Starlux opened their first airline lounge in Terminal 1 but it’s on the smaller side. It offers both a buffet and table service but lacks a restroom.

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 (this post)
• 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
• You Fished Your Wish: Zauo Fishing Restaurant
• Tokyo with Kids: Perhaps The Largest Playground on Earth
• Japan Pro Tip: IKEA Has Cheap Eats
• Review: Starlux A350-900 Premium Economy NRT-TPE
• Review: EVA The Infinity & The Star Lounges
• Review: EVA Air 777-300ER Royal Laurel TPE-LAX

Access

The Starlux Galactic Lounge in Terminal 1 at Taipei (TPE) can be found past security where the other airline lounges are located on level 4 of the airport. It’s hard to miss if you follow the signage directing you to the airline lounges.

We accessed the lounge thanks to our onward business class flights from Taipei to Tokyo Narita. Landing in Taipei from our business class flight from LAX but continuing in economy or premium economy would not have given us access to this lounge.

Other methods of accessing the lounge:

• Starlux Insighter and Explorer elite members (Insighter members can bring one guest; Explorer members cannot bring guests)

And that’s it for now. Since Starlux isn’t part of an alliance and is just starting to partner with airlines globally, the ability to enter the lounge is limited.

The lounge is currently open daily between 5AM and 7PM. This lounge isn’t open late enough for flights to the US, but those flights depart out of Terminal 2 (that one is open considerably later to accommodate those guests).

Arrival and First Impressions

Getting off our flight from LAX, we were able to directly access Terminal 1 without needing to clear transit security or immigration controls, which was nice. My understanding is this is the case these days specifically for flights entering Taiwan from the United States.

As a result, it’s preferred for you to already have your connecting boarding pass when you arrive in Taiwan. The transit desk for Starlux was not staffed (but it was for EVA). The check in desk at LAX was able to print out our boarding passes, but we were also able to download the tickets to our mobile wallets just in case.

We followed the signage to the lounge and were quickly admitted. One attendant helped us find a cluster of seats that would work for us. We arrived right at 6AM and the process was pretty efficient.

The first thing that stood out the most was how small the lounge was. I don’t recall when I’ve been in a smaller lounge before. For perspective, the entire lounge can be spotted in the below picture, with just a buffet table barely out of view on the right-hand side.

Table Service

On arrival to the lounge, we were handed some menus and asked if we would like anything for breakfast. Not feeling in the mood for eggplant, we opted for two orders of the Taiwanese breakfast (Option A) and two orders of the ramen (Option C).

The soy milk was warm and quite refreshing. It’s not sweet but tasted fresh, which is really what’s important. The dish comes with two half-orders of green onion and radish rolls. I found the meal to be filling, but that could also be that I wasn’t hungry from the meal I just had from our inbound flight.

The ramen was also good. The kids polished it off before I had a chance to sample, but the looks on their faces told me everything I needed to know. As you can tell in the photo, you’re not given a large number of noodles.

In the case of both dishes, the smaller size wasn’t a problem for us given the airline gave us food on the way in. If we were originating in Taipei, the portion size may have made me wanting more. Then again, I think the idea is to supplement with the buffet. And I found the idea of being served a fresh meal in a lounge this small to be pretty nice. Well done!

For those wondering, they took away our menus after we ordered. I didn’t ask if we could order seconds or from the lunch menu if we stayed here long enough. I’m sure others wouldn’t mind being so bold to ask but I didn’t want to impose.

Buffet

The buffet station here is on the smaller side, not a surprise given the overall size of the lounge itself. I was surprised to find a lack of fresh fruit here. All I could find were some oranges and one fruit salad containing a mix of pineapples and apples (don’t get the kids started on that pen pineapple apple pen song…).

There are some packaged pineapple cakes. The texture was a bit stringier than preferred.

Also on the center buffet table was a basket of French fries because why not?

Across the way were some baked goods and desserts.

And then immediately next to those items were the alcohol, including self-serve Asahi. If it were later in the morning, I would have considered. Yes, it’s 5PM somewhere in the world but I don’t need to get drunk at 6AM.

Wrapping up the food items are a few steam trays that were constantly left open by the staff, including some bao in the wooden steamers. I found the bao to be a bit dried out.

Lastly, there are some drinks (along with refrigerated oranges) right next to the kitchen. Of the non-alcoholic drinks, I preferred the chilled tea.

Crowds

The lounge became full by the time 8AM rolled around. At that time, I don’t recall a seat being open and I saw flustered lounge attendants looking for space to fit new guests. I’m not sure if a line developed outside but I wouldn’t have been surprised if it did. Even since we arrived at 6AM, the lounge was never less than half full and hovered on average between two-thirds and three-fourths full.

I know the lounge is on the smaller side as the airline itself is still growing. But the crowds made us feel a bit guilty lingering in the lounge after we were done eating and waiting for our departing flight at 10:40AM. We left the lounge early as a result (also because honestly there wasn’t much to do in there and with such little space, the kids were getting restless).

There were quite a few guests bringing smaller children to the lounge and so there were a number of strollers parked right by the front desk of the lounge—it looked a bit sloppy though I didn’t get a good picture, but you’ll see some of the ad hoc stroller parking below, which I snapped as we were on our way out.

No restrooms?

The biggest downside of the lounge is that it actually doesn’t have any restrooms inside the premises. If you need to use the restroom, you’ll need to leave the lounge and go track down a neighboring restroom. There were some in the space next door, but we found them fully occupied, forcing us to go even further to find a suitable lavatory. It’s a bit inconvenient and unfortunate that they couldn’t secure enough space to make it happen within the footprint of the lounge. I can’t remember the last time I’ve been to a lounge that didn’t have a restroom.

Comparing Against EVA Air’s Lounges

Naturally, since I visited both the EVA Air lounges and the Starlux Galactic Lounge recently, I think it’s fair to compare the two. For me, the Starlux lounge offers a marginally better food product (only because they offer a small menu of freshly-prepared meals) but otherwise the EVA lounges at least had greater variety. But every other aspect between the lounges went in EVA’s favor. The biggest differentiator is Starlux lacking toilets.

Recommendation: Not worth going out of your way to gain access

The main benefit of the lounge is the freshly cooked meal (and I suppose all-you-can-drink alcohol depending on the time of day). But the airport has plenty of delicious food options available to you if you’re fine exploring. And I didn’t find the lounge to be a peaceful respite away from the crowds in the main terminal because the lounge itself was very crowded. Beyond that, there aren’t any unique features in the lounge, so it lags competitors.

If you have the option of choosing either business or economy on a Starlux intra-Asia flight, I wouldn’t use lounge access as a tiebreaker. But if you do have access, it’s worth a trip to check it out but just be prepared to get a bit cozy in there.

I can’t help but feel the lounge will only get more crowded as the airline continues to expand. I’m guessing they will eventually need to find a separate space in the terminal to build another lounge to accommodate more guests.

Have you been in the Galactic Lounge before?