Simply Excellent: Starlux Premium Economy A350-900 NRT-TPE

Perfectly pleasant and well worth the price paid, intra-Asia Starlux premium economy is comfortable and a sweet spot with Alaska Air’s program.

Flying in Starlux premium economy — *Starlux premium economy*

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Booking

I purchased Starlux 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.

Arrival and First Impression of Starlux premium economy

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).

*Notice on when the check in counter opens*

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 Starlux premium economy 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. It 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.

Starlux premium economy 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?

Author

Chris Wada

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2 thoughts on “Simply Excellent: Starlux Premium Economy A350-900 NRT-TPE”

John Lisk says:

November 4, 2024 at 1:10 pm

How did you go about booking the seats using alaska miles? I am wanting to do something like that but am unsure what tickets to buy initially in order to upgrade.

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1. foodwadatravel says:
  
  November 4, 2024 at 4:23 pm
  
  If you go to the Alaska Airlines website (alaskaair.com), there should be a section to book your award flights right on the main page. Just tick the “Use Miles” button and search for your preferred date and routing and hopefully you’ll find a match. You could also check out seats.aero and the free version will let you search for flights in the next 60 days. Just select Alaska Mileage Plan, choose your preferred routing (involving Asia for either the start or end of the journey) and then filter the results on TPE, since all Starlux flights will go through TPE. If you want results beyond 60 days in advance and don’t want to pay to do the award search, I’d stick to the Alaska Airlines website.
  
  But just to be clear, you would be purchasing the flight exclusively with miles (plus taxes/fees) under this arrangement, not upgrading an existing flight you might have already purchased with cash or points. Hope this helps and happy hunting!
  
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