Between China Airlines, EVA Air, and Starlux, there are three major Taiwanese airlines to choose from, so do you know who is best?

Between the three airlines–spoiler alert–there is no clear winner that wins at every feature. What you will find instead is that each airline excels in a different area. We’ll break our comparison down into a few different aspects that we believe are important for consideration.

As a bit of background, I paid for all of our flights with points or airline miles. I do not have a relationship with any of the three airlines. This is simply my own impression from and opinions of each airline. If you’d like to learn more about our recent flights with each airline, you can find our reviews below:

• China Airlines A350-900 business class
• EVA Air 777-300ER business class
• Starlux A350-900 business class

For all of the comparisons below, we’ll stick to their long-haul business class cabin unless otherwise explicitly mentioned. With that said, here we go!

The best seat in business class

Let’s start our comparison with who has the best business class seat. The “easy” answer is specifically if you’re looking for a suite door, as Starlux is the only airline to provide one for you. Personally, simply having a suite door isn’t enough to motivate me. I know that’s not the same for everyone, but suite doors feel a bit gimmicky to me.

But that’s not all. Since Starlux itself is the newest, the cabin and seat itself also feel new and fresh without much wear and tear. Of the three, EVA Air flies what feels like the oldest cabins and it shows with some seat functionality that didn’t hold up as well. The business class cabin for China Airlines feels refreshed, but the problem I had with the seat was that tray table. It works well when you need to eat, but when you’re trying to sleep, it just got in the way.

Winner: Starlux

The best food in business class

Full disclosure: this one is going to be a little subjective. I can’t tell your tastebuds to align with mine.

That said, for me, there was a bit of a twist in the rankings. You see, EVA Air has a bit of a collaboration with Din Tai Fung and offer their delectable braised beef noodle soup onboard. And that is one of our favorite dishes from Din Tai Fung. So, if we were to base it simply off one dish, this would be the winner hands down.

If you were to remove consideration of the collaboration item, Starlux seems to put a little more emphasis in its food, especially if you’re looking for the Western option. And if it’s Western food you’re looking for, you’d be best staying away from China Airlines, which decidedly has the weakest. EVA is somewhere in the middle.

And if you’re looking for the quality of the child meal, Starlux is best, followed by EVA Air, with China Airlines bringing up the rear.

Winner: EVA Air if considering their collaboration with Din Tai Fung, Starlux with the best Western food

The best business class lounge

I already have the lounge photo as the title card, so forgive me for not showing the same picture twice. You can read our posts on the different lounges we visited here:

• China Airlines lounge (TPE T2 4F)
• EVA The Star & The Infinity (TPE T2 4F)
• Starlux Galactic Lounge (TPE T1)

One important footnote is that when we flew Starlux, they only had one lounge at TPE airport and it was the incredibly small lounge at Terminal 1. They have since opened a much larger lounge at Terminal 2. From what I’ve heard of the Starlux lounge at Terminal 2, it sounds like it could very well be the better option.

Comparing what I did experience, I’d put it at somewhat of a tie between the EVA Air lounges and the China Airlines lounge. The facilities are a bit nicer at The Star & The Infinity lounges while it’s nice having some made-to-order noodle dishes at China Airlines. For now, I’ll consider this a tie between the two depending on what you’re looking for. The Starlux Galactic Lounge in Terminal 1 is squarely behind due to its size and lack of a buffet. But since we haven’t yet been to the Terminal 2 version, we’re going to call this inconclusive for now.

Winner: Inconclusive until we try out Starlux Galactic Lounge in Terminal 2

The best amenities in business class

Right off the bat, China Airlines doesn’t hand out pajamas to business class customers while both EVA Air and Starlux do. Instead, China Airlines has a multi-pronged charging cable instead. Does a charging cable make up for a lack of pajamas? Maybe, if you already have many pajamas from other flights.

But each airline offers an amenity kit, so what about those? EVA Air’s amenity kit is uninspiring with a rather drab-looking case holding generic items. Starlux’s amenity kit visually looks nicer and its contents are fairly similar to what EVA Air gives. China Airlines on the other hand has a much more functional amenity kit and give a full-length strap to use it as a purse, plus a wider variety of contents. China Airlines also has the more recognizable name brand (Marc Jacobs) as EVA Air has sadly moved away from Rimowa.

In terms of amenities on the flight, all three have a sheet that you can put over your seat to use when sleeping and provide a blanket and pillow. China Airlines wins out on the comfort of its pillow and quality of the bedding.

Winner: China Airlines, as long as pajamas don’t matter to you

The best service in business class

This is yet another highly subjective rating for the airlines since it can vary significantly by flight crew along with whether someone is having a good day or not. So it’s fair to take this rating with a grain of salt as it might not simply hold true for your flight.

We’ll address each airline one-by-one:

• China Airlines has good service, which is a large improvement that I noticed since my first flight with the airline in 2018. Back then, service simply wasn’t polished and I wondered why people thought it was good. It was well-intentioned, but it felt more like the goal was to satisfy passengers as quickly (and minimally) as possible. Our 2026 flight with the airline changed my opinion for the better.
• EVA Air has great service, with flight attendants able to anticipate our needs before we vocalized them. That’s something I might expect more from a first class experience because there are so many business class customers for them to manage.
• Starlux had inconsistent service, and part of me wonders if it’s because the airline was still relatively new at the time. Requested items simply didn’t show up and nothing was proactive–you’d have to specifically request a refill of your drink to get one.

Winner: EVA Air, given the ability to anticipate needs

The best collaboration

Both China Airlines and EVA Air have standing collaborations in place. China Airlines has a decked-out Pokémon plane with decorations waiting at every seat. EVA Air has a partnership with Hello Kitty with multiple planes and routes. If you happen to fly on one of the Hello Kitty planes, you’ll even find Hello Kitty toilet paper onboard. Something you never knew you needed until you flew one of these collabs.

Starlux has a rotation of partners at this point given how relatively new it is. When it partnered with the Los Angeles Dodgers (when we flew it), there wasn’t much aside from receiving a deck of cards. Currently, the collab partner is Snoopy though not on its flights to Los Angeles or Ontario. Still, don’t expect as much immersion from their collaborations at this time.

Winner: Tie between China Airlines and EVA Air, depending on which brand you prefer

The best drinks in business class

It feels almost as if I can use the champagne list as a proxy for how invested each airline is in its drink list. China Airlines serves Laurent-Perrier Brut Millésimé, EVA Air serves Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle, and Starlux serves Bollinger. If you’re basing it strictly on ratings, Bollinger rates the highest of the three.

But what if you’re not looking specifically at champagne? I’d argue the selection appears weakest for China Airlines, which doesn’t even advertise anything but their modest wine list. Between Starlux and EVA Air, it’s close. Both serve Kavalan, which is the hometown whiskey in Taiwan. Starlux has a few more options and, paired with its wines, pushes it ever so slightly into the lead.

Winner: Starlux

The best route network

Between the three airlines, which one has the better route network? It certainly isn’t Starlux, which is only a few years old at this point and still growing. Perhaps Starlux will continue to grow but for now, it will have to remain in last place. While Starlux flies to a good number of U.S. destinations, its regional network and network to other regions is still in its infancy.

Between China Airlines and EVA Air, the answer is a bit more nuanced. EVA Air has more passenger jets than China Airlines and serves more destinations to the United States. China Airlines sometimes is considered the larger airline, but that’s when you also factor in their cargo business, which is quite substantial. Since we’re more interested in the passenger experience, EVA Air gets the nod.

Just look at the comparison of North American destinations for each airline as the deciding factor.

• China Airlines: JFK, LAX, ONT, SFO, YVR
• EVA Air: DFW, IAH, JFK, LAX, ORD, SFO, YVR, YYZ
• Starlux: LAX, ONT, PHX, SEA, SFO

Winner: EVA Air

The best award pricing

There’s something we need to disclose here regarding award pricing. Availability of award flights simply isn’t what it used to be. For example, EVA Air doesn’t generally release much space (if any) to partner award programs. You need to instead book your EVA awards with its own Infinity Mileagelands loyalty program. Thus, while there are technically other Star Alliance programs with lower rates, it’s almost pointless to look at them. EVA Air in business class will run you at 75,000 or 80,000 miles for the journey between Taiwan and North America.

China Airlines still makes some award space available to SkyTeam partners. If you do find award space, Air France/KLM Flying Blue might be your best option to book. Award prices can vary by route, but expect it to cost about 72,500 miles.

Starlux is bookable with Alaska Airlines Atmos Rewards, but award space is a challenge at 75,000 miles in business class. You could alternatively book flights with Starlux’s own COSMILE loyalty program, but there are no easy ways to earn those points other than purchasing points.

Winner: China Airlines

Bonus: the best first class cabin

There’s only one airline of the three that even offers a true first class cabin and that would be Starlux. The first class cabin only takes up a single row of seats. Some of the better features of first class is the elevated soft treatment and a better lounge experience, especially if transiting LAX as you’ll get access to The Private Suite.

We haven’t flown in Starlux’s first class cabin, and given how it’s priced, we don’t expect that to change in the near future.

Winner: EVA Air, but barely

If you count the winners from each of the above comparisons, along with the ties, EVA Air barely comes out on top with both China Airlines and Starlux close behind. However, with the lounge situation still up in the air until we visit the Terminal 2 version of the Starlux Galactic Lounge, we might very well find that Starlux takes the lead there and ties overall with EVA. When we visit that lounge, we will update this comparison accordingly.

Ultimately, it doesn’t surprise us much. EVA Air is a strong choice for business class despite the older seats it still flies. The dining experience is excellent, and the route network makes for a better chance that you’ll be able to fly them to the destination you need to go to.

However, given how close the scores are, I think it’s fair to say you’ll have a good experience regardless of which carrier you fly. It’s great that Taiwan has three major airlines to choose from.

Do you agree with these rankings? How would your preferences differ from mine?