Review: EVA Air The Infinity & The Star Lounge TPE

While all three Taiwanese carriers offer an excellent inflight experience, their lounges aren’t exactly world class.

Whether it’s STARLUX, China Airlines or EVA Air, I’ve found the lounges to be average at best, in terms of F&B quality and amenities. Designwise, they’re not bad — STARLUX and China Airlines more than EVA — but they’re certainly not worth coming early to the airport for. 

I last visited the EVA Air Lounges pre-COVID, so I was keen to see whether anything had changed since then.

Opening Hours & Access

EVA Air operates four different lounges at Taipei Taoyuan Airport, all of which are located in Terminal 2, post security. 

• The Club: For Infinity MileageLands Silver members
• The Star: For Star Alliance Gold members
• The Infinity: For EVA Air Business Class, and Star Alliance First and Business Class
• The Garden: For Infinity MileageLands Diamond members

In terms of opening hours:

• The Club: 5.30 a.m to 10 a.m and 4 p.m to 9.30 p.m daily.
• The Infinity and The Star: 4.30 a.m to 11.30 p.m daily
• The Garden: 5.30 a.m to 11.30 p.m daily

Obviously, The Garden is the most exclusive of the four (you can read a review here), as it’s reserved for EVA’s most valuable passengers. Guests here enjoy an a la carte menu, cocktail bar, and the lowest level of crowding overall. 

The Star and The Infinity see the most visitors, and while they technically have different access rules, the staff didn’t seem too bothered about which one you visited. If anything, they seemed to be directing guests based on crowding levels more than anything else.

Lounge Overview

The Infinity and the Star share a common reception, with the Infinity on the left and the Star on the right.

The Infinity is the smaller of the two, though more eye-catching, with Tron-like LED lights lining the walls and ceilings. Near the entrance, you’ll find plenty of seating suited for solo travellers, with a choice of semi-private seating pods, armchairs or workstations lined up against the wall. 

The lounge overlooks the check-in area, so during the day you should be able to enjoy some natural light from the glass panels in the terminal’s ceiling.

Further in, the lounge widens into an area with more seating pods, including several clustered around a tree-like column. Am I imagining things, or did this use to be LED lit in the past? I distinctly remember there being a “Tron-tree”…

The rear is where you’ll find the buffet area, which stylistically felt rather out-of-sync with the rest of the lounge design.

The Star, on the other hand, plays it much more traditional. This feels like an airline lounge right out of the early noughties, with a no-nonsense colour palette and more traditional-looking seating. It’s probably the better bet if you have a large group, or if you need a less stimulating environment. 

I actually found myself preferring this lounge, simply because it was less crowded and offered more opportunities to spread out. 

The Star even has a few rest pods towards the back, each with a comfortable recliner chair.

Food & Beverage

The buffet spread across The Infinity and The Star was largely the same, and frankly, I thought neither did much credit to Taiwan’s amazing food scene. 

There was a messy-looking salad bar, some cold sandwiches, various breads, egg tarts, yoghurt and desserts. 

Hot items included frittatas, fried eggs, radish cake, a congee station and dim sum. Nothing looked particularly appetising. 

Well, at least there was self-serve Haagen-Dazs ice cream, even at breakfast!

As for the drinks, the lounge offered the usual assortment of soft drinks, mixers, canned beer, juice cartons, as well as coffee machines.

The alcohol selection was fairly average too, with assorted spirits and some cheap wines. Neither lounge served champagne (though I don’t  believe it’s available in STARLUX or China Airlines’ lounges either).

Power & Productivity

The Wi-Fi network across both The Infinity and The Star clocked in at a zippy 94 Mbps down and 159 Mbps up, which allowed me to stream 4K Netflix without any issues.

Power outlets were widely available, though not all of them were universal. 

The lounge also has a business centre with three desktop computers and complimentary printing facilities.

Bathrooms & Showers

Showers are available in both The Infinity and The Star, but the latter are smaller, and don’t have attached toilets. So if you’re willing to wait, go for The Infinity. 

The four shower rooms have names like Metro Forest, Smile Zone, Fantasy Flow and Star Drops, but if there’s a theming here, I don’t see it. This looked like a standard airline lounge bathroom- clean, but not much in the way of personality. I *think* I got Metro Forest, but again, it’s hard to tell because they all look similar.

For all the general shortcomings of the EVA Air lounges, water pressure isn’t one of them. The shower was refreshing, and exactly the kind of thing you needed after a long-haul flight. L’Occitane bath amenities were provided in bulk-sized pump bottles.

Conclusion

EVA Air’s flagship lounges in Taipei really can’t measure up to the experience it offers in the sky. The Infinity struggles with overcrowding, and offers limited amenities. The Star does slightly better with seating variety, but either way, the food and drinks are average, and the whole experience feels rather underwhelming.

With the opening of the new Terminal 3, I hope a refreshed lounge is in the works too!