EVA Air is raising baggage fees from 29 September — what it costs on the Hong Kong–Taipei route
September 10, 2026
EVA Air is raising international baggage fees for any trip departing on or after 29 September — a straightforward, dateable cost increase with no typhoon or currency headline behind it, just fuel and operating costs. For Hong Kong travellers, it lands squarely on the Hong Kong–Taipei route: the same routing used for direct Taiwan trips and for the well-worn budget hack of connecting through Taipei to reach the US West Coast on EVA's Star Alliance metal. If a second checked bag is part of the plan — students moving for a semester, shoppers stocking up in Taipei's markets, or transpacific travellers routing through TPE for the extra baggage allowance — this is the fee to budget for before booking, not after.
The numbers
EVA Air confirmed the change applies to bookings for travel dates from 29 September 2026 onward, citing rising aviation fuel prices and operating costs. For its "Zone 1" network — Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, mainland China, Macau and most of Southeast Asia — the fee for an extra checked bag on flights to and from Taiwan rises from US$140 to US$160 per piece (roughly HK$1,092 to HK$1,248, up HK$156). On EVA's longer-haul zones the jump is steeper still: US$300 climbs to US$390 (HK$2,340 to HK$3,042), an extra HK$702 per bag. Excess and overweight baggage fees move by a similar US$20–90 per piece depending on route.
A different cost lever than the one making headlines this year
It's a useful contrast to what's been happening elsewhere this summer: Cathay Pacific cut its passenger fuel surcharge three times between June and July as jet fuel prices eased, worth roughly HK$790 back on a long-haul round trip. EVA's move runs the other way, on a different line item — baggage rather than the surcharge baked into the fare — but points to the same underlying pressure: carriers are still absorbing higher fuel and operating costs a year on from the spike that followed the Middle East conflict, and where one airline's relief shows up as a fare cut, another's shows up as a fee hike.
What it actually costs on the Hong Kong–Taipei route
Run the comparison against Cathay Pacific's own published extra-bag fee on the same Hong Kong–Taipei economy route — US$100, or about HK$780 — and EVA was already the pricier of the two before this change. After 29 September, an extra bag on EVA costs roughly HK$468 more than the equivalent Cathay fee today. For a family checking two extra bags each way, or a student moving with the maximum EVA allows, that gap adds up fast and is worth weighing against whichever airline actually has the better base fare on your dates.
Book around the deadline, not after it
The fee is set by travel date, not booking date, so a ticket already booked for travel before 29 September is unaffected regardless of when you paid for it. If your Taiwan trip — or your Taipei-routed transpacific ticket — falls on or after that date and extra baggage is non-negotiable, EVA's own announcement points to paying for extra bags online in advance rather than at the airport, which it says saves around 10% versus the counter rate. Compare that pre-paid online rate against Cathay's counter price before you assume the "usual" airline is still the cheaper one for your bags specifically, even if it isn't for your seat.
See how we track fare and fee data against a destination's own cost history in our methodology.