Review: Starlux Airlines Premium Economy (A350-900)

For the second portion of my trip to Japan in April 2025, we had decided to visit Taipei and stay at Hotel Proverbs for a few days before flying home on Starlux Airlines, which none of us had flown before. Unfortunately, at the time of booking, we were not able to find three seats all on the same flight in business class. So we each booked what we could find as a placeholder, with the intent to upgrade to business class and/or a better routing.    

Of course, as it turned out, a more suitable flight that didn’t cut the trip short prematurely would not show up for me at close in, and so I ended up stuck on a Premium Economy booking through Los Angeles airport. I was significantly more disappointed with the airport than with the class of service. While I despise LAX, I knew Premium Economy would be a very passable way to cross the Pacific, and had heard great things about Starlux across all its classes of service as well.

Read on for my review of Starlux Premium Economy.  

Booking Starlux Premium Economy

I booked my Starlux Airlines premium economy flight via Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, for a discounted rate of 50,000 Alaska Miles plus $45.81 USD in taxes and fees, for one person. This is the only way to redeem points for Starlux Airlines flights at present, aside from their own COSMILE loyalty program.

My itinerary was a single, non-stop flight from Taipei (TPE) to Los Angeles (LAX). Although this route, along with Starlux’s other transpacific flight to San Francisco (SFO), starts at 50,000 Alaska Miles per person for premium economy, the non-saver rate increases to 100,000 Alaska Miles. Interestingly, the non-saver rate books you into a different fare class, which doesn’t allow seat selection. This is rather unusual…  

If you are interested in this product, learn more about how to book Starlux Airlines business class (hint: you will need Alaska Airlines miles).   

Ground Experience

Unfortunately, there is no acknowledgment of any Trusted Traveler programs like Nexus or TSA Pre-Check at the Taipei Taoyuan International Airport. Holders of the APEC Card are granted access to a priority line, however. The security lines were not long when I arrived at the airport mid-afternoon, so my disappointment was short-lived.

More unfortunate is the fact that with a premium economy booking, I was not entitled to access Starlux’s very own GALACTIC Lounge. Instead, I made use of one of the Plaza Premium lounges, located on the 4th floor of Terminal 2, in Zone A. This is the elevated floor above the central part of the terminal (immigration hall) between the C and D boarding gates.

This lounge was actually rather decent and spacious, with some alacarte made-to-order food items like udon noodles, and other hot food items including curry chicken, yaki-soba, udon, steamed vegetables, beyond meat bites in cream sauce, and more. The mushroom soup and chicken nuggets were especially good. 

Also importantly, there were four first-come-first-served shower rooms, with towels available complimentary from the front desk. I made use of these to clean up a bit and also shave for the first time in about a week, which was refreshing.

Overall, even though there was sadly a distinct lack of dessert options in the lounge, it made for a tranquil and refreshing airport waiting experience before my dreaded red-eye flight.

Cabin Arrangement

Starlux flies two wide bodies, the Airbus A330-900neo and the Airbus A350-900. The A350, which I had on this flight, has 4 first class seats, 26 business class seats, 36 premium economy seats, and 240 economy seats. 

In Starlux A350 premium economy, the seats are configured in a 2-4-2 configuration. They feature the Recaro PL3530 seats arranged with an adjustable foot/leg rest, and a six way adjustable headrest. The seat width is 18.7”, recline 8” and row pitch 40”. 

The majority of the seats are the same design-wise in this premium economy cabin, all having a retractable legrest and footrest. In my introverted opinion, it is advantageous to be in an A/C or H/K seat as you have fewer neighbors.  

Notably, the seats in Row 20 are bulkhead. These seats have a bit more leg room, and you don’t need to worry about someone in front of you reclining into your space. However, the entertainment screens are built into the wall, with a much worse viewing distance and angle. So, depending on your priorities, you may want to select or avoid these seats.

In the end, I selected seat 23K, a window seat closer to the back of the premium economy cabin. 

Seat

Upon boarding, the Starlux Airlines premium economy seat had a neutral colored,  modern aesthetic. The material was comfortable to touch, and the headrest was large and soft. 

There was a good amount of legroom to stretch out and to extend the all-important foot and leg rest.

Both the leg rest and the seat recline were controlled manually by buttons, where you would have to physically apply pressure to push the seat back while pressing the button. The buttons, as well as the control for the entertainment console, were located conveniently below the left armrest. 

There were lots of places for stowing belongings, including under the footwell, in the literature pocket, a small ledge under the entertainment console, and water bottle holders in between the seats.

The tray table folded out in two pieces from within the armrest. It was well designed with a small indentation for securing beverages.

As far as sleeping goes, I was able to get a couple of moderate naps in. The seat wasn’t exceedingly comfortable, but it was about as comfortable as you could get for the dimensions it had to work with. 

The seats have 8” of recline, which did seem generous. The image below best demonstrates what you can expect from the reclining seat.

Aside from the seat, I found the provided blanket very comfortable. It was a double-sided fabric design with a softer, lighter fabric on one side.

The window had a digital dimmer option, which made it easy to adjust the lighting for when you’re trying to get some sleep.

While I had far from the best quality sleep I’ve had on a plane, the reclining seat and aforementioned features made it just comfortable enough to doze off a few times and leave me in a less exhausted state on my arrival in LAX.

Amenity Kit

While I don’t think it’s common for premium economy class to provide amenity kits, Starlux Airlines did provide one, along with slippers, headphones, and a small pillow.

The amenity kit, a partnership with Smiley Company, contained lip balm, hand lotion, earplugs, a dental kit, socks, and an eye mask. 

This was above and beyond what I expected and a nice surprise that further sets Starlux premium economy apart from the competition. 

Bathroom

The bathroom was spacious with plenty of room to move about and ample counterspace. There were some premium amenities provided by IDUN. 

Dining

The menu for food and drink was entirely digital, accessed from the entertainment console. The beverage menu included two signature cocktails, as well as a somewhat limited assortment of wine, beer, and hard alcohol.

Between the two, Sci-fi Cosmos, and Summer Sunbeam, it was a tough decision but I decided to try the Sunbeam first. It was refreshing and well mixed.

The drink arrived just before the first meal service, which was prompt after we reached cruising altitude. Those who pre-selected their meal online 24 hours before departure were served first. The menus also included an additional “online exclusive” option for those who pre-ordered. 

The first meal service was the Late Night Menu, while the second meal service was the Light Menu, which was essentially breakfast.

For my late-night meal, I ordered the braised pearl barley pork in red wine sauce with herbs potatoes. 

For my light meal I chose the international option, smoked chicken spinach cheese frittata with ratatouille. This also came with a croissant, fruit, and yogurt.

Despite the packaging of a premium economy meal, these dishes were on par with or better than the food I’ve been accustomed to in other business class products. The food tasted fresh, and the flavors were all excellent. Even the butter was soft and spreadable, a rarity on airplanes. 

Overall, I was very impressed and pleasantly surprised by the quality of Starlux’s meals.

Entertainment

Entertainment Console

The entertainment console was large, easy to use, and state-of-the-art. It was a 15.6″ HD touchscreen display with Bluetooth pairing capability to connect your own wireless headphones.

The menu was entirely digitized and served through the entertainment console, which isn’t something I’d seen done before, but it worked smoothly. 

WiFi

In initial iterations of Starlux, WiFi was only complimentary for passengers in the first class and business class cabin. However, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that WiFI was complimentary for premium economy passengers on this flight.  

Instructions were relatively easy to follow to connect to the WiFi. Once connected, I found the quality to be pretty average to below average in terms of speed.

The speed was rated at 6.75 Mbps download and 0.82 Mbps upload. Simple browsing, email, or chat apps were passable. But for anything beyond that, the connection was too slow to be functional. 

Nonetheless, free is free!

Conclusion

Starlux Airlines Premium Economy class on the A350-900 exceeded my expectations in most categories. The seat was comfortable, the amenities were more than necessary, and the food and drinks were top-notch. While the average WiFi was a minor drawback, it didn’t take away from what was ultimately a polished and premium experience. 

For those seeking a more comfortable way to cross the Pacific without the full business class splurge (or simply unable to find business class availability), Starlux Premium Economy delivers impressive value. I would definitely fly this product again!