China Airlines Lounge (V2) Review, Taipei Airport (TPE)
After my experience just a week prior at the 'flagship' EVA Air Infinity Lounge at Taipei Airport, I wasn't expecting much from the China Airlines Business Class Lounge. (This lounge is named V2 at TPE; there are two other China Airlines lounges there, named V1 and V3).
For some reason, the forte for creating a great lounge experience is not something that you'll find easily in Taiwan (or Japan)...
This China Airlines lounge is near the D gates where most China Airlines flights depart from. Check-in was easy and took just seconds. The main lounge is downstairs (upstairs is for Emerald members only) and is a rather dark and windowless affair.
There is a decent sized buffet but none of the options are especially appealing. The food is certainly edible but only if you are really hungry and have no regard for eating healthy at all.
There are shower facilities at the back of the lounge, which are pretty spacious but not very clean.
The lounge WiFi (which is separate from the airport WiFi) is rather slow and it's likely you will be unable to do any work (though messaging will certainly be fine).
I found the lounge to be without any soul and not a great place to stay at all.As with the week prior, I resorted to using the Priority Pass Plaza Premium Lounge upstairs, which has somewhat better food, faster WiFi and a much better atmosphere and design to it.
There really isn't anything completely wrong with the China Airlines V2 Lounge at Taipei Airport but it's also not a place that would ever stand out from my travels. For an airline like China Airlines that wants to compete better in attracting connecting traffic from the US to Asia, this is something I'd fix sooner rather than later.