For this trip in 2023, I was with family, including my daughter! The daughter part made it more difficult to take pictures freely.
The Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE), like many other places in Taiwan, gave us preference because we had a /wah-wah tsuh/, or a baby stroller. In this case, we got to go through a screening line with no one else at all. The person manning the gate seemed excited to have anyone going through his not-really-a-line at all.
(My father later explained that all the preference I had received was probably because the birth rate in Taiwan is currently quite low. In part to encourage having children, they treat babies and their families nicely.)
In the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, our Priority Passes allowed us to enter the Plaza Premium lounge on Floor 4. The 2-year-old did not have a pass, but she was free. It was a rather nice lounge with freshly made (Taiwanese) food that could be picked up at a counter. There was a buffet with some Western fare, too. We stayed in the cafeteria area, but there was also a quieter sitting area and a series of already reserved private rooms.
The plane to get to SFO was average. I had bought my family Basic Economy at the same time and myself a regular Economy ticket later on when Basic was unfortunately sold out. My brother and I simply swapped seats so that I could sit with my 2-year-old and my husband. My daughter was fairly well behaved but insisted on watching her entertainment screen after I thoughtlessly opened a movie on mine. She happily watched Sesame Street without sound when awake and quietly slept with the aid of a seat extender when not.
My brother ended up being next to a rather large individual. I could see my brother leaning to one side some of the time or just leaning forward. I have smaller shoulders and take up a little less space than my brother does. I offered to swap seats with my brother, but he said it was fine.
In SFO, I did not have access to any domestic lounges, so my brother paid for my access to the United lounge. I am sorry to say that it was unimpressive and reminded us of a crowded hotel lobby. The breakfast was rather basic, too. I do not personally feel that it is worth the US$60 per person entry fee.
On our way to SFO, the United ground crew checking us in told us we could not have our carry-on. I just showed her my ticket in the end, and then she allowed it. However, we were just on an international flight and, unless policy has changed, that means all of us could have taken our own carry-ons. I am sure such a brusque ground crew member could have tricked someone into paying for luggage they were already entitled to take.
The plane was small and the overhead was full long before everyone was on the plane. An older man was getting rightfully annoyed by the delays. I think we contributed by taking more than a moment to get into our seats and he was going to complain— but he saw that we were holding a sleeping toddler and held his tongue. The carry-on ended up checked, in the end.
Some of our luggage arrived in EWR (Newark Liberty International Airport) before we did. The text messages instructed us to visit a luggage representative, but all that person did was check that our luggage numbers existed. She directed us to the “advanced” luggage window, which was not busy at all and where we handed over or recited the same numbers in exchange for our luggage. We probably could have skipped waiting in line at the luggage representative.
Getting picked up was silly. It was very crowded. Probably because it was cold, the policeman who usually walks up and down shooing cars away opted to instead shout from a loudspeaker that cars should move on unless actively loading.
