In August 2026, I covered how Starlux Airlines’ COSMILE frequent flyer program finally got into the business of selling miles to consumers. Without any sort of a promotion, it wasn’t exactly some amazing deal, but it was still the best way to unlock first class travel on Starlux Airlines, so it’s something I took advantage of almost immediately.
Well, there’s now an exciting update, as Starlux has launched its first-ever promotion on buying miles, and you can buy these miles for 40% off! This is actually a way to fly Starlux first class at a pretty reasonable cost.
Buy Starlux COSMILE miles at a 40% discount, 2.4 cents each
For a little bit of background, Taiwan-based Starlux Airlines launched its COSMILE frequent flyer program back when the airline commenced operations, in 2019. Unless you live in Taiwan or constantly fly with Starlux, you probably shouldn’t care much about the program — the only airline partner is Alaska Airlines, and if you want to redeem on Starlux, you’re generally best off redeeming Alaska Atmos Rewards points.
However, in August 2026, we started to see a new way to earn miles in the COSMILE program, as the airline has started selling miles directly to consumers. To access this, just log into your Starlux account, go to the “COSMILE” section, and then click on “Mileage Purchase.”
Without a promotion, the program is charging a flat four cents per mile, and members can purchase anywhere from 1,000 to 150,000 miles per transaction. 150,000 is also the annual limit on how many miles you can buy. Purchases are processed by points.com, as is common for the points purchase programs of many loyalty programs.
That brings us to the exciting update — between October 15 and November 9, 2026, Starlux is offering a 40% discount on the purchase of miles, and that applies no matter how many miles you purchase. With a 40% discount, you’d pay just 2.4 cents per mile, obviously a huge discount over the standard price.
How you can redeem these miles for Starlux first class
Long story short, I think the real upside with buying Starlux miles is the ability to redeem for Starlux first class, and this is something I recently took advantage of, even when buying COSMILE miles without a discount.
Starlux Airlines has a quirky first class product — it’s available on all A350s, the pricing is very high, and there’s not even a curtain between first and business class. From the time the airline launched, I tried to find a way to get a deal on the experience.
On virtually every airline, I’ve been able to get a deal by using miles, taking a strategic positioning flight, etc. In the case of Starlux, there were virtually no opportunities. Yes, you could fly the airline within Asia for around $2,500, but that doesn’t give you the true long haul experience. Prior to the ability to purchase miles, the best fare I was able to find for a long haul first class flight was around $8,700 one-way.
So that’s where buying miles comes into the equation. For context, below is Starlux’s award chart for travel between Asia and the Americas and Europe.
Below is Starlux’s award chart for travel within Asia.
As you can see, there was a slight devaluation as of October 1, 2026, but with a 40% discount on purchasing miles, there’s still value to be had here. If you wanted to book a long haul first class award, you’d now need 130,000 miles. At the rate of 2.4 cents per mile, that’s like paying $3,120 for a Starlux first class ticket between the US and Asia.
The good news is that first class award availability is excellent — that’s not surprising, given that the airline barely seems to sell first class seats. Taxes & fees on a long haul award cost around $300 one-way.
Obviously that’s still a lot of cash to spend, though keep in mind that if you’re departing out of Los Angeles (LAX), you receive access to PS LAX, and that ordinarily costs $1,300 in and of itself. So if you value that in any way, it starts to look like quite a good deal.
And I have to say, after flying Starlux first class, I was actually really impressed by the experience, and it exceeded my (admittedly low) expectations. I flew Starlux first class from Los Angeles (LAX) to Taipei (TPE) on the Airbus A350-900, and after a stay in Starlux’s strange first class lounge, I flew Starlux first class from Taipei to Tokyo Narita (NRT) on the Airbus A350-1000.
Bottom line
Several weeks back, Starlux Airlines’ COSMILE frequent flyer program started selling miles to consumers. Members can purchase up to 150,000 miles per year, at a cost of four cents per mile. We’ve now just seen the first promo introduced, because through November 9, 2026, you can buy miles for 40% off, which is an opportunity to acquire them for 2.4 cents each.
I’m not saying this is some amazing deal that everyone should take advantage of, but if you want to fly Starlux first class, this is by far the best deal for doing so. For that matter, if you depart LAX and use the PS LAX facility, it really lowers the “cost” of the flight, if you value that paid experience in any way.
Again, this is niche — there are other great first class products bookable with miles that are cheaper to acquire — but if Starlux first class has been on your list, I doubt it’ll get much better than this.
Do you plan on taking advantage of this Starlux mileage sale to unlock first class awards?
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