Starlux A350-900 Business Class NRT-TPE
Starlux has created a buzz in the Avgeek world since its inception prior to Covid with it’s promise of premium aircraft, cabins and service. They had been on my bucket list as I was looking to fly their A330-neo product on the Bangkok route. About the time Korean Air award space became available the news of Starlux flying to a couple Asian destinations in preparation for their A350 service to Los Angeles was announced. Tokyo was one of them. Could I make it work?
Note: After REPEATED attempts requesting points earned for this flight be credited to my Cosmile account, STARLUX refuses to post them and instead simply ignores me!
At the time of booking this flight Starlux did not have any way to book a reward flight other than their own progam. I used the AMEX Business Pay with Points for this flight. Subsequently, the day of the inaugural TPE-LAX flight, Starlux and Alaska Airlines announced a future partnership to earn/spend with the Alaska Mileage Plan program. Spoiler alert, get some Alaska points to fly this airline!
In the JL15 LAX-HND post I described the insane flying and positioning to get to Narita Airport Terminal 2 on a Sunday morning. I even had to get there earlier as when I tried online check in using the Starlux app I got this:
So I arived at checking 3 hours before the flight. Sorry checking doesn’t open for another hour.
Japan Airlines provides the airport services for Starlux in Narita, including their lounge along with JAL dressed employees.
A very thorough check-in process ensued, even confiming my seat assignment. I asked for row 1 and was denied. Then my carryon bag was weighed. The same one that Alaska Air allowed on an E175 in economy with no question. I was told not to purchase any items before getting on the aircraft as this would put my bag overweight. I snuck a bottle of water on.
Security was a breeze and I exited right in front of the Sakura Business Class lounge which is the lounge you are invited to use when flying Starlux.
It was empty.
It appeared they were switching menus from breakfast to lunch. The dining area has a cafeteria style service.
Wine was available as well, although I did not partake.
And the Japanese Bento box was actually pretty tasty.
But the best part of the lounge was the unobstructed view of Gate 63 which would soon be occupied by a Starlux A350 as well as passing/parked aircraft.
Drumroll…
I quickly headed to the gate.
B-5801, their first A350-900.
Stunning, breathtaking, gorgeous, take your pick, offer another… Notice the back cabin partition. The design is made with LED lights that are customizable, however any photo I’ve seen has the same “picture” as shown here.
The lavatories seem pretty stock for an A350 and on this short flight didn’t have any amenities laid out.
The front cabin has 4 First Class seats and 26 Business Class seats. Today there were 5 occupants up front including myself. I checked other Tapei carrier seat maps from Tokyo that afternoon; EVA and China Airlines. Their J cabins were pretty much full. However the boarding area was crowded so I assume the back of this aircraft was relatively full on this Starlux flight. .
Here is the first class cabin. Essentially it is the same seat with a little more storage, wider footwell and larger monitor, 21 inches I believe. First class was not offered on this flight, or on any of the Asia A350 flights. Having said that the fares in First Class to the US are incredibly high. I don’t see how they are going to make it work.
At least you get an unobstructed window view for 1A and 1K, something that is rare in Rows 2-6.
First Class is in the SAME cabin as Business Class. The separation between the two classes is a slightly higher wall on the first class pod. These photos give a fairly good representation of that height.
Of course there is a door but the J seats have doors as well. This is more like the VS Retreat Suite, Condor Business Class plus (which cost a few hundred to upgrade) and not even better than Malaysia or Asiana premium J which used to be first class cabins. Heck, even American Airlines will have a “Flagship Premium” J seat on their 777 when they shut down First Class. Again, I don’t see how they will make this work. These are sample One Way fares.
Anyway, you aren’t here for my Starlux marketing opinion. Suffice it to say, at least you get good viewing material.
First Class pricing aside, these are VERY nice pods. Gorgeous, well designed, comfortable with excellent storage and only a coupe minor gripes. Look familiar? This is the Business Class seat.
The color scheme and finishes are exquisite. This has to be the most attractive airline seat/cabin I’ve experienced.
Business class has a slightly smaller monitor, which I would argue doesn’t matter since you sit so close to it. Large monitors are great in First Class suites like ANA and Singapore where they are 4-6 feet or more away, but the distance of a monitor you can reach out an touch makes this one fine.
Then the footwells are smaller in Business Class. I did not extend the bed as this flight was too short but the width looks similar to any reverse herringbone pod on the market these days.
These seats have plenty of nice touches and easy to access controls.
One could quible about this storage area next to the seat. It’s not very deep, probably meant for a phone, but if so why is the wireless phone charger elsewhere? BTW: The charger did not charge my phone at all. Also these controls on the inside wall are difficult to reach when sitting as they are essentially behind you.
This aircraft has the new Airbus blackout windows with no shades. They are extremely fast and go to an opaque black, which was always a complaint on the Boeing 787 which never seems to get dark enough for some.
You can see the control at the bottom of the darkened window. The problem is many of the windows are mostly blocked by the pod.
The tray is similar to the Super Diamond which releases out then folds down. These seats are called Elements and designed by Collins Aerospace who also make the Super Diamond.
And finally no air nozzles for your enjoyment or lack of.
Starlux appears to have invested pretty heavily in the IFE system to communicate with their passengers. Unfortunately the favorite of mine is the onboard cameras which they either did not get or was turned off for this flight. I could not find any reference to them so my guess it’s to former. N/A.
Most airlines have gone to entertaining safety videos, Starlux is no exception. However in my opinion they failed as this video was neither funny or entertaining, unless of course you like one, two or three eyed cartoon monsters. Maybe I’m just out of touch.
Food, Beverage and Shopping were all “online”. Here are 22 screens, for food and beverage.
Did anyone else see a younger Elton John making cocktails? I did find an interesting item to shop for.
It’s a very good system despite no onboard camera. I watched a movie and the map, of course.
Headphones were provided, but not nice and tidy like you would expect.
Then there was the meal. I had preordered the Japanese Meal as the Tawain meals didn’t appeal. You can do this using the app which worked well. Service started with a real oshibori and a glass of Tangerine and Passion juice which was very good.
I can’t say I was enthralled with this meal. But under all that sauce was a nicely cooked piece of sea bass. Everything else was just ok. Probably a poor attempt at a Japanese meal as the other items didn’t have a lot of creativity. But notice the quality of the chopsticks and tableware.
This was followed by dessert which was super strange. Fruit, typical of Asian carriers and something that was called Mango cake. It was a ball of geletain with somekind of powder. I get they don’t do desserts like we do here in the states but this was terrible. And the Americano was simply a cup of drip coffee.
Still much more that a 2 1/2 hour flight on a US carrier.
WiFi was supposedly available but they made an announcement it wasn’t working on this flight. It’s a brand new plane???
The crew was fantastic. A male FA and female purser who had come from Emirates. She spoke perfect English. I’m sure these two were headed to LA at some point in the very near future.
This ended up being my top rated Business Class flight for the distance. But with a new aircraft and seat, the headstart others couldn’t overcome. The food was the only let down and some of the app glitches. Also they never gave me my Cosmile points, even after requesting them TWICE and sending a copy of my boarding pass and passport to them which they requested. So far, crickets.
But minus those negatives I probably would spend some Alaska miles to fly them again. But no more cash at least until they give me my points.
Besides I stare at this everyday.
Not bad for $65 and delivery on the aircraft. Oh wait, now I was overweight!
We landed in TPE about 10 minutes or so after 2 widebodies landed. Immigration took 1 hour. It’s then when whatever was brewing inside me reared its ugly head.
I stayed at the Novotel at the airport. One of my favorite airport hotels. Get a runway view room, like you need more pictures in this post. Starlux again, same plane headed to Macau that evening.
