Taipei’s Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is China Airlines’ main hub, home to four of the carrier’s lounges spread across two terminals. Despite varying degrees of differences, all four lounges are generically referred to as the China Airlines Lounge. During my visit, only the biggest two were open – the China Airlines Lounge D in Terminal 2 and China Airlines Lounge A in Terminal 1. In this review, I will be focusing on the latter, which is also China Airlines’ flagship lounge offering in Taipei.

Lounge Access Rules

The China Airlines Lounge is accessible to any SkyPriority passenger flying on a SkyTeam member airline. This means eligible passengers include those flying on China Airlines and other SkyTeam airlines in Business Class or holding SkyTeam Elite Plus Status. In addition, the China Airlines Lounge is also the contract lounge for Business Class passengers flying on Air China, China Southern, Emirates, Hainan Airlines, Hebei Airlines, Jin Air, Philippine Airlines, Royal Brunei Airlines, Shandong Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, and T’Way Air.

Location

The China Airlines Lounge (A Side) is located in the Terminal 1 lounge cluster. From the immigration checkpoint, head towards the gates on Concourse A. After the initial few duty-free shops, there will be a sign pointing to the VIP Lounges. Follow the signs and head one floor up to Level 4, where you’ll find a row of lounges next to each other. This China Airlines Lounge will be the first in this row. Confusingly, China Airlines has another lounge (China Airlines Lounge B-side) on this row, although that lounge is a lot smaller and is currently closed.

China Airlines Lounge

Like the China Airlines Lounge near Gate D4, the lounge staff at reception took copies and detailed notes of my boarding pass, before permitting me to enter. When I returned the next morning, however, they interestingly had another copy of my boarding pass waiting on the reception desk, so that made the entry quicker.

The main lounge is located down a long dimly-lit corridor, on which you can also find the shower rooms, toilets, nap rooms, lockers, a business centre, and an exclusive area open for Paragon and Emerald Dynasty Flyer members. I will talk about each of these amenities later in this review.

Business Class section

The Business Class Lounge is located at the far end of the corridor, which opens up into one large room with sofas on both sides. At first sight, the lounge looked impressively cozy and intimate, which isn’t an easy feat in a flagship lounge of a relatively large airline.

Lounge Seating and Amenities

Sofa seats

At its core, most seats consist of the sofas lined by the wall on both sides of the lounge. These sofas face each other, and each pair ends up having a very intimate-looking setup, for better or worse. Each pair is divided by a large lamp, turning it into a cubicle-like setting.

Each ‘cubicle’ seat four people, with each seat on the sofa separated by a small table. Power outlets are available under this table. To the side is a display case with books and/or literature-related curios. Whilst they were static displays, they did give a nice library-like ambiance to the lounge. I also liked the clothed ceilings, which only helped made the lounge feel even more intimate.

However, as can be seen with the proximity between each seat, the seating becomes awkward when the lounge gets crowded. The coziness and intimacy of the arrangement necessarily remove established notions of personal space, which can be problematic when sitting with strangers. This is especially the case for solo travellers, since there are virtually no solo chairs in this lounge.

Disregarding the seating arrangement, I generally found the lounge design to be very elegant and upmarket. I especially appreciated the warm and earth tones of the colour palette and lighting, which contrasts the sterile look of the China Airlines Lounge D4. However, I did feel that this otherwise harmonious look is disrupted by the service carts and boxes casually placed by the interior walls.

Bench seats

As an alternative to the sofa chair seating, there are also two pairs of single bench seats at the far end of the lounge. They honestly don’t look very comfortable due to their hardwood surface, but they come with two cushions which helps. However, I still find the arrangement not ideal, since these four seats are also in close proximity to two dining tables.

Dining area

There are two dining areas in the lounge, one near the entrance and the other at the back. The one near the entrance consists of eight tables, each seating two. Each table is quite close to another, which makes it feel a bit claustrophobic. However, since the food spread near these tables consists more of light choices, I felt that this area isn’t meant for long stays.

In addition to the initial eight dining tables, there are a further 16 tables at the back of the lounge. These tables are placed within ‘cubicles’ of two tables each and are spaced a bit further away from each other. Power outlets are even also available, being placed on the partition walls.

Finally, there are two communal tables at the far end of the lounge, each seating up to 12 people at any given time. These two tables are also next to the lounge’s sole window. The window unfortunately is covered with a green wall, hence making it impossible to get any views or even any penetrating sunlight.

Nap Rooms

Located in the corridor to the lounge is a small area with two nap rooms. Whilst a couple of rooms is admittedly a very limited number, I was nevertheless impressed that these rooms can be fully enclosed with a sliding door. They also have dedicated lighting, making it easy to control the brightness of the room. Despite that, I did feel the lounging chair to be a bit uncomfortable for a nap.

Maternity Room

Behind the nap rooms is a single maternity room, equipped with a sofa, a sink, and a changing table. Honestly, I think this is a very thoughtful amenity on the side of China Airlines – one that you don’t see too often in airport lounges, at least.

Business Centre

Opposite the Nap Rooms is a small business centre with two desktop computers. Mimicking the setup at the China Airlines Lounge D, I didn’t see a printer, making this provision to be rather pointless.

Lockers

There are two locker areas in this China Airlines Lounge, both located on the corridor. The first can be found as you enter the Business Centre area, placed by a wall. The lockers appear to be key-operated, but I wasn’t sure how to get a key for a locker. An identical set of lockers can also be found as you enter the nap and maternity room section.

WiFi

All China Airlines Lounges at Taoyuan Airport maintain their own WiFi network independent from that of the terminal. The network is password and username protected, so be sure to ask for WiFi credentials slip from the reception desk. Whilst I found the WiFi speeds to be okay, the connection was a bit spotty outside the main Business Class Lounge section.

Dining

Buffet Dining

Most of the food options in the lounge can be found at the buffet located in the middle of the lounge. Whilst the China Airlines Lounge D4 is catered by China Pacific Catering Services, this lounge is curiously catered by Novotel Taoyuan Airport (also owned by China Airlines). Whilst I don’t generally imagine Novotel food to be great, I found the quality of food at this lounge to be marginally better than at the other lounge. On the wall of each side are a few cold and hot food selections, including a salad bar, cheese, cold cuts, soups, as well as steamed dim sum.

Following that, there is a noodle bar (which I will talk about after this), along with a few cold side dishes to go with the noodles (I believe).

Next to the noodle bar is the lounge’s main hot food selection, each contained within a bain-marie. The selection changes between breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Since I visited during both dinner and breakfast, I hope the following could give a picture of what to expect.

Dinner

The dinner selection consisted of a mix of mostly Chinese dishes, with one hot pasta dish. Since I already ate at the other lounge earlier, I decided not to try out any of the dishes.

Breakfast

For breakfast, bread rolls and pastries are available at the drinks area near the entrance of the lounge. The pastries looked quite impressive as far as lounges in Asia go, which is a plus. Packets of butter and jam are also offered next to these pastries.

In terms of hot food, they interestingly had the same kind of pasta bolognese, in addition to the usual breakfast dishes like bacon, sausages, and tater tots.

Noodle Bar

This lounge features a ‘Chinese Noodle Bar’, crowning the food spread area, curiously with a different menu from the one available at the China Airlines Lounge D. Available were Taiwan Beef Noodle Soup, Noodle Soup with Quail Eggs, Noodle with Meat Sauce, and Beyond Meat Sauce Noodle. To order, one simply asks the chef at the station for the dish.

I was very curious about the Beyond Meat Sauce Noodle and decided to get a bowl. It was delicious, so much that I was low-key tempted to get another! For one, I was very impressed with the depth of the broth and the texture of the noodles. Nothing about it indicated that it was vegetarian since the flavours and textures were all on point. Suffice to say, this was probably one of the best vegetarian noodles I’ve had.

Drinks

Showers

On the corridor near the entrance are the two shower rooms and the toilets. Due to the very limited number of showers, the queues for one can sometimes get very long. For that reason, I would recommend waitlisting for a shower as soon as you enter the lounge, if you intend to take a shower.

To request a shower, you will have to talk with the staff at the reception desk, who will (again) need a copy of your boarding pass. Assuming one isn’t available, someone will personally find you to take you to the shower room when it becomes available.

Like the rest of the lounge, the shower room is rather dimly-lit. Regardless, I appreciated that it features its own toilet and sink, which makes all the difference after a long flight. On one side is the sink and a long stone bench surface to place your personal items. On it were also the bath mat, towel, and a hairdryer.

The water pressure from the shower was better in this lounge, and I liked that a rainshower is available. The bath amenities were from Pure Altitude, identical to those available inflight, which I quite liked. Curiously, also available was a pink box with a couple of skincare products, which you don’t see in a lounge very often.

Toilets

In the same area as the two shower rooms are the toilets, which are gender-segregated. In contrast to the rest of the lounge, the toilets are bright, and I found the male toilet to be regularly cleaned and well-kept during my visit.

What I really liked, however, was the availability of very nice Toto Neorest toilets, as you’d find at JAL First Class Lounges.

Paragon and Emerald Section

Like the two other China Airlines Lounges I’ve visited, there is a dedicated area for Paragon and Emerald members of the airline’s own Dynasty Flyer programme. This area is located behind closed doors, opened only by lounge staff when escorting said members into the section.

I managed to get a quick peek at the area when I saw the doors wide open as the lounge was about to close for the night. Obviously, I didn’t try my luck and headed inside, but the space I managed to see looked very cozy and intimate. Based on my quick look, it might appear that à la carte dining is offered in this area. Curiously, they also had the same pink skincare boxes from the showers on display here.

Overall

All in all, I found the China Airlines Lounge A to be an agreeable flagship lounge for the airline, despite its shortcomings. I kind of wish they were more creative when it came to seating, though in any case, this lounge is a massive improvement over the one at Terminal 2 – both in terms of hardware and soft product. Whilst the lack of sunlight did make the lounge feel a bit stuffy after a while, I really liked how intimate and cozy the space felt.

Read more from this trip here!