Starlux Business Class Review: THIS is Business Class?!

After a 3 week trip in Asia, I had the pleasure of flying Starlux A350 Business Class from Taipei (TPE) to Los Angeles (LAX). This was booked only about 36 hours before departure, meaning I barely had time to get excited for the amazing experience I would have. And boy was it incredible. From check in, to the lounge, to the incredible bed, I am eager to fly Starlux again across the Pacific, and I would highly recommend you do the same. Let’s get into this Starlux Business Class review.

How to Book Starlux Business Class

If you would like to fly Starlux, then there are two options. Option one is to pay cash, which at least for business class, is usually quite expensive. It might be cheaper to end in somewhere in Southeast Asia, like Penang, Chiang Mai, or Cebu. Beyond that, the only other option for us North Americans is to redeem Alaska Atmos Points. For economy, the cost is 35,000 points each way, and you have the option to fly from Los Angeles (LAX), Ontario (ONT), San Francisco (SFO), Seattle (SEA), and Phoenix (PHX). Premium Economy is 50,000 points, and Business Class is 75,000 points. But this is Bougie Miles, so I don’t think anyone is flying economy, right? 😉

How I Booked My Flight

I was in Mainland China for about 10 days, and was intending to fly home from Tokyo (HND) to Los Angeles (LAX) on Delta in Comfort+. But, my separate ticket from China was canceled due to a typhoon, so I changed plans and it turned out there was business class availability from Taipei (TPE) to Los Angeles (LAX) in economy, premium economy, and business class using 75,000 Alaska Atmos Rewards points. Thanks to my balance of Alaska points, I chose to redeem them for this flight – what an upgrade! I got these through a sale of HawaiianMiles which transferred over with the Alaska-Hawaiian merger at a cost of 1.27¢ per point, meaning my ticket cost $1000 one way, with $46 in taxes included. The regular cash fare was ~$3500 for my flight, meaning I got an excellent deal on this ticket.

If you would like to fly Starlux, then there are two options. Option one is to pay cash, which at least for business class, is usually quite expensive. It might be cheaper to end in somewhere in Southeast Asia, like Penang, Chiang Mai, or Cebu. Beyond that, the only other option for us North Americans is to redeem Alaska Atmos Points. For economy, the cost is 35,000 points each way, and you have the option to fly from Los Angeles (LAX), Ontario (ONT), San Francisco (SFO), Seattle (SEA), and Phoenix (PHX). Premium Economy is 50,000 points, and Business Class is 75,000 points. But this is Bougie Miles, so I don’t think anyone is flying economy, right? 😉

For my flight, all three were available, and you’ll find that close in (a week before departure) it is quite easy, outside of peak season to find space in all three cabins like I did. But, if you are wanting to confirm it further out, your only option is going to be booking it at T-330 days before departure. You might find that at least with Starlux, the only other people you are competing with for award availability are Starlux Cosmile members, which is their own rewards program. But for other airlines like JAL, you are competing with a very large number of other rewards programs members which means less availability.

Note that there is sometimes non saver availability, but this is very expensive at around 200-300,000 Alaska Atmos Points making it not worth it. In fact, at that price you would likely be better off in most cases booking your flights through the Chase airline portal.

Starlux also sells first class on all flights to North America, plus Osaka, Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, and Tokyo-Narita as these are all on A350-900 aircraft. This first class can be found in the first row of the cabin, and although the doors are higher than in business class, this is overall more of a business class plus product in terms of the hard product. But, I will say that the ground experience is incredible. Out of Los Angeles (LAX), for example, they provide access to the Private Suite, or PS, which gives passengers their own private room, and when it is time to board they are chauffeured to the gate. But, you are certainly paying a hefty price for this product. It is not possible to use Alaska Atmos points for this, and the price starts at a staggering $10,000 one way and $15,500 roundtrip. The cabin is often empty due to this, as was the case on my flight.

Check In

I arrived into Taipei that morning at 9AM from Shanghai, spent the day in Taipei, before arriving at the airport at around 5:45PM for my 8:10PM flight using the Taipei Airport MRT Line.

Note that if you have a lot of luggage and are staying in Taipei, it is possible to take advantage of Taipei’s City Check in, which allows you to complete all check in formalities, including checking in any luggage you might have. You can use this if you are flying on China Airlines, EVA Air, Cathay Pacific, Tigerair, and Starlux. This is at no additional cost, but for me it didn’t make sense given I just had a carry on.

After arriving at the airport, I went to the ticket counter, which had no line, and they simply checked my passport, confirmed I didn’t have any checked luggage, and I was on my way. I will also note that they didn’t weigh my carry ons. This is something I find really annoying about many Asian airlines, but fortunately Starlux didn’t check.

After that, I went through security, which was very straightforward in that they didn’t make us take any electronics out, and from there I went through the immigration e-gates and I was in the terminal.

Lounge

I visited the larger of the two Starlux Galactic Lounges, which I found to be quite nice. This lounge is located in D Gates at Taoyuan Airport. Access is available for all Starlux business class passengers, regardless of destination. Cosmile Explorer members get access with one guest, and Cosmile Insider members get access to the lounge with two guests.

The lounge was empty when I got arrived, and because of that I immediately put myself on the shower waitlist. Long story short, the lounge only has two showers, and despite being in there for an hour I wasn’t able to shower. That’s not good for a “flagship lounge” if you ask me, and the other lounge doesn’t have any showers. So suffice to say that you should arrive early if you want to shower at the Galactic Lounge. For what it’s worth, there are also luggage lockers in the lounge if you want to store your stuff.

Besides that, I found the food to be excellent in the lounge.

They have sausages…

Candy…

Drinks…

Dim Sum…

Chicken Wings…

Pasta and cooked vegetables…

Ice cream…

Salad…

Plus options you can order with a QR code. I ordered food and it arrived in minutes. It is also marked for allergens which is great as someone with a wheat allergy.

So overall, I thought the Starlux Lounge was excellent. I left the lounge about an hour before my flight was supposed to depart, which was about a 7 minute walk to my gate.

Boarding

If you are flying to the U.S. from most foreign countries, they typically ask you questions about what you are bringing, if you packed your own bags, etc. That was true for this flight as well, but it was well managed, and for business class passengers there was a separate line.

Boarding started 40 minutes before departure, with people with disabilities being called first, followed by business class. I boarded with business class, and we were able to door through door 1L. Economy and Premium Economy passengers are able to board using door 2L which meant the business class cabin was empty after I boarded.

Starlux Seats

My seat was 5D. Unfortunately, since I booked this at the last minute there was not any window seats; only seats in the middle were available. I was wanting a window that way I could take photos on the ground, but at least my seat still had direct aisle access.

All total, there was 26 seats in the business class cabin, and 22 of the 28 seats were occupied. The 4 seats behind me were empty. I wouldn’t recommend seats 7AK, and I would completely avoid 8DG as they are near the lavatories, and 8DG has a lavatory door across from the seat.

Now let’s tour my seat. To the right there is a shallow area on the counter…

And next to it is a lamp as well as a larger compartment which has a pair of headphones and a bottle of water.

The headphones are inside, along with a face mask, a remote for the TV, and a power port with a USB outlet.

Below that is a small (open) storage compartment along with the controls to your seat, which are fully customizable.

There’s also the footwell which was fine even though I am 6’2 and a side sleeper.

To the right of the seat, or on the left depending on what seat you are in is a surface that is big enough for drinks, as well as your pre departure beverage.

Starlux Entertainment

The entertainment screen is massive at 24″, and it is also 4K. I didn’t watch any entertainment, but there was a decent amount of English content available for an Asian airline, and the airshow was also very high quality.

Takeoff

Boarding started right at 45 minutes before departure, and because I was in business class I was among the first to board, besides those who needed extra time and young families.

About 5 minutes after sitting down, the flight attendant serving me for the flight offered me a pre departure beverage, where I had the choice of champagne, orange juice, or water.

We pushed off from the gate about 10 minutes late, but in the end we made up all of the time back. It was sad to be finally leaving Asia after an incredible 4 country, 3 week journey. Unfortunately I don’t have any photos from takeoff as I was in a center seat.

Dinner

After takeoff, we were initially offered a drink service. I just ordered a Sprite, but there was a drink menu with a number of different alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks available, including Bollinger and Charles Heidsieck “Brut Réserve” non vintage champagne.

After my drink was served, I was then served a salad, followed by my main potato dish alongside a soup. I have a wheat allergy which means that I had to preorder my meal. Thus what I was served is different than what you might be served if you fly Starlux.

Following my main course was dessert which was a palette cleanser and a bowl of fruit.

All in all, this was a delicious meal. Of course as someone with a wheat allergy I have to take what I can get, and overall this was more than enough food.

Business Class Bed

My meal was quickly cleared, at which point I changed into my pajamas, and during that time the crew made my bed.

This bed was fully flat, and as I mentioned above this was a very spacious seat. I had plenty of space to sleep even on my side, and on top of that I was not cramped by the width of my seat and the length of my seat. Furthermore, I couldn’t see the person next to me.

Because of this, I slept for about 9 hours. For a 12 hour flight, that’s incredible, and truly what makes business class worth it!

Second Meal

Shortly after waking up, I was served a drink of my choice. This was about 2 hours before our arrival into Los Angeles.

After that, I got a…salad. That’s my big issue with the meals on my flight. I appreciate that sourcing and finding gluten free food for passengers is challenging, especially in Asia, but the variety of these meals was definitely quite lacking for such a good airline.

For my main, I was served edamame, Cucumber sticks, and tomatos with cheese. This was very healthy for airplane food, and it tasted excellent.

Then for dessert I received, you guessed it, fruit! Not great, Starlux.

Service

From start to finish, the service on this flight was absolutely phenomenal. I primarily had one flight attendant serving me, but the entire crew was incredible. Whenever a crew member came to my seat they would kneel and talk to me, which is such a high level of detail. Besides that my meal was served quickly, I was addressed by name in all interactions, and they went through the cabin constantly to do drink refills and collect anything one needed to discard.

Landing in Los Angeles

We touched down into Los Angeles just after 5:30PM on 24R, and had a quick taxi to gate number 208, which is located very close to the runway. From there, I bid farewell to the crew and made my way over to my Spirit (yes, you heard that right!) flight to Vegas. Thanks to Global Entry I was there within about 20 minutes.

Starlux Business Class – Final Thoughts

Overall, this was my favorite flight that I’ve taken to date. I found the airport experience, service, and overall seat to be excellent. Many people call this the best business class seat in the world, and I think that is a very fair assessment. It is spacious, has all of the amenities you need, and is also very private. The only drawback of this flight was that the food I got for both meals, was, while good, very repetitive. That’s an easy fix for Starlux, and for people not ordering special meals, I am confident that this is not an issue. So as a result, I would highly recommend Starlux and I would love to fly them again in the future.