Perfectly pleasant and well worth the price paid, Starlux intra-Asia premium economy is worth the price paid and makes me question the price paid for business class.

This flight occurred in April 2024.

View other posts in this series:

• Trip Introduction: Springing for Sakura
• Review: oneworld Qantas Business Lounge LAX
• Review: Starlux A350-900 Business Class LAX-TPE
• Review: Starlux Galactic Lounge TPE Terminal 1
• Review: Starlux A330neo Business Class TPE-NRT
• The Airport Limousine Bus is Indeed Friendly
• Quite a Grand Stay: The Tokyo Disneyland Hotel
• Thoughts on Tokyo Disneyland
• Thoughts on Tokyo DisneySea
• Japan Pro Tip: Luggage Delivery Services
• Review: Park Hyatt Tokyo
• teamLab Planets: I Don’t Understand The Hype
• Cuteness Overload: A Review of the Pokémon Cafe Tokyo
• What to Do in Tokyo with Kids
• Japan Pro Tip: IKEA Has Cheap Eats
• Review: Starlux A350-900 Premium Economy NRT-TPE (this post)

Booking

I purchased premium economy for this flight using 10,000 Alaska Airlines miles per person (for a total of 50,000 miles). Compared to what we paid for business class on the same route in the opposite direction, this was a relative steal. With Alaska Airlines (along with many other US carriers) increasing rates for domestic US routes, I was happy to use my miles more efficiently.

If you’re looking to pay cash, rates appear to hover around ¥56,000 (about 375 USD) on this route. By comparison, the 10,000 Alaska miles is very much worthwhile (giving you a redemption worth an excellent $0.0375 per point) and one of the few cases where it’s cheaper just to buy the miles than pay the cash price.

Unfortunately, Starlux isn’t fully integrated with Alaska Airlines awards and requires calling in (or messaging on their website during Taiwan business hours) to book seats. A small price to pay for such a good award rate.

Earning Alaska Miles

There are three main methods of obtaining large chunks of Alaska miles. The first is simply crediting flights (and, in particular, business class flights purchased with cash) to their program. Alaska tends to have extra multipliers for crediting flights, making their program quite lucrative if you can take advantage.

The second is signing up for a credit card. Currently there is an offer for 60,000 miles publicly available (not a referral link), but note that you might also be able to get an extra statement credit if you sign up while attempting to purchase a ticket on their website (you don’t need to go through with the purchase).

The third approach is to flat out buy the miles. Alaska runs frequent sales where you can buy the miles at a discount. The current deal is to purchase them with up to a 50% bonus. If you were to get the max offer, that would be the equivalent of buying 10,000 miles (the current rate for a saver premium economy class flight on the route) at a cost of $197. If you were considering paying cash for the flight, it’s a much better deal to flat out buy the miles.

Arrival and First Impression

We arrived at Tokyo Narita airport at about 10:30 AM for our 2 PM flight. However, the check in counter didn’t open until 11:30 AM. Apparently the counter only opens 2.5 hours prior to departure. We ended up exploring the airport in the meantime (there was one last Pokémon Center to visit airside for the kids and a pleasant outdoor area for plane spotting).

We lined up as the counter opened and naturally there was a long line that formed while we explored. Both premium economy and regular economy shared the same line, so it would have been a lengthy wait. Thankfully, there was a separate line for those who checked in online but have bags to check, which was us.

Agents assisted us rather quickly, and thankfully they also through-checked our bags to LAX despite flying Starlux to TPE and EVA to LAX on a separate itinerary (connecting the same day). Mentally I was preparing to collect bags in TPE and then rechecking them in to EVA but it was nice to skip this step. Agents also bonded with the kids, asking them for the English names of the Pokémon stuffed animals they had and then telling them the Japanese names.

It wasn’t a problem not having access to a lounge—we spent some time enjoying a nice meal in the food court and doing some duty-free shopping and a chance to buy Royce Nama chocolate for only ¥800 (or about 5.30 USD) instead of $20 a box at home.

The Seat

Once onboard, we quickly found our seats, which were in a 2-4-2 arrangement. With five passengers, we took the full row in the middle and my dad took a seat across the aisle.

The seat itself was comfortable enough for the 3.5 hour journey. The seat gives a decent amount of recline and plenty of legroom. The seat back monitor was also larger than I expected.

In between seats are some cupholders and charging options.

At the side of the seat are the controls, which were fairly intuitive. Also found at my seat was a used spoon. Apparently they missed it when cleaning the cabin?

The seat also had a footrest, which is something I’ve found is extremely helpful to fully relax when your seat doesn’t lie flat.

The premium economy section of the cabin had plenty of overhead space.

As we were at our seats, flight attendants stopped by to deliver some toys for the kids, always a welcome treat.

Food

Both meal options and drinks choices are viewable on your TV monitor. Meals are provided a choice of beef or fish. Or you could choose special options in advance (selectable when you also choose your seats if you are on an Alaska award).

Premium economy comes with your selection of drink, including alcohol. Nothing special, but it all goes down the same.

Four-year-old Char decided to model the tray table, practicing for her future modeling career.

Food was perfectly fine. I went with the fish and while it missed some sauce that would truly bind it all together, it was still enjoyable. It was a bit better than what you would find on domestic first class flights in the US. I wasn’t offered a refill of my drink, though I also didn’t ask for one.

Both kids had the kids meal, which was fine. The meal was a combination of the adult beef option and some pasta. I think it offers enough variety on the same plate and the kids enjoyed it more than what they were served on the business class flight going to Tokyo.

Entertainment Options

Some airlines offer a different set of entertainment options for those sitting up front, but Starlux offers the same options throughout the cabin. It’s nice that they offer a single option all the way through, but by this point, we were hoping for a little more variety than watching Migration for the third time.

In both premium economy and regular economy, free messaging is offered onboard. Unlike the issues I faced in business class trying to tap into free internet, I had no problems getting online here since everyone gets free messaging as a baseline. I didn’t bother connecting to Wi-Fi on a short flight.

Recommendation: Yes!

Let’s ignore the spoon left behind in my seat and brush it aside as a one-off. When you’re thinking of the price paid vs. what you receive, I think Starlux premium economy is the sweet spot. Full stop.

You get a decent meal, good service, and a comfortable seat for an extremely affordable price when booking with Alaska miles. Sure, you don’t get lounge access but that might be resolved in the near future if they do join the oneworld alliance, as recently reported. But honestly, I don’t think it’s worth going out of your way to experience the lounge at TPE if that’s where you originate. On top of the service onboard, I definitely appreciated the excellent service received when checking in our bags.

You absolutely won’t go wrong if you fly Starlux intra-Asia in premium economy and it makes me want to collect more Alaska miles.

Have you flown Starlux premium economy?