I have read about a non stop service from London to Taipei here:
china-airlines.com/en/newsen … 000624.htm
However I have just recently taken a look around to find prices and can’t find anything about it. Is this still going or has it been axed?
They stopped this some time ago. Nice while it lasted.
It was very short lived. I guess the planes didnt fly as full as they wanted/needed.
China Airlines still flies from frankfurt nonstop to Taipei. Maybe you can connect onto that flight?
EVA does one stop service London to Taipei (in bangkok).
Yes and Eva calls it a direct flight, which is pretty cheeky.
Yes and those Bangkok pick ups are usually guaranteed to max out the plane, often with a good sprinking of loud and/or fat Brits.
KLM direct to AMS would be preferable over that one.
EVA fly direct to Paris.
last time I flew I took Cathay via Hong Kong. Short hop to HK then 10 hours to Heathrow. Seemed alot shorter than the EVA flights via Bangkok.
In-flight systems were great as well. Hundreds of movies/TV etc.
Two thumbs up for Taipei-Amsterdam on KLM. Lots of good connections on offer from there to the UK, usually with minimal hanging around (70 minutes for my onward flight to Bristol last time). As a bonus you get to avoid [strike]the whole filthy southeast of England[/strike] Heathrow Airport.
Did KLM finally upgrade their planes for AMS? Last two times I flew (back in 2010) they only had those old mini overhead TV’s every 6 rows or so. Avoid China Airlines if you can, it’s expensive and the service is terrible and usually full with Taiwanese tour groups. I am flying to FRA next month with HongKong Airlines to HKG after that with Emirates via Dubai to FRA all for just 41000NT$ return.
Prices start going down now after the kids go back to school.
+1 to the poster mentioning the Bangkok leg seems longer, I believe the flight time is longer along with the wasted time at stop-over. I often go to Heathrow via HK on Cathay Pacific. It’s a bit better, especially if you get their membership card and can relax in their lounge club there.
The KLM flight to AMS is the most efficient for Europe (and often the cheapest), but I also had the same experience with their old planes (more leg room than usual actually) and big strapping matron flight attendants. They did give out mountains of booze though. I believe they may have upgraded the fleet on this leg though as my colleagues just took it and they were on a newer plane.
+1 too to Taffy for avoiding Heathrow if you can, it’s a massive dump of a place.
I can’t be 100% sure, because I never use the in-flight entertainment (I have these antediluvian bundles of paper glued together instead), but I think that both times I’ve flown this route (June 2011 and May 2012) they’ve had the seat-back systems.
You would probably remember, their planes were like ‘80’s’ old! Think original 747s and Airbuses.
Yeah, in that case these were more modern.
It is a DIRECT flight (in that the same plane continues on to Taipei) but it is not a NON STOP flight from LONDON to TAIPEI. Apparently thats the lingo the airlines use (to confuse us peons).
Yeah, we flew KLM this summer. They’ve got the seatback systems now. I watched The Hunger Games, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Perfect Sense and probably a couple more films too. 
KLM now uses a 777 on this route. The flight attendants don’t of the look of the Asian airlines but I find them to be one of the most competent crews in the business.
The last time I flew KLM longhaul, one of the ‘gals’ blew off steam on a guy a couple of rows ahead. Even I felt intimidated, and it was nothing to do with me.
Friendly and all, but don’t get on the wrong side of them at 33000ft. There’s nowhere to go up there.