These two flights were the second half of my March 2024 journey that began with the new(ish) ANA First Class Suite from New York to Tokyo Haneda (review).
I spent one day in Tokyo before heading over to Osaka for two nights (definitely not enough time, especially as I would have loved time in Kyoto and even Nara). That’s where I got to tell you about the rarest and most expensive steak in the world that I enjoyed for about $100 including a bottle of great sake… I’d fly back just for another meal there!
In this article
Booking Starlux via Alaska MileagePlan
I had already booked a flight from Taipei (TPE) to Los Angeles (LAX) using Alaska MileagePlan miles. (They also fly between TPE and SFO and SEA).
The cost was 75,000 miles and $46.20 in taxes and fees. When looking at Starlux flights on Alaska (which is the only program that Starlux is partnered with for award travel as of this writing), you’ll find that the prices flex up to well over 100,000 miles. I suggest booking right when the schedule opens, if you can, as that will give you the highest chance of a 75,000 mile award, although they can pop up from time to time as mine did about two months before I traveled.
Note that Alaska Airlines MileagePlan miles are hard to come by outside of flying Alaska or a oneworld partner and crediting to Alaska. Bilt Rewards is the only transfer partner. Luckily you get generally get anywhere from 50,000 – 70,000 miles as a welcome bonus offer with the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® credit card. You can check that link to see the current offer and apply.
From Osaka (KIX), I flew on Starlux’s A350 in Business Class to Taipei (TPE). I paid cash for that ticket as there was no partner space available for booking with Alaska Airlines miles. It was actually very reasonably priced at around $550. I was hoping I might be able to upgrade at the gate to 1st Class (which is just the 1st row – more on that later) but on this flight they opted to just lock the doors on the 1st Class cabin rather than allow anyone to pay for them. I was told that certain routes just don’t offer 1st Class and that is how they handle those routes when the A350 is flying it. Certainly seems to me like a missed revenue opportunity – even if they sold them at the ticket counter with the same Business Class meal. But as I’ll discuss, it does not seem like First is a priority for Starlux and I kind of think they should just throw in the towel on offering it at all, even from Asia to the US.
FWIW, they did indicate that First was available NRT to TPE, but that the cost to upgrade was over $3,000! Sooooo, that’s a hard no based on the minimal cabin differences alone.
I’m not going to focus too much on this leg of the flight as it was VERY similar to my flight from Taipei to LAX. That said, I was glad to have booked it as it gave me some time to do some preliminary review work (hard product pictures, for example) in advance of the overnight flight. I’ll save those for the main part of this review.
The main differences on the intra-Asia Business Class experience and the Asia <–> US Route are minimal. Obviously there was more food on the flight to the US. And then they did give me some comfortable pajamas on the TPE-LAX flight which were not offered intra-Asia (and why would they be on a short daytime flight? 😉 )
Starlux Regional KIX-TPE Business Class Food
While the hard product is the same on both routes, the food varies.
Here’s the food menu on the intra-Asia flight, which still had a choice of an International or “Authentic Asian” meal.
As you’ll see below, I chose both – purely for research purposes 😉
I thought the sukiyaki was fantastic – and I love a good sukiyaki.
The chicken on the international menu was good – but I definitely preferred the sukiyaki.
Overall, I was pretty happy with the Starlux food. I thought it was a better than the food on Taiwanese carrier EVA (see my EVA Business Class review) not that I thought EVA food was bad by any means.
I probably overall liked Starlux on-board food as much as ANA First (ANA First Class The Suite review) for the most part (given that I don’t indulge in things like caviar – so it’s a pretty straight up comparison).
Nothing has held a candle to the food I had from Japan to the US on JAL First (review).
The short sub 3 hour flight was otherwise uneventful. I then spend a night in Taipei at the “haunted” Grand Hyatt Taipei (which I do like, although my room this time was such a weird corner suite configuration that, well, it felt a bit spooky!).
Then I headed back to the airport in Taipei super early the next evening to have lots of time at the lounge.
Check-in was easy and uneventful (no wait) and I was given my boarding pass and lounge access pass. I was on my way…
Starlux GALACTIC Lounge – Terminal 2 – TPE Airport, Taipei, Taiwan
The Starlux GALACTIC lounge had just opened the week before (I’m months late filing this review, sorry!) and it looked so cool I wanted multiple hours to soak it all in. I had been significantly underwhelmed by the EVA Airways lounge the year before and was excited for this brand new concept from Starlux.
It’s quite a long walk to the lounge to prepare for that. My flight left right by the lounge but sometimes they can leave from a gate a ways away so keep an eye on that.
It LOOKS stunning. Very modern and “galactic” vibe indeed. The lockers were actually big enough to store my full size carryon. I kept saying it wouldn’t fit and they insisted it would – and it did 😉 That helps keep the lounge from being too cluttered as it’s not quite as giant as you might think, though it’s not small by any means either – especially spread out on to two floors.
But, since I’m me, I was most excited about the food – especially the made to order food.
And sadly, it was disappointing. It just… wasn’t great. While I’d certainly fly Starlux again, I wouldn’t rush to get to TPE early for the lounge. Then again, with an overnight flight to LAX and a hotel checkout time generally being 4pm at the very latest with a late checkout, you may well not have much of a choice.
Below, you’ll see the lockers, the lounge seating, the way downstairs and downstairs seating, and then the made-to-order menu and the actual food. You’ll also find a hot dog I dared to try off the roller. I had one bite…. not great.
I tried everything except the tofu burger and there wasn’t a singe thing I wanted more of.
The sukiyaki was stringy – not as high quality as what I had on board the regional flight. The quality overall just didn’t feel “there” and I didn’t need to gorge on it.
Overall, the lounge is slick, but despite copious amounts of seating, there isn’t a singly big comfy lounge chair to whittle away time in comfort. I would allow just enough time for a meal but I wouldn’t plan my early arrival to the airport around getting as much time as I can, such as I might with the Qatar Al Mourjan Business Class lounge or even the Chase Sapphire Lounge at LaGuardia.
First Class vs. Business Class on Starlux
The first thing I want to address is Starlux’s concept of “First Class.” Note that you cannot book a First Class ticket with Alaska miles. The cash cost one way for Business Class is around $3,000 (TPE-LAX) while First Class is about $9,000. That is a lot of extra coin, but normally that price difference gets you a seat worlds apart from Business Class.
On Starlux, you get a slightly bigger seating area with a larger TV screen and custom booked made to order meals. I would assume you also get higher end liquor.
First Class is simply Row 1. It’s basically the same thing as the “Studio Suite” on JetBlue where you pay a couple of hundred bucks for the front row with extra room – just for $6,000 instead of $199.
But let me show you the Business Class followed by the First Class seat:
I remain stunned that for everything Starlux has done to position itself as a premium carrier, that they didn’t so *something* more with First Class.
It almost feels like they weren’t going to do it at all and then someone was like “Whattabout we just take that first row with the extra legroom and stick a different seat cover on it with a bigger screen and better food/drink and charge triple the price?”
For what it’s worth, ZERO of the 4 First Class seats were occupied on my flight.
I really think that if that is all First Class is going to be, the price point needs to come WAY down or at least do reasonable day of departure upgrades. I was quoted (if I recall correctly) $5,000 to upgrade. And that wouldn’t even include the made to order First Class meal which requires the seat be booked more than 24 hours in advance.
Starlux A350 Business Class Seat and Amenities
The seat is nice. Everything is very modern. Layout is nice. The available charging options work well, and the tray table situation was perfectly fine. All basic needs for a Business Class seat were met. But I have to say, for such a long flight it’s not exactly “spacious.” I mean, it’s no less spacious than its Business Class competition on the route, but it’s also not more. That’s not a criticism, but I think that some people might expect slightly more room just because of its positioning in the market.
The amenities are very nice. You’ll be given comfortable pajamas, a blanket and pillow, slippers, a headset that I liked much more than most, and an amenity kit.
But this was the first official “miss” at the same time. I’m VERY used to forward cabins on Asian carrier’s long haul planes having one extra large bathroom up front that is easy to change into your pajamas in. Not so with Starlux where you have to sort of shimmy them on because neither bathroom is “extra large.” First world problems for sure, but quite noticeable.
Here are pictures of the suite and features – including the closing suite door.
The headphones were excellent. Both the sound quality and comfort. I find many forward cabin headphones (especially Bose) to hurt after a while and these did not.
I specially took the above shot to show that you can have your cords plugged into the ports in the cabinet and close the door so everything is neatly tucked away.
The inside, with the ports, is shown below.
I very much liked that it had both USB-A (old style) and USB-C (new style) in addition to a 110v outlet for maximum charging options.
You can see that while the door provides some privacy, it also makes the seat feel smaller – just like on Delta’s A321neo.
It was perfectly comfortbale to sleep, but there was no mattress topper or anything of the sort. On balance the seat was quite comfortable.
Oh, and let’s not forget “Zero G!” This is a special seating position engineered by the airline to sort of maximize the difference between recline and lying down for maximum circulation and wellbeing. I admit, it was quite comfortable 😉
Wifi on Board
Sure, you could “decompress” for 15 hours or so and stay offline, but I don’t know many who really want to be offline the entire flight.
Lucky, Starlux absolutely shines here with free unlimited wifi for Business Class passengers.
I was able to enable it on both my laptop and my cell phone for easy use whether I was sitting or lounging / lying down.
And while I could swear I took a picture of the speeds, I apparently did not – but I was impressed with useable speeds for a majority of the flight.
No airline can control satellite dead zones, but it’s the rest of the flight that matters and Starlux was as good as it gets here.
Food and Drink
I know that for many, the most important part of a First or Business Class international flight is the menu, so I’ll post the ENTIRE menu below along with my selections and thoughts on the taste and quality.
I’ll save you the trouble – the champagne is only about $75 USD a bottle 😉
And here’s what I had…
(I also had the chestnut cream soup which was quite good but I missed a picture of.)
Now I’m going to freely admit that this is the latest I’ve ever filed a review after taking the flight (it’s been 5 months) so the food itself, especially since I was struggling to stay awake on the flight to try it all, is not as fresh on my mind as it normally would be when I write everything up within a week or two.
That said, I recall enjoying all of the food and it was excellent for Business Class. I also recall having unfairly high expectations of the food on this “premium airline” and had to level set that this was still Business Class and not First Class.
Overall, the food was very, very good – and I will say that I found it, on balance, much better than the food on EVA.
Service
A+ all around. It’s rare I’ve flown an Asian carrier, let alone a premium Asian carrier, and not had fantastically attentive service. Attentive, but not too attentive. Very friendly as well. 10/10.
Overall
I would give the overall experience an 8/10 relatively ranked against other Business Class longhaul experiences. While I wouldn’t necessarily pine for another flight *just to take the flight* like I would for JAL F, for example, I wouldn’t hesitate to fly them again!
Questions?
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