I checked in for Eva Air flight recently at Terminal 2 as directed. During the check-in the staff politely told me it’s quite a long walk to the gate so I thought they were being very efficient and courteous.
Turns out I had to walk all the way to Terminal 1.
As soon as I passed immigration I look to the right and gates C and to the left was gate D. So I had to walk through Terminal C to B which is at terminal 1. Terminal 2 has Gates C and D and Terminal 1 has Gates A and B. C & B are now connected as well as D & A. Well anyway, the whole airport is now connected for walking between Terminals so I guess that is a good thing.
Politics as usual is behind this. EVA built terminal 2 because the KMT were being such dicks about giving them access to terminal one (EVA is a green/bentu company as opposed to China Air which is full of ex-air force/KMT types). So there is no design. Those of us who remember the pre-EVA days still cringe at the horror of the old airport.
I went through LAX so was stuck there for hours and ended up walking the whole thing.
The most interesting thing about the airport it seems to have up to 4 runways in parallel (yes I was that bored but I’ve been to a lot of airports this one was unusual).
Indeed Wikipedia confirms…
As for Taoyuan, the dinky connection train is annoying and sometimes late at night they make you go through immigration from the other terminal which feels a bit odd.
But it generally works quite well and at least the second runway is back in operation.
Oh god, tell me about LAX. Being unfamiliar with its layout, I arrived there earlier this year and looked for an Information Desk. There was one, but it was unstaffed. Then I looked for a map. No map. Then I looked for someone to ask. Nobody to ask. I looked for signs. No useful signs. It was only when I was finally able to find a map online, not an easy feat given their awful WiFi service, that I was able to figure out where to go. WTF, LAX?
By the way, there is a shuttle train running between the two terminals at TPE.
i had a typhoon on my last flight so i spent a lot of time at the airport in terminal 1. there is absolutely jack shit to do after you have gone through the gate. i had a delay a few years ago and it seems even more stripped down now compared to then.
It was better for a couple of years but has worsened again, they had some decent restaurants and now have an illy cafe that serves the worst food and barely passable coffee.
