China Airlines Premium Economy

This is considered to be one of the better premium economy seats out there, and I found a pretty solid deal on a flight from Los Angeles to Bangkok with a stop in Taipei, so I figured why not check it out? Here’s what I thought:

Pre-Boarding

No lounge access or any perks of the sort. You have a dedicated check in line at LAX, which is nice, but that’s about it. I was able to just use the AMEX Centurion Lounge before the flight, which I love. 

Seat

This is a hard shell seat in a 3 row, 2x4x2 cabin. Definitely try to snag a seat on the window side. The hard shell design ensures no one reclines into your personal space, but when you yourself recline, you do lose a considerable amount of legroom. With that said, I would take a hardshell design over soft shell any day of the week. The seat was definitely on the firmer side, but had a bunch of nice little touches, from a reading light to shoe and other storage, to a little foot and leg rest, which was very nice for sleeping. 

Entertainment

There actually is quite a large screen with great resolution, but the selection on board was just not good at all. I knew this going in and had pre-downloaded movies on the iPad. They do provide wifi for a fee, which worked for a bit but, as most airplane wifi does, eventually stopped working.

Food

There were 2 full meal services on the 14 hour flight to Taipei, along with a snack mid-flight. I thoroughly enjoyed all the meals, which were a cut above the standard you get in economy (but nowhere near business class - I’ve got a review of China Airlines business class somewhere in this blog too).

Service

Nothing special. It’s there. Somewhat robotic. Gets the job done. All very sweet and smiley though.