Descent began at 4:40am local time, and it was a beautiful dawn when we cruised down the western coast of Taiwan.









We landed on R/W23R at 5:28am and parked at gate D9 three minutes later.









I went to upstairs directly after showing my onward boarding pass. USA arrival passengers no longer need to go through security when connecting at Taipei. I am the only premium passenger connecting somewhere, but economy cabin has a good load of passengers continuing to Southeast Asia. That’s not a surprise.

Connecting flight:


I want to share some photos of the new Galactic Lounge at Taoyuan Airport’s terminal two near gate D6!






The new shower rooms were great and I gave Starlux credits for great ventilations inside the shower!






Here are my thoughts on Starlux Airlines:

1. I really don’t know why but I feel that there is definitely a discrepancy between regional and long-haul flights. The crews are exemplary as usual, and Phoebe, the purser, and her team on the Seattle inaugural flights was no different. They are clearly specially selected for the inaugural flights. However, the slightly changed main meal service really threw even the experienced team off, despite the changes were just minor – they just did a separate beverage service with amuse bouche now. That’s why I felt the service a bit strange at times. Of course the business cabin on the A330/350 was much larger and the service was just not as personal as the A321 eight passengers cabin, especially you got two flight attendants working the cabin. The return was so different as they did the late-night service so many times that they could literally do it with an eye closed. However the catering on this new Taipei to Seattle time at a normal meal window needs some major changes. The meals do not adapt to the more normal meal hours. The F/As showed little flexibility in going outside of the prescribed meal service. The inaugural flight was full in both first and business with clearly some special guests including top Starlux executives and board members. I actually felt that aspect took away from the normal service. The return proves my point, as Phoebe and team were all at ease, and the interactions were more natural and everyone was least tense.
2. Taipei to Seattle is now departing at a normal dinner time and the meal service only shows little different from the late-night service. As expected, they added an amuse-bouche service, but honestly, they can use more substantial snacks like real canapes or even a bowl of warmed mixed nuts/snacks. But the rest of the meal was the same as the current late-night service, which was a bit underwhelming for an 8pm flight. First, they need to run the bread basket a few more times. For dessert, they do not offer cheese service and when I ask about it, the F/A told me that I had to wait until they finished the whole meal service. It really made zero sense at all. Starlux needs a dessert trolley service with cheese, sliced fruit, and dessert. For a 8pm departure, there is no excuse not to indulge premium guests a bit and the meal service can be a bit more elaborate. I don’t know why Starlux is so scared of using a trolley. I will even introduce a beverage trolley in between courses so they can serve wines properly with additional breads offerings if needed. EVA Air is league ahead and I can’t understand why Starlux is so behind, when half of the staffs all worked for EVA Air previously and are possibly in charge of framing the current & excellent EVA Air’s business class product. I guess I just expect Starlux to go above but it just falls short.
3. For some reasons, they served breakfast three hours prior to arrival on the Taipei to Seattle flight, which really made little sense. Our flying time was longer than normal, and I could not imagine them doing the same for the nine hours flight in winter time. Even if they wanted to run the duty-free service, breakfast should never be served earlier than two hours prior to landing. The Western breakfast is actually nicer and I like how they do the yogurt service. F/As will come by with three types of toppings and individually put them on top of your yogurt, but they forgot about lychee-honey. The return service was just more polished, as the crews were more familiar with the service. The Chinese breakfast set really did not look as good as China Airlines and EVA Airways, and Starlux needs to put some efforts on its Asian breakfast offering.
4. Wi-Fi is not usable for both long haul flights and I was already on their latest delivered Airbus A350-900. Panasonic “On Air” simply does not deliver and they need to change to a new vendor immediately. Free Wi-Fi for first and business class guests are nice on paper, but if you can’t use them, it is just no different in not having Wi-Fi. Yes Transpacific flights involved flying over water, so Starlux should have pick a much better vendor. EVA Air’s Wi-Fi worked much better and I did not mind paying for them, as long as they are reasonably priced.

Starlux is very ambitious in trying to be the best and both China Airlines and EVA Air are pretty good airlines with excellent reputation. Starlux succeeds in its branding and I like the modern touch of the way the airline defines itself. However, I feel that they can push further and it will be interesting to name its planes with reference to stars and the cosmic world. Their long-haul service really needs some refinement and maybe they need to send staffs in experiencing the top products with Middle East carriers and Singapore Airlines. EVA Air actually does a very good job and its premium product, IMHO, is top notch. I actually like their food more than Singapore Airlines, and Cathay Pacific slips so behind that it is a league behind all three Taiwanese carriers. While I don’t expect Qatar’s dine on demand concept with Starlux, it needs to step up a bit in its long-haul meals with more online selections, and they need to work with a top local Taiwanese restaurant in designing a nice Chinese dinner set for Seattle flight, as well as their future East Coast flights, which will depart at normal meal times. The main dinner service needs to be more elaborate and a separate cheese and crackers course is the minimal I expect from them. They need to serve breakfast a bit later on eastbound flight, when flying time is shorter, and unlike late night US bound and westbound flight, many passengers wake up earlier than normal due to local time so they can serve a bit early.

Ground service is its weakest link but there is nothing Starlux can do until TPE opens Terminal three and Starlux can concentrate its flights on one side of the terminal, instead of going all over A/B/C/D gates. These days even EVA Airways will use A/D gates, something that they avoid most of the time. I believe the new plan is that EVA Airways will use the gates on one side (B/C/E or F), and both China and Starlux Airlines will split the other side of the concourse (A/D/E or F). I presume the low-cost airlines will just follow their parent companies or just use mostly the A gates, and major international carriers will use whichever concourse according to their alliance and codeshare partners.

I will fly the route again on October and hopefully there will be a new cycle of menus.

It was a fun experience and I wish Starlux Airlines all the best, and I also want to thank Phoebe and her team of F/As for an excellent roundtrip flight. Despite a bit of hiccups on the inaugural flight, they provided an exemplary service in the premium cabin. With a few changes, Starlux can be a formidable challenge to EVA Airways. China Airlines is already a step behind it, so Chairman K needs to think how Starlux’s premium product can beat his former product.

Thanks for reading!

Carfield