We flew EVA Air’s Boeing 777-300ER Premium Laurel Business Class on flight BR226 from Singapore to Taipei, part of our multi-leg trip to Osaka in March 2025 to chase the cherry blossom.

The cabin features Zodiac Cirrus lie-flat seats in a reverse herringbone 1-2-1 configuration that’s comfortable but shows its age compared to newer business class products, even within EVA Air.

We booked this using 25,000 miles through EVA Air’s Infinity MileageLands frequent flyer programme, which is a pretty good deal for a one-way business class flight between Singapore and Japan. Despite booking three seats as an award redemption, I had to split my group over two flights due to the lack of award redemption availability (I guess you’ve to be flexible here). Here’s a detailed look at what you can expect on this route.

Before the flight

As EVA Air is part of the Star Alliance, we could use the SilverKris Business Class Lounge at Terminal 3 since we were departing from the terminal, will cover this separately.

Priority boarding was also accorded to business class passengers.

The seats

We were seated in 10A and 11A on EVA Air’s Boeing 777-300ER Premium Laurel Business Class, which has 39 Zodiac Cirrus seats. While the layout gives everyone aisle access, the design feels a bit dated compared to EVA Air’s newer Royal Laurel seats on other aircraft.

For this relatively short 4-5 hour flight, a pillow and blanket were provided, which were comfortable enough for the lie-flat seats. Privacy is limited as the seats don’t have high walls or partitions, so it’s easy to see across the aisle to other passengers. Storage is decent, with small compartments for personal items. No further amenities were provided, however.

Despite the comfort of the lie-flat bed, the lack of extensive privacy and modern design touches means these seats fall short of what some newer business class products offer.

The in-flight entertainment system also looked pretty old, the kind where it takes a while for the user interface to react upon touching it. I didn’t really use much of it aside from checking out the flight path, so nothing much to comment there!

For my pre-departure drink, I chose the matcha latte, which was definitely a treat.

The food

Unfortunately, EVA Air missed my meal order! The in-flight catering team didn’t have the stir-fried prawn with XO chili sauce and egg fried rice I’d requested, so I could only pick from the onboard menu. EVA Air does offer a pre-order meal service, and there were even some online-exclusive meals not found in the onboard menu. More on that later.

I was first served with some warm nuts, as well as a drink of our choice. I chose the Evergreen Special, a melon liqueur-based cocktail, mixed with vodka and Sprite. Pretty much like how other airlines have special cocktails and mocktails.

I decided on the laksa instead, which was pretty good, but honestly, you could’ve gotten better in the SilverKris lounge before boarding.

My fellow travellers did get their stir-fried prawn rice, so not sure what went wrong there. A bit of a bummer, but oh well. This is how the meal looked like. I tried a bit, and it was quite tasty though, despite having just four pieces of prawns.

Final thoughts

Overall, I’d say this flight was perfectly okay, especially considering I booked it with 25,000 miles, which is very good value for a lie-flat business class seat on a popular regional route. The seats are comfortable enough for a 4-5 hour flight, but definitely show their age compared to newer products.

Food-wise, the mix-up with my meal was disappointing, though the alternative laksa was tasty. Service was friendly and efficient, which always helps. If you can snag award availability on this route, it’s a solid option that balances comfort and value, especially if you’re flexible with your timings!