Review: EVA Air The Star Lounge at Taipei Taoyuan Airport

EVA Air operates four lounges – each providing access to a different set of passengers – at its Taipei Taoyuan hub. The Garden Lounge is for EVA Air’s own top-tier frequent status holders, The Infinity Lounge is for business and first class passengers, The Star Lounge is for Star Alliance Gold members, and The Club Lounge is for EVA Air’s lowest-tier frequent status holders.

On my family’s recent trip to Europe, we spent most of our six-plus-hours long layover in Taipei in The Star Lounge. Continue reading this review to see what the lounge was like.

EVA Air The Star and The Infinity Lounges
EVA Air The Star Lounge.

Location & Opening Hours

All of the EVA Air lounges at Taipei Taoyuan Airport are located past security and immigration, in the central part between Terminal 2’s Concourses C and D. More specifically, they are located one floor above the main departures level (fourth floor) and accessible using escalators and elevators that can be found among some of the duty-free shops on the third floor.

Some other lounges including Oriental Club Lounge and one of the airport’s Plaza Premium Lounges can be found in the same general area too.

EVA Air The Star Lounge Location
Escalators leading to the lounge.

While The Garden and The Club each have their own entrance, The Star and The Infinity share their entrance and reception desk in a fashion similar to the way many ANA Lounges and ANA Suite Lounges share their reception in Japan.

The Star is to the left of the reception and The Infinity is to its right.

EVA Air The Star Lounge and The Infinity Lounge Entrance
Entrance.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Reception
Reception.

EVA Air’s The Star Lounge is open every day from 4:30AM until 11:30PM.

Entry Requirements

Being a Star Alliance member airline, EVA Air provides lounge access in line with the alliance’s policies. That said, as mentioned in the introduction, it has separate lounges for business/first class passengers and for frequent flyer status holders.

The Star Lounge can be accessed by Star Alliance Gold members (regardless of their class of travel) departing on a Star Alliance flight. The same passengers and (EVA Air MileageLands Silver members) also have access to The Club Lounge. I didn’t realize that and so didn’t visit the latter to do a review.

Those traveling in business and first class without a frequent flyer status cannot enter The Star Lounge and will be directed to The Infinity Lounge instead.

Lounge Tour

Entering The Star Lounge, there was a long hallway leading into the main, L-shaped part of the lounge.

EVA Air The Star Lounge Layout
Layout.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Hallway
Hallway leading ton the main part of the lounge.

Along the left side of the hallway were a baggage storage room, a nursing room, restrooms, and shower rooms. Along the right side were a couple of private rooms, each with some sofa chairs.

The nursing room was nicely equipped with a diaper-changing table, a chair for feeding, and a sink, and was even stocked with diapers and wet wipes. In case you are traveling with a baby, make sure to check my article about flying on EVA Air with an infant.

The shower rooms were nice too – I will return to those in more detail at the end of this section.

EVA Air The Star Lounge Baggage Storage
Baggage storage.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Nursing Room
Nursing room.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Private Room
One of the private rooms.

Exiting the hallway, there was a buffet area on the left side.

This was walled off from the rest of the lounge and part of the wall served as a magazine rack. There were no magazines, though, and instead the rack housed prints of some nice photos of EVA Air aircraft. Access to reading materials was provided online instead.

EVA Air The Star Lounge Buffet
Buffet area.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Magazine Rack
Magazine rack with photos.

Across from the magazine rack was a seating area with sofa chairs – both individual and arranged in pairs – and coffee tables.

The area was separated from the path toward the back of the lounge with a wooden partition and it was split into two with a wall equipped with TVs. One of the two TVs on each side was showing sports while the other served as a flight information display.

I found the flight information displays a bit confusing as they were showing boarding times rather than departure times. I do not remember seeing flights displayed this way at any other airport.

EVA Air The Star Lounge Seating
One of the main seating areas.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Seating
These sofa chairs didn’t have access to power outlets.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Flight Information Display
Flight information display – note that it displays the boarding rather than departure time.

Next to the area above was another long and narrow seating area.

This one ran along The Star Lounge’s windows and offered a variety of seating options. There were some pairs of sofa chairs, a few communal bar-height tables, and counters running the full length of the area.

The windows overlooked some of EVA Air’s check-in counters and other parts of the terminal’s landside. These were the only windows in the lounge. In other words, the lounge offered no outdoor-facing windows and so lacked natural light.

EVA Air The Star Lounge Seating
The seating area along the lounge’s windows.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Seating
The far right corner of the lounge.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Window View
The view from the windows.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Seating
Seating area behind the buffet.

In the very back of the lounge, there was some more seating.

Behind the buffet area was a small seating space with a few pairs of sofa chairs. There were another two areas with some more pairs of sofa chairs too. One of those also included a communal counter-height table with 20 or so seats, and a counter along one of the walls.

Lastly, there was a section with four large reclining sofa chairs for those who wanted to relax or sleep a bit.

EVA Air The Star Lounge Seating
Seating area in the very back of the lounge.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Seating
Wooden partitions provided some privacy.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Counter
Communal table in the back of the lounge.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Counter
Counter along the rear wall of the lounge.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Relaxation Area
Relaxation area.

Each of the seats at the various counters had access to a power outlet and USB charging ports. For the other seating options, though, only (some of the) seats along the walls had access to power.

EVA Air The Star Lounge Power Outlet
The lounge’s power outlets were also equipped with USB ports.

As for the shower rooms, one had to get a key at the reception in exchange for a boarding pass.

The shower room I was assigned (there were four in total) itself was well-equipped and stocked too. There was a large L-shaped counter with a sink and a nice shower with both a fixed and a handheld showerhead. The shower even offered back massage showers.

There were all the basic single-use amenities including dental kits that one could expect and there were L’Occitane shower gel, shampoo, and conditioner.

EVA Air The Star Lounge Shower
Shower rooms.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Shower
Sink.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Shower
Single-use amenities, etc.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Shower
Shower.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Shower
L’Occitane amenities.

Food and Drinks

Cold soft drinks in the EVA Air The Star Lounge at Taipei Airport included cans of Coke, Coke Zero, Sprite, and other soda; apple juice, orange juice, and tea boxes, and pineapple juice and ice coffee from dispensers.

Hot drinks included a selection of coffee drinks from a UCC-branded machine and a selection of tea bags.

EVA Air The Star Lounge Soft Drinks
Canned and boxed drinks.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Juice and Coffee
Ice coffee and pineapple juice.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Coffee
Coffee.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Tea
Tea.

As for alcoholic drinks, there were canned Buckskin and Taiwan Beer.

There were also wines and half a dozen or so different kinds of liquor including Jim Beam and Kavalan whiskies, Smirnoff vodka, tequila, etc.

EVA Air The Star Lounge Beer
Beer.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Wine
Wine and liquor.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Liquor
More liquor.

There was plenty of food to choose from as well.

When we visited during dinner time, lighter items included a variety of vegetables from a salad bar, ham and cheese sandwiches, and bread with butter and jam. There were also traditional baked sweet potatoes which my wife really enjoyed.

EVA Air The Star Lounge Salad
Salad.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Sandwiches
Sandwiches.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Bread
Bread.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Baked Sweet Potatoes
Baked sweet potatoes.

Next, there was dim sum including custard buns and pearl balls.

There were also congee and some other local dishes.

EVA Air The Star Lounge Dim Sum
Dim sum.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Congee
Congee.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Beans
Green mung beans.

Two soups – pumpkin and pork – were available too.

Hot mains included pasta, meat balls, Thai chicken curry, etc. While the available dishes changed over the course of our four- or five-hour stay, there was always plenty to choose from.

EVA Air The Star Lounge Pumpkin Soup
Pumpkin soup.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Pork Soup
Pork ribs soup.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Hot Dishes
Hot dishes.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Hot Dishes
More hot dishes.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Curry
Thai chicken curry.

Many of the items above were also available when we visited during breakfast time on our way back from Europe. That said, some were replaced with proper breakfast options such as scrambled eggs, pancakes, and sausages.

EVA Air The Star Lounge Breakfast
Breakfast options.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Breakfast
Ham and sausages.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Breakfast
Vegetables and fried eggs.

Lastly, there were also some snacks and desserts.

Salty snacks included Doritos and mixed nuts. I found it funny that the label on the mixed nuts said “Kirkland Signature Mixed Nuts” – i.e. the full Costco product name – rather than just “mixed nuts.”

Desserts included some egg tarts, banana cakes, yogurts, and my favorite, ice cream. While on our way to Europe in August there was Haagen-Dazs, on our way back in October, it was Movenpick. In either case, the ice cream station was my favorite part of the lounge and I enjoyed a couple of scoops on both of our visits to the lounge.

EVA Air The Star Lounge Snacks
Snacks.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Desserts
Desserts.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Ice Cream
Haagen-Dazs ice cream.
EVA Air The Star Lounge Ice Cream
Movenpick ice cream.

EVA Air The Star Lounge Taipei Summary

EVA Air operates a number of different lounges at its Taipei hub, each for a different set of customers. The Star Lounge available to Star Alliance Gold members provided an OK space to spend a long layover in.

There was a buffet with a decent selection of food (and a great ice cream station!), enough seating (although the lounge got crowded at times), and plenty of drinks to keep one hydrated. On top of that, the shower rooms were well-equipped and stocked with nice L’Occitane amenities.

All that said, there was nothing extraordinary about the lounge and the lounge lacked any exterior views. As such, while you should certainly check it out if you find yourself with some extra time on your hands at Taipei Taoyuan Airport, you should not go out of your way to spend more time in this lounge than necessary.

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