Starlux First Class Review Airbus A350-1000: Short Haul, But Long On Comfort

For the next segment of my first class quest to Japan, I flew Starlux Airlines’ Airbus A350-1000 first class on the 2hr55min flight from Taipei (TPE) to Tokyo Narita (NRT). This came after I flew Starlux’s Airbus A350-900 first class on the flight from Los Angeles (LAX).

There aren’t many airlines offering an international first class product on short haul flights, so it goes without saying that this was an absolute treat. That being said, as you’d expect, the overall product is a little watered down compared to a long haul flight, in terms of the amenities, bedding, etc. Still, Starlux has a stellar short haul product, and it was lovely to get a segment on the carrier’s larger A350 variant.

While this is my full review of the flight, I’m going to keep this relatively brief, and primarily highlight what differentiates the A350-1000 from the A350-900, and what differentiates the short haul product from the long haul product. So if you want the most thorough Starlux first class review, see my previous post.

How I booked my Starlux first class ticket

I booked my entire Starlux first class itinerary as one ticket. Specifically, I redeemed 120,000 Starlux COSMILE miles and paid $306.20 in taxes and carrier imposed surcharges for the following first class itinerary:

9/13 JX1 Los Angeles to Taipei departing 12:35AM arriving 5:40AM (+1 day)
9/14 JX800 Taipei to Tokyo departing 8:30AM arriving 12:55PM

Of course that mileage pricing sounds great, but the catch is that Starlux miles are really hard to come by, and I had to buy them outright. The ticket ended up costing me a total of around $5,000 out of pocket. That’s the second most I’ve ever spent for a ticket, but since Starlux was one of the last two airlines in the world I hadn’t flown in first class, I thought it was worth the investment. I talked more about the mechanics of booking in a previous post.

Starlux first class lounge & boarding

In the previous installment, I reviewed the Starlux First Class Lounge Taipei, which is a very private but quirky facility. I wouldn’t really want to spend more time there than I have to, though definitely stop in for a cup of coffee, as that was exceptional.

Starlux offers a seamless ground experience, and I was both picked up at my arriving flight and brought to my departing flight by buggy. They really make the whole process very easy, and started boarding the second that I arrived. My flight was departing from gate B4, with boarding scheduled at 8AM, 30 minutes before departure.

Starlux A350-1000 first class cabin & seats

I boarded the Starlux Airbus A350-1000 through the forward door, where I was greeted by two friendly crew members, and escorted to my seat. Since I was first onboard, I snapped some quick cabin pictures.

The A350-1000 cabin is very similar to the A350-900 cabin. The only difference is that since the space between the first and second set of doors is bigger, there are a total of 44 seats in that section, rather than 30 seats.

The A350-1000 has four first class seats and 40 business class seats, compared to the A350-900 having four first class seats and 26 business class seats.

On the surface, first class seems more like a “business class plus,” given that there’s no curtain or bulkhead between it and business class. However, Starlux really does do a good job making you forget about the lack of separation.

Starlux’s A350-1000 first class consists of four seats, in a 1-2-1 configuration. The first class seats have 83″ of pitch, 23″ of width, convert into 83″ flat beds, have 32″ TVs, and feature 60″ walls. Just for comparison purposes, business class seats have 44″ of pitch, 21″ of width, convert into 78″ flat beds, have 24″ TVs, and feature 48″ walls.

I once again selected seat 1A, and since the cabin was otherwise identical, I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

I also won’t talk more about the entertainment and Wi-Fi, since it was identical to what was found on the previous flight — the entertainment screen is huge, the selection is quite good, and the Viasat Wi-Fi is reasonably fast, and also free.

Starlux first class amenities

One of the things that really delighted me about my long haul Starlux first class flight was the abundance of amenities and gifts, ranging from Huntsman pajamas, to a mini suitcase hard-shell overnight bag from FPM Milan, to a kit with all kinds of Aesop products, to excellent bedding.

By comparison, the amenities were much more modest on this short daytime flight, which is of course totally fair. The bedding was limited to a very nice leather pillow, as well as a Loro Piana blanket, which is of course still very luxurious, though not necessarily the coziest.

Also waiting at my seat was a Starlux-branded box of chocolates from Yu Chocolatier, and a welcome note. This was very nice, though it’s interesting how the previous flight had chocolates from Italian chocolatier Venchi, so it’s impressive how the airline has multiple such collaborations.

Within a moment of settling in, I was given slippers and a shoe bag, the same as on my long haul flight.

I was also offered a pre-departure drink, with the choice of watermelon juice or a sparkling peach juice. I opted for the watermelon juice, since I had the latter on my previous flight — Starlux doesn’t serve alcohol on the ground across the board, regardless of the origin. The pre-departure drink was served with a warm towel and some mixed nuts.

I was also presented with the drink list for the flight, which came in a very nice Starlux branded binder.

Starlux A350-1000 departure from Taipei Taoyuan

Boarding for my Starlux A350 flight was efficient. The flight was super empty — I was the only person in first class, and there were maybe five people in business class. Premium economy and economy didn’t seem to be very full either.

I can’t imagine this was a money maker for the airline, as this seemed like way “too much plane” for a flight like this. To make matters worse, Starlux has two A350-1000 flights on this route just a couple of hours apart, and the other flight seemed to be empty as well. But I imagine there’s a seasonal element to this, and also, this is how the planes are being used between long haul turns, so the opportunity cost is quite low.

By 8:20AM the captain was on the PA to announce our flight time of 2hr55min, and our cruising altitude of 39,000 feet. By 8:25AM the main cabin door closed, and then at 8:35AM we began our pushback, at which point the safety video was screened.

By 8:40AM we started our taxi, and it was a pretty short distance out to runway 5R.

Once out at the runway, there was a brief takeoff queue, so we had to wait for around 10 minutes.

By 8:55AM we were starting our takeoff roll — we must’ve been light (unsurprisingly), because we rocketed out of there.

It was a beautiful morning on the climb out, and I enjoyed the views. The seatbelt sign was turned off around five minutes after takeoff.

Starlux first class food & drinks

Even though this Starlux first class flight left early in the morning, the meal options were more lunch and dinner oriented, which I was of course happy about, given that my body had no clue what time it was, I already had breakfast on the previous flight, and breakfast is typically the most disappointing meal on a plane.

Starlux has a great meal pre-order program, so before my flight I already ordered my meal, and you can find all the options below. I opted for the online exclusive option. I should mention that unlike on the long haul flight, there was no option to pre-order appetizers.

Because of the approach that Starlux takes to pre-ordering first class meals, there’s not actually a menu, but instead, the binder just had the drink list. The drink list was identical to that on the previous flight, so I won’t post it all again (since it’s a lot of pictures), but you can check it out here.

I was pleasantly surprised that the alcohol selection was the same as on the long haul flight, given that many airlines cut back a bit on short haul flights. Then again, I guess given Starlux’s fairly small network and limited first class demand, it’s not worth having two separate sets of provisions.

The only addition on this route is that there were also some sake options, so that’s the only page of the menu that I’ll share.

I kicked off my meal with a glass of the signature champagne, the Bollinger La Grande Année 2015. Interestingly, the champagne was served in a flute this time, unlike the previous flight, where it came in a wine glass. The appetizer consisted of a Japanese selection, and it was excellent.

For the main course, I ordered the HUTONG salt baked truffle wagyu steak, which was phenomenal. This was served with several sides, including miso soup, crab fried rice, duck breast, etc.

With the main course, I ordered the sparkling rose, which was the 2021 Weightstone Gris de Noirs Extra Brut. I adore how Starlux serves some incredible Taiwanese wines — on the last flight I loved the 2022 Weightstone Musann Blanc, so I wanted to also try the sparkling rose from the same winery.

They were both excellent, though to be honest, I still can’t get over how much I enjoyed that Taiwanese white wine, as it had such a unique lychee scent to it. I’m not really someone who typically “craves” wine, but I need to get my hands on another bottle of that, even if it’s just to swirl it around and smell it. Okay, I know I’m sounding weird now…

I almost felt a little bad just having a glass of each of the sparkling wines, since I assume the bottles are otherwise going to waste. That being said, ultimately Starlux’s strange first class commercial strategy of consistently empty cabins isn’t my fault, and at least the airline is minimizing food waste with its meal pre-order program.

After the main course I was offered dessert, and the lovely flight attendant proactively served me fresh fruit and amazake panna cotta. I accompanied that with a white peony tea.

At the conclusion of the meal I was offered a warm towel, and some chocolates (not that I needed anything more to eat!).

Shortly before landing, I also ordered a boba latte, since I figured I couldn’t fly a Taiwanese airline and not have this treat. When I was younger I was obsessed with bubble tea, but as I’ve gotten older, I try to avoid it, given the amount of sugar. But hey, calories and sugar don’t count in the air, right?

Starlux A350 first class lavatory

Starlux A350-1000 first class passengers get exclusive use of a forward lavatory, located right by the flight deck. While the lavatory isn’t huge, it was spotless, and had excellent amenities.

Much like on the last flight, the crew did a great job “policing” lavatory use, so that the forward lavatory was reserved for first class, while the lavatories behind the cabin were for business class.

Starlux first class service

Much like on my last flight, the crew on this flight was stellar. First class flight attendant Hans and purser Vanessa took care of me, so having two flight attendants taking care of just one passenger is tough to beat. They were professional, detail oriented, and attentive, without being overbearing. I have nothing but good things to say about the service on Starlux.

Starlux A350-1000 arrival at Tokyo Narita

I spent most of my Starlux A350 first class flight just looking out the window and watching the map feature. It always surprise some people just how big Japan is — you’re basically over parts of Japan within 30 minutes of taking off from Taiwan. Like, did you know there’s a 1,400-mile domestic flight within Japan?

All too soon, my Starlux first class flight was already coming to an end. At 12:15PM Tokyo time, the captain was on the PA to announce that we’d shortly be starting our descent, and would be landing in around 40 minutes.

The seatbelt sign was turned on around 12:40PM, as we approached the coast of Japan, not far from Narita.

I love approaching Tokyo’s two airports. Haneda Airport is special for the fact that it’s right in the heart of Tokyo, and gives you a sense of just how sprawling the city is. Meanwhile Narita Airport just has such rich and diverse landscape around it, where you feel like you’re approaching a port city one moment, and a rural farming area the next moment.

We ended up touching down at Tokyo Narita Airport at 12:55PM, on runway 16L. It was a very smooth landing, and from there, we had a roughly 10-minute taxi to our arrival gate, where we pulled in at 1:05PM. Maybe I should have my avgeek card revoked, but I was caught off guard by the Parata Air A330, as that wasn’t an airline that was on my radar. Have I just been living under a rock?

We ended up parking next to a Finnair A350.

At the door of the aircraft I was welcomed by a representative who would be escorting me through the arrivals process, all the way to the Narita Express. Interestingly, he wasn’t a Starlux employee, but instead, the airline contracts some sort of VIP service. Once off the aircraft, I had a great view of the A350-1000 that I had just flown on.

I actually never had a clue that Narita Airport had a paid fast track lane, as it’s quite hidden, behind a partition. To be clear, it’s not for all first and business class passengers, but instead, just for those who use some sort of service. It allowed me to breeze right through.

What’s even more impressive is that even though I got through the whole process in a matter of minutes, my checked bag was already waiting for me at baggage claim. Not only that, but there was a dedicated Starlux representative guarding it, who had just taken the bag out of the first class “crate.” Yes, Starlux first class checked bags are placed in specially marked crates, obviously intended to convey the special care that’s taken with them.

I would’ve taken a picture of it, but the crate was literally right under a “no photos” sign (coincidentally), and this is Japan, so I didn’t want to be a rule breaker and offend anyone.

Bottom line

I had an excellent flight in Starlux’s Airbus A350-1000 first class. The food and drinks were great, the cabin was otherwise empty, the crew was friendly and attentive, and the entire ground experience was seamless. Even though Starlux takes a strange approach to first class, the overall experience is much better than I was expecting.

The only thing I’d say is that Starlux’s long haul first class definitely impresses a lot more than the short haul first class. So if you are going to fly the airline in first class, I’d highly recommend taking a long flight with the airline (admittedly that costs more, but…).

What do you make of Starlux’s A350-1000 first class?