Welcome to my trip report on Starlux Premium Economy Class Experience! This is my ride, B-58502, the airline's Airbus A350-900. I enjoyed my A350 ride with Starlux.Introduction When the chance to fly with Starlux came, I decided to go for it even...
Welcome to my trip report on Starlux Premium Economy Class Experience!
This is my ride, B-58502, the airline's Airbus A350-900.
I enjoyed my A350 ride with Starlux.
Introduction
When the chance to fly with Starlux came, I decided to go for it even though it happened during my busiest period. At that point of time, I need a short break and Taiwan was the perfect place to get away from work. I decided to do a quick few days in Taipei and Kaohsiung so I will fly up to Taipei with Starlux and return and take the HSR (High speed railway) to Kaohsiung from Taipei City to Zuoying and return to Taoyuan. Once that was set, I confirmed my tickets and everything was good to go. For my flights with Starlux, I would experience both the Premium Economy and Economy class products and since the price of the Premium Economy was the same for both SIN-TPE and TPE-SIN sectors, I chose Premium Economy Class on the SIN-TPE sector because the flight time was slightly longer due to the headwind towards the Taiwanese city. So without further ado, let's begin this trip report!
The airline's website/mobile app
The airline's website and mobile app are easy to use, user-friendly and the terms and condition are clearly stated so one should not have any issues navigating them.
This is the price for 2 persons (one-way) and I chose the savings option.
The timing is far from ideal for travellers based in Singapore as the amount of time you spend in Taiwan is lesser than one would hope for. Will Starlux introduce a 2nd daily flight for this route with a better timing for those departing from Singapore? It is difficult because the market between both countries are saturated.
After paying for the seats, I wanted to check the seat map but I was unable to do so. The website prompted me to contact the office in order to make changes, not so convenient here.
For 2 passengers, I had to fork out $53 for the Premium Economy Class seats. I decided to pay as I wanted the best seats in the cabin.
My seat for this flight (Photo: Aerolopa.com)
I chose row 21 so that I can have the engine view.
After payment, my itinerary will be shown below. I decided to sign up for the cosmiles programme to earn miles. I hope the airline will sign up with more partners to make this programme more useful.
What I like about booking with this airline is the ability to choose your meals ahead of your flight.
You can pre-order your meal on the mobile app or website and it is available up to 24 hours prior to flight departure while for kosher meal selections is closed 72 hours prior to flight departure.
About Starlux Airlines
Starlux is a Taiwanese international airline, based in Taipei, Taiwan and was founded in 2018. The airline started its first operation in January 2020 and is operating an all Airbus fleet: A321NEO, A330-900NEO and A350-900. The founding CEO, Chang Kuo-wei is a former chairman of EVA Airways and he set up the airline together with Glenn Chai. When the airline started commercial service after receiving the AOC, (Air Operator's Certificate), the Covid-19 pandemic affected the airline's operations along with many others, however a few years later, when the travel industry started recovering, the airline started deploying the aircraft to regional routes and introduced flights to the U.S with the A350. There are plans to start domestic flights with the ATR-72 aircraft but nothing has been confirmed yet (at this time of blogging).
Meanwhile the airline is working hard to operate more flights to the U.S, eager to grab some share of the market on the Taiwan to U.S routes and for now, the airline has entered a strategic-partnership with Alaska Airlines.
This map shows the current routes of the airline (Subject to changes) - November 2023 update
Do note
Taipei to Nagoya (Starts on 1st December 2023)
Taipei to Chiang Mai (Starts on 18 January 2024)
Taipei to San Francisco (Starts on 16 December 2024)
On the day of departure
I did a check on what aircraft would be flying me to Taipei, B-58502 gets the honour.
On that day, there were three commercial flights and a cargo flight flying from Taipei to Singapore and would return to Taipei after a short layover.
Checking the departure board, my flight was scheduled to depart on time.
Starlux uses terminal 1 for flights in Singapore. Will we see Starlux operating Kaohsiung to Singapore in the near future? I hope so, I like try the airline's A321NEO.
This is the check-in counters for Starlux.
It's cool to see the Spiderman theme on the airline's boarding pass.
At that point of time, the terminal was busy with a good number of flights departing at that time.
This is the airside. It looks nice on the inside but like I mentioned before, for those with trolleys or cabin baggage, it isn't so pleasant to move around with them.
As I had little interest in these high end shops, I went to find some lunch before boarding my flight.
This is Thai Airways Airbus A330-300 HS-TEO being prepared for departure.
A comfortable area to relax and chill out.
The Snooze lounge is located the floor above the departure hall (airside).
I settled for some noodle soup and while enjoying it, I get to enjoy the view of Scoot's Airbus A321NEO which I will be flying next month, stay tuned for the trip report.
Finally the aircraft lined up for landing at SIN airport.
After eating, I made my way to the gate. There isn't much to do in this terminal.
The walk from the main concourse to the gate D47 took about 10 minutes.
Time to board! There are 2 aero-bridges. One is connected to the First and Business Class cabin while the other is connected to the Premium Economy and Economy Class cabin.
Here she is, my very first Taiwanese registered A350 ride! China Airlines also operate this model and the latest news is EVA Air will also join the A350 club from 2026 onwards, subject to changes.
Time to board Starlux's Airbus A350-900! The cabin crew were waiting for us.
My ride: B-58502 (Photo: Justin Lin)
Airbus A350-941 (Leased from ALC)
Configuration: F4 C26 W36 Y240
Engines: 2 X Roll Royce Trent XWB-84
Delivered to the airline in Jan 2023
Age: 1 years old (September 2023)
557th Airbus A350 built
Built in Toulouse (TLS)
Route: SIN-TPE
Miles: 1,996
Date of departure: 15th September 2023
Airline: Starlux
Flight: JX732
Route: SIN-TPE
Aircraft type: Airbus A350-900
Registration: B-58502
Terminal: 1
Gate: D47
Load: 80% full in Premium Economy
Seat: 21A
Flight Duration: 4 hours 30 minutes
Actual Flight Time: 4 hours 28 minutes
Boarding: 1337
Schedule departure: 1400
Push back: 1419
Take off: 1442
Schedule arrival: 1850
Actual arrival: 1909
Departure runway: 20L
Arrival runway: 05R
The seat map of the Starlux's Airbus A350 (Photo: Starlux)
First Class (Photos: Starlux) (A350 only)
This cabin consists of one row of 4 seats in a 1-2-1 configuration. These seats have a seat pitch of 83 inches, with a seat width of 23 inches and can recline up to 180 degrees meaning this is a lie-flat bed seat.
What's special about these seats? Well, for every seat, it comes with a 60 inches height closing doors, wardrobe to store one's belongings, mini-bar and a massive 32 inches 4K In-Flight Entertainment Screen.
USB and Power plugs are available.
For first class passengers travelling in or out of Taipei Taoyuan Airport, the airline offers complimentary chauffeur service, do check the airline's website for more details.
Only this Taiwanese airline offers First class while China Airlines and EVA Air have discontinued First Class service quite sometime ago.
Business Class (Photos: Starlux)
These reverse herringbone seats are built by Collins Aerospace and this is the latest Elements suite which can be upgraded to First Class without sacrificing space on the aircraft layout.
These 26 seats are configured in a 1-2-1 layout and have a privacy door each with a height of 48.5 inches. The seats have a seat pitch of 44 inches, 20 inches seat width and a recline of 180 degrees (lie-flat bed)
In addition, each seats comes with 24-inch 4K In-Flight Entertainment Screen and also comes with USB and power plugs.
Economy Class
There are 240 Economy Class seats configured in a 3-3-3 layout.
More information of this product in my Part 2 of my Starlux trip report.
My flight experience
As a Premium Economy Class passenger, I was part of the 2nd group to board the aircraft. My partner and I were welcomed on board but there was no pre departure drink for us. After settling down, we waited for the aircraft to push back, the Captain did his usual welcome announcement but there was no information on the late push back. However, he mentioned that there was turbulence along the way, not a surprise especially June to October period is usually the typhoon season and bad weather is quite common. I wonder whether was it because of the bad weather on route that caused us to push back late. We pushed back about 20 minutes after the schedule departure time and finally took off at 1442.
Once we were on our way, we encountered some bumps during the climb especially flying through the clouds. While observing the cabin, I noticed the gap between the front seats which allows me to see whatever the person sitting at the aisle seat doing and the programme he is watching in the screen, not much privacy. I checked out the IFE system and there wasn't many choices of movies and in-flight wifi was not available on this flight.
About an hour after the take off, the crew came around with the meal service and we received our pre-ordered meals. Overall the quality of food was nothing to shout about. I definitely tasted better in-flight meals with other airlines.
Regarding the in-flight service, it was not bad, the crew came around offering us refill and they are always around when needed. About the flight itself, there was turbulence along the way but it was not as bad as I thought it would be and even though it was raining at Taipei, the approach and landing at Taoyuan Airport was smooth. Overall it was a nice flight.
Premium Economy Class (A350 only)
There are 36 seats in this cabin, configured in a 2-4-2 layout. These seats are the Recaro CL3710 which includes the 15.6 inches 4K Ultra-HD In-Flight Entertainment Screen and also comes with USB port and power plugs. For this trip report, I will be focusing on this product and share with you my thoughts on this.
There are 20 seats (5 rows of 2) on each of the window sides and 16 seats in the middle section (4 rows of 4). Each seat has a generous legroom space of 40 inches, seat width of 19 inches and can recline up to 6 inches, it also comes with six-way adjustable headrest, retractable legrest and footrest.
For this aircraft, IFE screen is mounted on the wall for the bulkhead row seats.
Legroom space of these seats is better as there is no IFE box to obstruct your legs.
I find the colours of the Premium Economy Class to be quite pleasant.
The 4K resolution IFE screen is definitely top notch.
Notice something different about this A350? The electronic dimmed windows.
Notice the legroom space? Asile seat passengers get slightly more legroom space.
The last row of the window seats offer a bit more privacy than the others.
The mood lighting certainly enhance the atmosphere on board this aircraft.
This is my seat, 21A.
I find the seat to be more comfortable thanks to the wider seat width comparing to the Economy Class seat, I don't have to worry about bumping my shoulder with my seat mate.
More photos of the cabin
The legroom space is limited due to the IFE box taking up much of the precious space. I had no choice but to place my backpack in the overhead compartment.
I am quite impressed with the IFE screen system.
The seat (below) is in half reclined mode. What I don't like about this seat is that when it is fully reclined, it can be troublesome to move in or out of the window seat especially when your seat mate is sleeping.
When I set my seat into the fully reclined mode, I find it to be quite comfortable and manage to grab a short nap.
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