At long last it was time to fly Starlux Airlines, which had launched operations just a few days prior. What was it like to fly with this self-proclaimed ”detail-oriented luxury airline?”
Continue reading: Review: Starlux Airlines A321neo Business Class
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Ben, please put out your review of Penang. I’m doing a 1 day trip there in just 12 short hours.
Thanks for a great review with very nice photos. I just don't understand why Starlux would choose Penang to be one of its routes at the beginning. If someone can explain what are the business strategies for Starlux to choose Penang, that would be great.
I've been waiting for this review since you said you first said you were going to fly with them! It did not disappoint.
It must be so hard to get things right with a new airline from the start, even with the experience the founder is bringing in, so it's impressive a couple weeks into their operations their execution sounded flawless.
I also love to see that they have a bit of a playful side as well (e.g. the video). It seems like they've taken the best from EVA but also have had the freedom to shake things up a bit!
Can't wait to fly them - especially once they go long haul. As someone who regularly travels to Taiwan we are getting spoilt for choice. Here's to their success!
I still can't see this is beyond mediocre for Asian regional business class.
Where is the part they differentiate themselves?
The might nail the launch without issues, but that is nothing special for normal ops.
Can't convince me to fly them over China Airlines or EVA aside the nonstop convenience.
Great review! Nice that there is a good option to get to Penang without having to go to KL of SIN.
Are there any great redemptions to Taipei from the east coast?
( BTW, could not watch the YouTube blog on the Starlux flight to Penang. Too painful to listen to that dude that also reviewed the flight. Had to stop watching 5 minutes in to it. Got much more out of this flight.)
It looks like a very enjoyable experience and a very nice review.
However, I struggle to understand their economic rationale. There are already two (well, including their shorthaul subsidiaries four) high quality airlines in Taiwan. Plus a subsidiary of a regional LCC, plus a few small regional airlines. The population of Taiwan is 23 millions. I don't quite see the market for half a dozen airlines.
Right now, it seems that the strategy of Starlux is to serve secondary destinations (Macao, Danang, Penang), which are more leisure oriented. Their next destination, to be launched in April, seems to be Cebu, which matches the pattern. Possibly, these destinations have been underserved, but not terribly so. Penang has had service by CI, Danang by BR, Macao by BR plus NX and Cebu by BR plus two LCC ...
So, Lucky, can you explain their strategy, please?
@ Ex United Flyer....
Penang has a lot of industry there that you see driving to and from the airport.
The problem with this kind of airlines is, for me, that they don't belong to an alliance. If I have to fork out money for a BC ticket I want to have some kickbacks in the form of building/maintaining status and for longer flights miles as well.
I am eg not flying Emirates as I get nothing out of it.
Where possible I fly ST or *A even when better alternatives in the form of unaligned airlines are available.
Whoa, from your review, it looks like the service is much more closer to F than J (hard product and F&B aside).
Here's to hoping that they fly to KUL eventually (and hopefully MEL as well once they get their A359/A35Ks, where I'm based). I typically fly back and forth between KUL and MEL via TPE on CI. I used to fly via BKK on TG or via SIN on SQ, but not anymore because:
- TG was inconsistent (sometimes you get stuck with a bad set of cabin crew, and sometimes you get TG'd with last minute aircraft changes). I haven't flown with them since early 2018, so I don't know whether they're still infamous for swapping aircraft without notice)
- SQ axed the A380 (and hence suites) for MEL. I didn't think it was worth paying what they were charging for B77W F.
- Why didn't I fly MH directly? MH had a mediocre product overall - both hard and soft - and CI was the cheapest despite having the longest routing. Given CI's pricing (usually about AUD 3100-3200 round trip), the combination of its hard product (love the Super Diamond seats) and soft product was the best value for money.
That being said, CI's service is usually inconsistent (sometimes it's good, sometimes it's awful) and I can't wait to ditch them and go with JX the instant they have MEL-TPE and TPE-KUL routes. Not gonna hold my breath though - I figure it'll be at least several years before that happens.
Great review as always, Ben.
@Andy Taiwan's small population doesn't prevent them from being an important hub for international travel. After 9/11 Air Canada smartly targeted Mexico, Central and South America for Europe-bound travellers afraid of US Border Cops, queues and hassles. In MEX I spoke to people who'd paid more to get to MAD via Toronto rather than MIA or IAH, on longer itinerary. None had any intention to visit Canada. Taiwan gets it and EVA especially knows what business they're in. Of the 30 or so Torontonians I've spoken to, who've flown EVA's nonstop YYZ-TPE, I'm the only one who's actually visited Taiwan. EVA is a strong preference for many, now, headed to anywhere in Asia. So I, for one, am not in the slightest surprised that EVA punches above their weight with nice loads on their flights. It's not Taiwanese or Taiwan-bound travellers in those tubes. It's us.
Are you sure there was not something lost in translation?
"he liked Trump because he’s tough on China, and because he’s stupid, and that’s exactly what America needs right now."
Maybe instead of 'needs' replace it with 'deserves'?
"On Starlux Airlines I’d highly recommend sitting in the first row of business class"
I'd say that's true for any airline using this type of seat...
@ Ex United Flyer, Penang based reader here. As mentioned above, Penang is a tech-industry hub for SE Asia and a lot of Taiwanese firms have manufacturing based here. Additionally, Penang is a good source market for Taiwan as a leisure destination. Malaysians are food addicted, and love Taiwan for the street food scene (my colleagues regularly go).
Also, the Penang state government has been proactively sourcing new airlines to fly to Penang and are offering free or heavily subsidized landing fees. This is one of the main reasons you see more activity from Air Asia out of PEN as well as new arrivals such as Emirates.
China Airlines already flies PEN direct using a B737 and the loading is very good as per my contact at Tourism Malaysia. I think this route should be a success for Starlux.
@ Ex United Flyer - Penang has quite a numbers of taiwanese investors with their factories being setup in Penang, especially In semiconductor industries who worked closely with Intel and AMD etc. However, prior to JX, only one daily direct flight from PEN-TPE.
In j class, Sq does fold the blanket and make the bed when I go to the toilet.
Excellent review! Tks
Can’t wait till they partner up with some alliance n redemption becomes available 🙂
@Andy the CEO of Starlux said in an interview a while back that if HK, a city of 7ish millions, can have like 3-4 airlines (in reality just 2, and one of them is dying), then why can't Taiwan with its 2x million population have 3 airlines?
People in Taiwan is saying this resembles the story of Hamlet. Maybe that's eventually their strategy. 😉
But gotta worry at them launching at just the wrong time with the corona virus cutting down air travel in the region. They got to at least survive the next 12 months with minimal loading all because of some virus originating from China.
Great review, and glad to hear Starlux lived up to high expectations and delivered a graceful (ha!) experience.
I’m looking forward to flying them later this year when I go diving in Cebu.
@ James
I'm hoping we deserve him for another four years.
Nice review Ben. Pity I'm not heading to that part of the world until October.
That is indeed some F level service presented by Starlux. Curious to see if it will hold up after the initial excitement period though.
Great review! Everything about the look of this airline has appealed to me and so I'm happy that you enjoyed the flight as much as you did. I hope Starlux does well and expands their route network. (Wish you could have taken a photo of the two Graces.)
Good review. Lets face it. We would rather fly the shittiest Asian airline than the best USA based airline.
@Ex- United flyer - No other direct flights from Taiwan and a fair amount of Taiwanese go there on holiday. It's also a lot of tech companies there, which makes it a viable destination from Taiwan.
@Mike - Nope, no way. Air China is a no go for me and there are plenty other really terrible Asian airlines, like Taiwanese FAT who just hat their license revoked.
Thanks for this in-depth review. Hope to review an interesting review of your short stay in Penang.
Love your reviews. Keep up the great work!
Vous dites quoi ?
Que Singapore Airlines à chaud ? Entouka j'ai confiance qu'il ne vont pas ce laisser faire même un peu
Longtail has one Michelin star and is a favorite of mine in Taipei. Would have loved to see that food.
Fantastic review, and airline. Hope they start flying trans-Pacific soon: would love to have a new connecting option from US to SEA.
Can you rack up airline miles with Starlux tho ?
I’m flying EVA Air business class on the 797-10 from TPE to HKG.
I don't understand the Bolly being served in a wine glass ? Did you ask them that question ..its seems odd to me ..
Thanks for the review Ben! So glad to see that Starlux lived up to the hype. Can't wait for them to expand their route network. And I'm holding out hope for them to join an alliance.
Would be interesting to see how they maintain this standard of service down the line. The dining seems much like the EVA set menus. I wonder if they let you mix and match the courses between menus.
@StevenE
Proper wine glass gives room for the aroma, especially in an aircraft cabin where smell is diminished. Flutes are for things like duc de paris where you want to ignore the taste and just get drunk.
Facsinating review - I excitingly waited for this StarLuxe review for a weeks (much as I excitingly waited for your fun Westjet review); the welcome cold-pressed guava and pineapple juice seems innovative and Bollinger champagne are awesome for a regional flight! I loved your revealing account of this flight with enticing photos; such as the golden hue of the 'breadbasket'
The cover design and fonts of the Starlux business class menu and wine list are beautiful - a unified design concept from aircraft livery to these important details
Wow - those playings cards are awesome too - please save them
1- you don’t eat pork? Why?
2- “if you believe that...” F trump
Have a great day !
I can't tell you the number of foreigners who want to (sometimes secretly) tell you that they like Trump. If I had a euro for every German who whispered to me that Trump was doing the right things, I'd have at least a hundred euros.
Here's an anecdote from age 10 or 11, excuse my hazy memory. When EVA began they unabashedly proclaimed to local media that, while British Airways asked Landor to design thousands of items during their 80s rebrand... EVA was "clever" enough to only pay Landor to design 27 things (and basically wing the rest). Very soon after launch they then arbitrarily tweaked Landor's design... So that kind of haphazard-ism is EVA's DNA.
Starlux clearly wants to try a different approach, and that's why they excite me.
The menus look very ambitious (compare with the density of info in Cathay's menu). The music is apparently by Peter White, who's a big "smooth jazz" genre artist. It's telling that they're hiring crew who have been far and away from Taiwan, really been in an "international" context dealing with all kinds of passengers.
I'm hoping Starlux prospers long enough so I can make them my default choice ex-TPE.
I don't care to deal with EVA again.
p.s. I try not to eat pork. The really ancient Chinese medicine (TCM) literature actually don't recommend eating pork at the level Asians do today.
Looks unbelievable, definitely intend on flying them at some point. The playing cards are a nice touch. I just worry if Starlux can stand out enough by being the most luxurious in the region. There are already two world class full service carriers based in Taiwan, EVA air and China Airlines. They may also be threatened by the full service competitors in the region such as Singapore airlines as well as the low cost juggernaut of AirAsia. So I question how long Starlux will stick around for. I hope they prove me wrong.
Just got off two SQ flights. A350-900 MNL-SIN and 787-1000 SIN-DPS.
Both short haul 3-5 hours in J. Very disappointed with hard (horrendous seats for new aircraft) and soft (marginal food, wine and economy style tray service (not even a tablecloth)).
The seats are so narrow at the shoulder that I felt like I was in the center seat of economy class
Won't fly SQ longhaul with this product.
So wonderful to hear that Starlux will be providing great travel experiences in competition to the other fading stars (CX, SQ, EVA) in the region.
Good review.
Will be doing two longhaul Qatar 787 flights next week and will have a chance to see if they have improved. The last time we flew them (777) the hard product was great but the soft (food/wine) was poor
Great review ! Let’s hope Starlux begin services to London, my home city.
Malaysia is such an interesting country, and one whose cuisine I really enjoy Although I am hesitant to visit & spend my hard earned money in a country which has such an anti Israel policy.
So that sepcial menu was pretty good huh?
Kudos for the Whittard tea and NZ wine.
Excellent review ! And seems like an excellent airline. If I recall correctly Penang was one of the first destinations for EVA Air as well.