For the outbound portion of our trip to Kyoto, we flew Starlux Airlines via Taipei. In a previous installment I reviewed Starlux’s A350-900 business class from Los Angeles to Taipei, and in this post I wanted to review Starlux’s A330-900neo business class from Taipei to Osaka.
Continue reading: Review: Starlux Airlines Business Class Airbus A330neo (TPE-KIX)
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I wish more airlines would get creative with their desserts. The usual western cakes and ice cream do get boring. Why not add some local flare? Like CX can have an HK dessert, an airline in SE Asia can have their version of a rice cake, etc.
Why do the international carriers do business class soo much better than the American ones? I don’t get it.
The catering looks mouthwatering. But I can already imagine CEOs of all airlines in the US claiming that a piece of stale bread and half a can of soda is the best meal for a 3hr flight in business class (based on "customer feedback" of course).
The US service industry is not one of the US' strongest points. And in a response to @David, there are a couple of exceptions e.g. Aegean, Turkish. While you might not get a flat bed, you can still get a tasty meal, decent service and in Turkish's case, a premium economy style seat, a PTV.
In terms of catering, many European airlines offer a better meal intra-Europe than what the US offers on shorter domestic flights.
Ben- what is your latest personal policy on COVID precautions while traveling? Are you still masking in airport terminals and during boarding? I know you commented a few months ago it felt like every other person traveling was hacking up a lung- is that still the case? What about on these particular sectors?
lmao Ben you can have a bloody mary on a flight if you want one, you don't have to promise us you're not a drunk
It looks like it's been nearly a decade since you've reviewed EVA Air and China Airlines intra-Asia services. It'd be useful for us (and I bet a lot of fun for you) if you could review those two airlines' regional wide-body products to see if Starlux truly delivers on their luxury commitment and can exceed those two excellent airlines!
Really, Ben, Northeast Asian airlines have spoiled you for life. ANA, JAL, EVA, CX and now Starlux. Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and to a smaller extent South Korea — not so much Mainland China, though — are home to THE finest airlines in the world for product and service, accompanied only by SQ from Southeast Asia and QR (to a large extent also also EY and EK) from the Gulf.
I’d love you to find out just how much India and Latin America compare: while obviously they won’t be this phenomenal, I absolutely hope that you’ll fly Vistara’s 787 once before it disappears — I’ve been pleading for it all year! — and Azul’s A330neo while it lasts, as I’ve heard only good things about these two, which don’t venture all that much beyond their home markets.
I got a chance to try JX from LAX to TPE very recently and then immediately follow it with BR on TPE-MNL on a brand new 787-10. I think it's a fair comparison because the hard product didn't feel so "different".
It's so clear that JX gets a lot of its process from BR and aspires to be like them. JX has amazing raw material (great catering and an amazing hard product), but the BR service felt a lot more confident, refined and proactive, while JX seemed tentative, disorganized and reactive.
I felt like there were small number of service misses which are very easy to fix. It took nearly an hour for the first drinks to get out on a delayed 11:30pm departure, the meals didn't come out until about 1:45 after departure, and the fluorescent full-white lights were on from boarding until about 4 hours after takeoff when the meal service concluded (instead of the golden-toned mood lighting), which would be bad for those who ate dinner at the lounge and wanted to maximize sleep.
Even with all the amazing catering and beverages loaded, they didn't suggest things to try, as BR/SQ/EK crew would have - I only found out about the Kavalan Solist 3/4 of the way through the flight... 😉
Then again, they've only been flying ultra-long-haul for 7 months. I think they can be as great as BR and SQ but they need to smooth out the rough edges and become more confident in what they're doing.
Starlux has TWO lounges in TPE, not one. The one you reviewed in Terminal 1 is tiny, yes. But they also have a bigger 2-story lounge in the connected Terminal 2.