a room with many tables and chairs

Review: EVA Air The Infinity Lounge, Taipei Airport (TPE)

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Once I exited the aircraft that brought me to Taipei, I followed the airport signage towards the B gates, which brought me to a transfer desk. As I hinted at in the previous installment, the security officers turned on the X-ray machine so I could pass through, and turned it off once I was cleared.

Once I was cleared I found myself in the Terminal 1 arrivals hall. While EVA uses Terminal 2 at Taipei Airport, they use Terminal 1 as an overflow terminal when they run out of gates at their own terminal, which both of my flights were arriving/departing from. Taipei Taoyuan Airport’s two terminals are very closely connected, at least airside – you can take a 10-minute walk from one terminal to the other, simply by following the signage to the C and D gates. Obviously I didn’t know this at the time, so as you’d expect, I got lost; fortunately, Ethan, who lives in Taipei, was able to give me a hand.

people walking in a mall
Terminal 1 Taipei Taoyuan Airport

I have to comment on the ridiculously bad signage this airport has, at least while I was still at Terminal 1. I must’ve stopped by at least four airport maps scattered around the airport, none of which gave me any idea where the EVA Air lounges were. Even when I asked an information desk agent, she advised me to use the Singapore Airlines SilverKris Lounge, as the EVA Air lounges were in Terminal 2 (for the record, the Singapore Airlines lounge is opposite the EVA Air lounges, so I’m not sure what she was on about). The “airline lounges” signage only brought me to the Terminal 1 lounge area (this is where you’ll find Cathay Pacific’s Taipei lounge).

I eventually saw a few signs indicating that the C and D gates belonged to Terminal 2, which I otherwise wouldn’t have known (the more frequent signage didn’t indicate that the C and D gates belonged to Terminal 2); though I only came across one of these signs long after I was informed of where I was, and where to go.

Once I got instructions from Ethan I followed the signage to gate C5, which is roughly where the EVA Air Infinity lounge is. This involved a really long walk, and the travelator only operated in the opposite direction.

a long walkway with people walking in the middle
Terminal 2 Taipei Taoyuan Airport

I found it quite interesting that each gate had a “themed” waiting lounge adjacent to it. For example, near gate C2 was a “Skyline Waiting Lounge”, which had some cool aviation-themed stuff.

a blue and white sign with a blue and white sign above it
Terminal 2 Waiting Areas Taipei Taoyuan Airport

Near gate C3 was the well-known-and-loved Hello Kitty gate, featuring ostentatious Hello Kitty decor and a playground. I remember hanging out here with my sister in 2013, when we both thought this was the best thing ever. As you’d expect, though, it was quite packed.

a group of people in a hall
Terminal 2 Waiting Areas Taipei Taoyuan Airport

Soon I made it to gate C5. Upon walking a little further I got to the VIP lounge area, where all of the EVA Air lounges are located.

a sign in a building
Signage to Lounges Taipei Taoyuan Airport

I made my way up one level above the concourse, which afforded nice views of the terminal.

a group of people walking in a terminal
EVA Air Lounge Area Taipei Airport

From there I turned left and followed the signage towards the Infinity lounge (once again, there was no signage pointing me directly towards the Infinity lounge, though at least there was a comprehensive map once I reached the second floor).

a glass door to a building
EVA Air Infinity Lounge Taipei Airport Entrance

I was welcomed by a friendly lounge attendant once I entered the lounge, and she pointed me towards the Infinity lounge.

a glass door leading to a building
EVA Air Infinity Lounge Taipei Airport Entrance

The Infinity Lounge is open to Star Alliance business class passengers, who can also use the adjacent The Star lounge (for Star Alliance Gold members). It’s worth noting that there’s also The Club, which is open to EVA Air’s own Silver members, and The Garden, reserved for EVA Air’s top-tier frequent flyers (I’ve heard legitimately good things about The Garden, but can’t say the same for any of the other lounges).

I’m not gonna lie – I wasn’t expecting much from EVA Air’s Infinity lounge, as I’d heard quite underwhelming things from multiple sources. Still, I was almost amused by how bad the lounge was, especially for an airline of EVA’s caliber. The lounge featured a large room with some partitions, probably to make each area seem more private.

I walked into a hallway leading into the lounge, with glitzy decor (while EVA Air’s Bangkok lounge has similar decor, I didn’t find that lounge to be as tacky and cheap, probably due to the different layout, the natural light, and how brighter “pops” of colour were better integrated).

a long hallway with chairs and a wall
EVA Air Infinity Lounge Taipei Airport

a room with a large mirror
EVA Air Infinity Lounge Taipei Airport Hallway

To the left of the hallway was some lounge seating. There were some armchairs facing each other across circular tables, and some bar seating facing the terminal.

a room with tables and chairs
EVA Air Infinity Lounge Taipei Airport

a room with many tables and chairs
EVA Air Infinity Lounge Taipei Airport

At the end of the lounge was a wider roundabout area, with glitzier partitions and mood lighting.

a room with tables and chairs
EVA Air Infinity Lounge Taipei Airport

This area was slightly nicer, though more of the seating was bench seating, which I can’t imagine getting comfortable in. There were also many round tables – I prefer square tables, which are sturdier and more ergonomic for working.

a room with many tables and chairs
EVA Air Infinity Lounge Taipei Airport

I was desperately in need of a charger, so seeing power ports lined up by the bench seating on the side of the lounge, I took a seat there.

a group of people sitting in a room with purple and green lights
EVA Air Infinity Lounge Taipei Airport

Unfortunately, while there were USB ports, there was no sign of a universal power port whatsoever, which I was in need of. Upon asking the lounge attendant I was informed that there wasn’t a single universal power port at EVA Air’s hub business class lounge. Of course I didn’t have an adapter with me (I normally don’t while flying), so I was instructed to head to the gate; instead, I decided to head over to the SilverKris lounge.

a wall outlet with a light on it
EVA Air Infinity Lounge Taipei Airport Power Ports

Before I left I decided to briefly check out the food spread, which was near the end of the lounge.

a restaurant with a counter and a few people
EVA Air Infinity Lounge Taipei Airport Food Spread

There were a variety of hot and cold options, though I didn’t actually end up having anything inside the lounge.

a buffet line with food on ita buffet counter with different food itemsa group of silver pots on a countera counter with food items on it
EVA Air Infinity Lounge Taipei Airport Food Spread

At this point I wasn’t expecting to see a barista or anything, though the lounge does have a coffee machine, as well as some booze.

a coffee machine and coffee maker
EVA Air Infinity Lounge Taipei Airport Food Spread

a counter with bottles and glasses on it
EVA Air Infinity Lounge Taipei Airport Food Spread

I was most amused to see “hamburger soup” on the menu, though didn’t end up investigating further.

a sign on a counter
EVA Air Infinity Lounge Taipei Airport Food Spread

While I can’t speak for how the food tasted, I found the choice of options severely lacking. The WiFi at this lounge was free, but so slow that I ended up relying on cellular data, which I consider to be unacceptable – in fairness, the lounge was packed, and I’ve heard reports from other people that it wasn’t normally as slow as it was on the day of my visit.

I planned to return after charging up my GoPro at the SilverKris lounge, though I screwed up my phone battery, so ended up heading straight to the gate from there. This means that I didn’t get to check out the showers at this lounge, but from the pictures I’ve seen, they’re nowhere near nice.

Bottom Line: EVA Air The Infinity Lounge Taipei

Oof. While I wasn’t expecting much, I was pretty shocked by how poor EVA Air’s Taipei lounge was. For a hub lounge of quite a large airline, I didn’t take too much issue with the seating, despite the fact that it was nowhere near nice; I’ve been impressed by lounges with underwhelming seating, but a great “soft product”.

However, I found the services offered at this lounge to be almost astonishingly bad. The food was limited (even if it was tasty, which I can’t speak for, unfortunately), the WiFi was crap, and I can’t believe there wasn’t even a universal power port adapter at the lounge.

I was impressed by EVA Air as a whole, but their Infinity Lounge desperately needs a revamp. I said in my EVA 787 video review that EVA was one of the few airlines that genuinely deserved their Skytrax 5-star rating (not that I consider Skytrax a good indicator of airline quality, but still), but their lounge experience probably ranks, kindly, a 0.5 out of 5 stars. It’s quite sad to see an otherwise awesome airline product be let down by such a small, yet key detail – the lounge. Oh, and Taipei Taoyuan Airport needs some new signage too.

The Infinity? More like The Inferior…

Read more from this trip:

Did you like the EVA Air Infinity Lounge any more than I did? Oh, and if you’re an EVA Air flyer reading this from Taipei, you can probably donate to the lounge a universal power port adapter before your next flight – they’ll need it!

1 comment

  1. Totally agree. This is a trash lounge. They could have combined the Star and Infinity and turned it into something impressive like the United Polaris lounge or something, integrating sleeping rooms, shower suites, a la carte dining etc. Sometimes I just use the Plaza Premium or SilverKris lounge for the food and then the Infinity Lounge for the showers (the showers at Infinity are actually decent). Basically a super embarassing lounge or lounges (they have 4) for their hub.

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