I'm a huge fan of Taiwan's Starlux Airlines, as it's one of my favorite airline brands. The company launched operations right before the pandemic (I had the chance to fly Starlux's A321neo business class at the time), and it's simply such an awesome, premium airline. Starlux Airlines will shortly be launching transpacific flights, and I…
Continue reading: Starlux Airlines’ Steep Transpacific Pricing
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“For example, if you were to fly a premium cabin roundtrip from Los Angeles to Bangkok (via a connecting city in Asia), odds are that the ticket would only cost a fraction as much if you were originating in Bangkok instead…”
I would have thought tix originating in BKK would cost less than ex-LAX, no?
Lucky,
I think you are writing this in the hope
someone from starlux PR
reaches out to you and offers you a freebie
I thought from the title that 'aggressive' would equate to competitively low-maybe you're trying not to to ruffle their feathers with the title
@ lasdiner -- I'm definitely not looking for a freebie from Starlux. I think my record of paying for my own review flights speaks for itself. Of course I'm still looking for the best value possible, hence this post, as OMAAT readers often notice things that I don't.
And "aggressive" was a poor word choice on my part. I went ahead and updated the title to instead say "steep," which is more in line with what I intended.
I was fortunate enough to catch the Starlux A350 during “training” flights to and from Bangkok in February, let me know if you’d like any details about that flight or the product! The food & drinks are still fantastic, the seat is comfortable & well designed, and if price agnostic would certainly leap at the chance to fly it across the Pacific!
(I paid $880 USD, Bangkok to Taipei roundtrip. The return was their A330-900neo which is still nice but the A350 was significantly more comfortable!)
The J fares seem pretty much on target with others at different times. I occasionally though can find $2400 one way originating out of the U.S. to SE Asia...but it's sporadic. When traveling from BKK it's usually around $2800 one way other than during peak periods. I never outright pay for F, usually looking for bid upgrades, mileage options, or cheap upsells at departure but this seems about what I often notice on most as to the standard fares...it's outrageous.
With that said, it would seem they want to start attracting a following, and pricing things a bit more competitively would be a good start.
“ Often tickets are significantly cheaper if originating in Bangkok, but not on Starlux Airlines. ”
Who are they interlining BKK-TPE with? TG? Do they do any US destinations in an interline with anyone, or is it just LAX?
Have you considered comparing Starlux’s a350 premium economy and business class product? That way you can save some money while also giving us a more in-depth look of their inflight product.
Are Starlux's products better than EVA's? If not, what are its competitive advantages and why should I consider flying Starlux?
Perhaps this is a marketing strategy? Create a buzz on the Whoa prices and then introduce a Wow price? Hang in there for a bit longer and see
“Who are they interlining BKK-TPE with? TG? Do they do any US destinations in an interline with anyone, or is it just LAX?”
I believe Starlux flies TPE-BKK, so no need to interline or codeshare.
That's normal TPAC pricing, in line with what you'll pay on any decent carrier. Why should they discount just so bloggers can spend their readers' money to fly cheap?
@ Kacee -- Maybe they should "discount" so that they sell more than 4% of their first class seats...?
Marketing trick. Make it unaffordable to purchase then a few days before the flight you get an email if you want to upgrade your seat for 1-2k more and then they fill it up that way making the extra margin and you believe your getting a bargain cause the retail seat is advertised for so much more
With only 4 seats, I don't think they care if they haven't sold F ahead of time. The typical market for F is not a traveler looking to make reservations weeks ahead of time, while shopping around for the best fare. In general, with full ramp-up only happening in June, this is sufficiently far away that there may simply not be active revenue management yet. As others have said, C doesn't look that extraordinary given the market, and I can understand if the airline is unwilling to damage the brand by deeply discounting simply to get butts in seats during the ramp-up.
They need to get their name out/fill their seats - I understand why bloggers/vloggers need to test out new airlines but why should the average J-class customer pay same price compared to an established airline like NH or SQ for the route? SQ has one-way J-fares from BKK-JFK/EWR for around $1800.
how about flying this airline coach overseas? what a novel concept, and i do not think you will be worse for the wear after doing it
I was thinking this exact thought as well. It’s still early enough that active price management hasn’t taken place. The group running Starlux has a lot of balls in the air as the airline ramps up frequencies and destinations.
Talked to a sales staff of JX here in Manila. They have yet to include a connecting/transit pricing within their network. So at the moment, if I understand correctly, they combine fares for example a BKKTPE + TPELAX flight instead of a connecting price of BKKLAX via TPE
Ben,
The pricing from LA in F is steep because you get PS access. Salon is 995/person without a membership. An actual suite is 4700ish for up to 4 people.
I was pricing myself a flight via starlux...originally it was RT CEB to TPE... But that was ridiculous at 700 ish in economy. It's also a new route. Looking at pricing aggregate sites it would show lower than that what starlux was asking. However when I did CEB to LAX I saw 3000 ish for J... Haven't bought it yet as my plans to Philippines is now on hold.
@lasdiner
This is a Greta How dare you? moment.
The trust and believe in OMAAT's review integrity and that is what makes this site unique.
His experience should be just like you and I.
Freebies are will never be coming from airlines or hotels, but maybe 'almost' once from fellow readers when he's looking for an apartment 😉
This is a blog about aspirational travel via points. What is aspirational about economy? Go take your idiocy somewhere else.
Was looking forward to trying JX but turned off by high pricing too.
intra-Asia their price is not competitive either.
I saw an add for a starlux credit card on the Taiwan high speed rail the other day. It's definitely not an American style rewards structure but not too bad by local standards. If you were running up a lot of overseas business spending this might get you enough points for a redemption eventually.
https://www.esunbank.com.tw/event/credit/starlux_card/index.html
Well what points are you gonna use? Ben made it clear there are no ways to really get Starlux points (besides flying them, good luck with that).
Go learn how to read before calling people idiots.
They are constantly 20-30% more expensive than BR/CI on the intra Asia flights so I guess this is just continuing that trend. Time will tell if this is a cash burning exercise or if they will attract enough travelers to keep this going. I'm just happy there is another competitor to LAX as the LAX-TPE route is always super expensive.
Starlux, the odd airline, is still a mystery to me. Their premium pricing seems extravagant. I don’t think Starlux is worth a good down- payment on a car etc…
You can fly a private jet with three people using the first class fare from Starlux I know we have a jet card and we’ve done it - Flew from Monterey Ca to Taipei and back
For 30k? What company you're using?
Anything with that range couldn't even do Hawaii for that price.
I give it a year before their First Class gets rebranded to Business Plus. Just like Malaysia’s A350.
Do you get access to the Salon or do you get a Suite? Or is it one suite that the 4 F passengers can share?
normal APAC pricing. I heard of a family being quoted 18'000 AUD for each Business Class seat from MEL to the US with Qantas. Also, ex-SIN Business Class above 10'000 USD is still often a thing.
My family flew a private jet on a similar route during COVID, which cost over $200K. I find $30K hard to believe.
I’ve got an upcoming trip from LAX to SE Asia later this month and the business class fares they are quoting are inline with most of the competitors for business class across the dates and weeks I have searched (Philippines Airlines being the main exception).
I think that demand to Asia is very high now after the lengthy lockdowns, and the flight schedules still haven’t fully recovered. There still is not the glut of seats from mainland China carriers flooding the markets and depressing fares that we commonly saw pre-pandemic.
For shock value, check out business fares to Vietnam on Cathay or Singapore on most dates over the next couple months.
Waste of $200k depends on how much you have. Someone with a few billion that's nothing.
Go ask Elon.
But dare saying no judgement? sheesh.
China Southern had a revenue first-class rate of lower than 20% for more than a decade and only got rid of it due to the new head, Mr Ma Accountant.
I think that the founder's pride is a factor in this decision. If you know the history of the airline, you may know that he may not want to position it as being less upscale than EVA. In fact, I believe that he wants people to see his airline as even more upscale than EVA.
As you may know, EVA does not offer first class, but Starlux has included a single row of first class seats in the same cabin as business class. While there doesn't seem to be a strategic reason for this decision, it may be due to the founder's desire to position the airline as a more upscale option than EVA. If this is the case, then it would make sense to include first class seats as a way to enhance the airline's image of luxury and exclusivity.
I must be missing something, since when was a one way transpacific business class flight for $2000 extravagant.
I don't do much business travel anymore but did in the 2000's and even then discounted business class was at least 4k round trip on the "discount" carriers like EVA, Delta, Philippines... nevermind Singapore and Cathay were charging double.
Looking forward to exploring Starlux Inauguration flight LAX-TPE on 27April
had experience their TPE-MFM short haul few week ago it's was abousulty beautiful with AB350-900 to MFM
1st class in my humble opinion is totally waste money. prices do match Many other airlines, unfortunately due to AB350 interior space there is simply no difference as business class seat.
TPE JX VIP lounge are very small under circumstances of TPE airport terminal 1
space situation. however Staff's provide excellent exceptional service.
purchased two businesses class round trip LAX-TPE-LAX for 27April last months total
USD$11,414.50.
Base on current Starlux 1st class seats price for 3 passengers approximately USD19,000.00 LAX-TPE-LAX
Please let us know which private jet company could fly from Montery California to Taipei and back with $19,000.00
I can conclude it's not possible.
Ben, you start off by saying that Starlux is an "awesome, premium airline." But, you give no real basis for that opinion, other than you had a great flight on one of their A320s. Then, you go through how their premium pricing is incredibly expensive. Are you still thinking that Starlux is an "awesome, premium airline"???
Sounds like just another new, very small competitor in an already crowded Asia - US market. How do you tell them apart from the rest of the pack? What do they offer that stands out above the crowd? (certainly, their attempt at 1st class does not...)
If you read the article (or check the fares) you can see this isn't true. BKK-TPE-LAX biz fares are $1000 less than TPE-LAX... evidence that the pricing isn't additive like you suggest.
Dont know if Lucky read comments on a post this old.
The chairman just went on a travel/food TV program (to promote his route to Penang Malaysia with support from the Penang tourism department). Surely not often you see the boss of an airline do this!
He can't help but explained why they have to go with these rather underwhelming first class product.
Basically first class is here not because they wanted to sell first class tickets, but because of how they were trying to position themselve as a premium airline, so they got to have a first class cabin. Also some of the premium food/drinks suppliers he wanted to work with will only supply their products to first class. They wont work with business plus or premium business, first class only.
He admitted they are actually not that serious in actually selling those 4 first class seats, but hey, at least they got it should anyone wanted to fly it.
Went back to this post as I am looking to book a Starlux ticket in J. Best deal I could find was KUL-LAX/SFO for 2300$ OW. Isn’t the end of the world but still a bit steep; RT 3500$