story unfortunatly.
As we flew over it, i said a little prayer for our brave troops fighting and facing life or death 39,000ft below me as i passed, i felt that i should as it was an experience flying over a war zone for me.
Before breakfast was served, i went to see Noi and Alan who were having a nice time in their lie flat beds in Premium Laurel class. I took a few photos.
Then i had a go in Noi's seat and cheekily said to him, you can go and sit with Frank now! :lol: Mmmmm this is soooo cosy! I would have to pay another £300 to be in this seat, something to think about for next time!
Afterwards, me and Noi decided to explore the jumbo from head to toe, front to back and literally everywhere we could think of! :lol: This sure was funny!
Hmm, whats up here?... Eva Air has adopted a scheme where economy class is also on the top deck, this sure must be very cramped! Or maybe like a 757 crossing the pond but worse!
Now the sun was high overhead so it felt like we were flying for a long long time but actually we were crossing so many timezones at once! Note most windows are scratched which ruins the photo a bit but it wasnt too bad.
Me sitting on the steps to the top deck, we sure treated this plane like our house for a while! :lol:
After our 30 minutes of fun exploring the jumbo we went back to our seats, oh darn it the seat swap didnt work.... :lol: Passing over Northern India.
Yes.... Foxy did come along for the ride to Thailand, he thought *this was a bit longer than the flight to Manchester*!!!!! :lol: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=1KuewLcGfI0
I completed my Thai immigration form and prayed that they would let me in. :P Also showing my screen controller on the handy fold away table.
Passing scattered storms, the Monsoon season has just finished and this is the remnants of it.
I had a read of the emergency evacuation card, its in Taiwanese language aswell as English.
Breakfast was served and it was as delicious and well presented as before and i ate everything as usual! Frank gave me some of his breakfast which was nice of him, i always love it when my next door neighbour passenger shares his food with me. :lol:
I changed my watch to Thai time which was just approaching 2pm, back home they are just having breakfast, so we had breakfast late at 1:30pm. :P I took one more photo out of the left side of the plane at a beautiful peninsular somewhere over northeast India.
We were due to land at around 3pm local time which was good and the weather was nice and storms in the area, a perfectly normal day after the Monsoon season. Foxy gives a nice wave! Frank did wonder how on earth a Fox got onto the plane! :lol:
We started our descent and i took a photo of the wing perfectly lit up by the sun, showing the length of it.
The pilots eye view shows us not far away from Bangkok, it was getting extra exciting now!
As we approached for landing i convinced Frank that it is ok to use a camera to film the landing and he said ok. If he said no i would just have to accept as i wouldnt want to cause any fuss. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=XeKB1YTe83k
It was a great landing and then i looked at the impressive new Bangkok International Airport. It has a beautiful terminal design and i took man photos of aircraft at the stands as we made our way to our stand.
Thai Airways A340-500 getting ready for its ultra long flight, this one goes to New York non stop! thats an 18 hour flight! And i thought our one was long lol! :P
Terminal area with an Ethiopian 767-300 on stand.
Here is our stand just before we turned into it.
When we stopped, i got ready to get off, as i was in business class, i didnt have to wait long until i was able to get off, they let Premium Laurel class get off first them Elite which i was in and Noi and Alan waited for me on the airbridge and we made our way to arrivals and immigration where we gave our immigration documents and they checked our passports and let us through.
We got to the baggage belt and didnt have to wait long for our bags to come either! Mine was last but i think they do it in order. After we got a trolley for our luggage, we made our way to arrivals and waited for Noi's friend Dan to take us to Noi's Thai home in Don Muang in the city of Bangkok.
I noticed how hot and humid it was immediatly as we left the terminal building! :faint: but i grew used to it after a while and drank plenty of fluids as you have to in this country or you would dehydrate quickly.
We got to Don Muang in 30 minutes which was good, Dan's car had air conditioning which was perfect. When we got to Noi's house we were greeted by his sister and two children, it was a lovelly reunion for Noi as he has not seen them for 4 years!
B747forever From United States of America, joined May 2007, 16596 posts, RR: 11 Reply 1, posted (4 years 7 months 1 week 3 days 12 hours ago) and read 29044 times:
If I understand correctly, you were sitting in Business class and your friends in Premium Laurel class, right? Is the latter equivalent to First Class? I'm asking because the pictures of the meal don't really look very appealing for Business class.
Coolfish1103 From United States of America, joined Feb 2008, 385 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (4 years 7 months 1 week 3 days 11 hours ago) and read 28848 times:
I believe you are seated in Elite, which is advertised as Premium Economy.
Your friends seating in Premium Laurel is advertised as a class between First and Business.
BA319-131 From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2001, 8275 posts, RR: 56 Reply 7, posted (4 years 7 months 1 week 3 days 10 hours ago) and read 28578 times:
Hi Mark,
Nice 1st report, thanks for sharing with us.
Quoting Flyingfox27 (Thread starter): It wasnt long before dinner was served. Now iam used to plastic pots and things from past economy class flights but now iam in business class i had chinaware which was fantastic!
Being a Taiwanese Airline we had great Taiwanese delicacy of Noodles and a lovelly salad and gorgeous cake and it felt much nicer than economy class standard food which was lovelly.
- Whilst nice to have china over plastic, if this is the EVA version of Business, it looks pretty poor, I'd expected more from EVA to be honest.
Looks like the extra £300 to Premium Laurel would have been worth it.
Jmy007 From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 591 posts, RR: 2 Reply 8, posted (4 years 7 months 1 week 3 days 9 hours ago) and read 28415 times:
Welcome to A.Net Mark and Foxy!
That was an enjoyable trip report, please keep 'em coming. Thanks for sharing.
Cookies are the Gateway pastry. They lead to Éclairs and Bear Claws.
Anonms From United States of America, joined Dec 2007, 564 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (4 years 7 months 1 week 3 days 6 hours ago) and read 27854 times:
Quoting BA319-131 (Reply 7): if this is the EVA version of Business, it looks pretty poor, I'd expected more from EVA to be honest.
It isn't, but EVA would market Evergreen Deluxe, Elite's predecessor, as Business Class seats and service at a near-Economy price.
PlaneHunter From Germany, joined Mar 2006, 6211 posts, RR: 79 Reply 12, posted (4 years 7 months 1 week 3 days ago) and read 27134 times:
Nice first report with a good selection of pictures, Mark
Quoting Flyingfox27 (Thread starter): Frank was a bit strict on the *no cameras during takeoff* thing so i respected that due to the fact that it was too dark out there anyways! He let me film a lot afterwards though when i told him about aviation!
Is he employed by the airline? I wouldn't stop using my camera if another passenger didn't like it.
Quoting Flyingfox27 (Thread starter): It wasnt long before dinner was served. Now iam used to plastic pots and things from past economy class flights but now iam in business class i had chinaware which was fantastic!
Quoting Flyingfox27 (Thread starter): Breakfast was served and it was as delicious and well presented as before and i ate everything as usual!
Honestly, the meals look like regular Economy meals - and not even well presented ones. Air New Zealand even serves the main course in porcelain bowls in Economy (long-haul).
Quoting Flyingfox27 (Thread starter): Hmm, whats up here?... Eva Air has adopted a scheme where economy class is also on the top deck, this sure must be very cramped! Or maybe like a 757 crossing the pond but worse!
3-3 on the 744 upper deck isn't cramped at all - and flying across the pond on a 757 shouldn't be a problem at all if the seat pitch is sufficient. It doesn't matter whether I get a row of three seats on the 757, the 747 or the 777 - what matters is the seat quality and the pitch.
Ronerone From Jordan, joined Aug 2004, 1544 posts, RR: 54 Reply 15, posted (4 years 7 months 1 week 2 days 19 hours ago) and read 26637 times:
Hi Flyingfox27,
Welcome to A.net, and congrats on your 1st TR; on an airline i am desparate to try
Judging from the seat you were sitting on, i think u were sitting in their Premium Economy cabin (Elite Class), which probably explains the economy standard meals.
Also judging from the seats that Noi and Alan were sitting in, they seem to be the Business Class product.
On EVA's 77W's, there are three classes, and they are Business (Premium Laurel), Premium Economy (Elite Class), and Economy. If i am ot mistaken, the airline did away with its F product quite recently.
Thanks once again for sharing this great TR on what seems to be a great airline!!!
Regards,
Roni
A Stop Away From One-Stop, Is Non-Stop : Airbus A340-500
DanTaylor2006 From UK - England, joined Feb 2006, 466 posts, RR: 0 Reply 17, posted (4 years 7 months 1 week 2 days 14 hours ago) and read 26024 times:
Nice first trip report, Mark, and welcome to Airliners.net
Flyingfox27 From United Kingdom, joined Jul 2007, 406 posts, RR: 0 Reply 19, posted (4 years 7 months 1 week 15 hours ago) and read 24729 times:
Thanks everyone! I will do the return trip soon when i have sorted all my photos I got a bit delayed because of PC problems which will soon be sorted out tomorrow hopefully.
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From United Kingdom, joined Jul 2007, 406 posts, 
But we were safe obviously at 39,000ft and didnt need to deviate around the warzone.
Frank gave me some of his breakfast which was nice of him, i always love it when my next door neighbour passenger shares his food with me. :lol:
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