First time I have used this facility and I am impressed. Large business center with 6 PC's and high speed hookup for your laptop. Large game room with free Play Station(I think). Plenty of food with an automatic capuccino machine. Very comfy waiting room with newspapers from around the world. Compared to the shithole lounge at LAX, this is heaven.

Ya it's like comparing Asiana First Class lounge in Seoul vs. in the USA... Different world over there.

Ahh, but the First class lounge in TPE is even nicer, and the Premium Laurel Lounge is nicer still. They have cocktail waitresses and take orders for food in there.

I got lounge upgrades two of the last three trips now.

Yeah, the EVA lounge at LAX is not too good, the one in TPE is very nice, good place to spend a couple of hours between flights.

How does one get a lounge upgrade?

Both times I figured it was just because I was dressed nice, polite, and businesslike, was alone, was white (yes it's sometimes a racially biased world out there, sometimes it works for you and sometimes against you) and the business class lounge was overcrowded as it often is. They seemed to be trying to divert people away from the overcrowded lounge but were pretty obviously being selective about who got diverted. This last time the hostess from the Premium Laurel Lounge had left her desk and came over to the entrance to the other lounge and was helping check people in. She looked at a couple of loutish acting Chinese men's boarding passes and welcomed them to the business class lounge. Next she invited me to the Premium Laurel Lounge. I guess I made the cut and the guys in front of me did not. I feel so special.

My first time sitting in the premium laurel lounge I was actually flying on a first class ticket. I noticed I was not bothered by the lounge attendants, but then again I wandered in with the attitude of "I belong here" and also approached some people I met in the LAX lounge who were also in the premium laurel lounge.

On every other flight since I just walk into the main lounge, let them keep my boarding pass at the front desk while I toss my things into the provided lockers and take a nice shower, then I wander into the Premium Laurel Lounge like I belong there. Once an attendant asked for my boarding pass and I told her "It is sitting at the front counter - you are welcome to retrieve it for me. Is there a PROBLEM?" She immediately backed down and apologized for any inconvenience.

Act like you belong there and you'd be surprised what you can get away with...

E

Typical Epi. First he takes a shower and then he skips the two main entrances and goes strait for the third entrance even though he knooows he's not supposed to be in there.

Epi gets into a lot of "entrances" he's not supposed to....

Epi......Fuck yeah. I like your style man. A tactic i like to do is just stare at a person after they give me an answer I don't like. Just keep staring. You'd be suprised how people will just back down. Most of the time that is.

You can can entrance into the EVA Taipei lounge if you have a Diners Club card. I know, I know, they are not that common anymore. BUT if you are a member of EVA FF, you can rack up some miles by applying for the DC card (really a Mastercard), and get free entry into a large number of lounges worldwide, including Manila (not the EVA or China Airlines lounge, the other one that is upstairs), Rio, Sao Paolo, Narita and Tokyo.