• JX732 SIN-TPE – Economy (A350-900)
• Taipei Hilton Sinban
• Galactic Lounge, Taoyuan Airport
• JX731 TPE-SIN – Business (A350-900)

Mustering as much energy as I could to peel myself away from the Galactic Lounge, I bounded off to my gate in anticipation of the highlight of my trip. This flight was also supposed to be the A330neo but the airline later decided to put the A350 on this route instead – yay to doors in business class!

• Flight Timing – Depart TPE 08:10 arrive SIN 12:40
• Duration – 4hrs and 30mins
• Aircraft – A350-900
• Seat – 4A
• Cost – $745 after stacking some discount codes from Trip.com.

First of all, it’s worth highlighting how Starlux’s website describes this cabin:

A space to relax after a busy day or to conduct business in your own privacy and comfort. Business class suite is composed of dark gray, warm brown, and champagne tones. Metallic champagne colored detail frames the space while the rich gray tones create a sense of protection and calm. The combination of technical wool textile, leather and suede textures creates rich and warm tactility to the space. The residential style accent light and dark wood finishes adds a sense of hospitality and home feel while being professional for the business traveler’s needs.

Lifted from A350 商務艙 – STARLUX Airlines (starlux-airlines.com)

Boarding / Cabin – Boarding was quite on time, with calls for passengers requiring special assistance first before First/Business. The mostly youthful crew gave a warm welcome but there was no leading you to the seat – no big deal as 4A was easy enough to find. Full cabin so the shots are not the most ideal but you get the idea.

Shortly after arriving at my seat, a crew member came by to introduce himself and gave me a tour of the seat functions. He even asked for my last name in Mandarin so he can address me properly which I felt was a nice touch.

A welcome drink of sweet syrupy juice (based on research, probably a cold-pressed pineapple and mango juice) was served with a towel in a tray thereafter – too sweet for me though. I asked if they have champagne and got a glass of lukewarm one. Boo.

Seat – 4A is a window seat with the aisle to the right, in the middle of the section.

The seat carries the same classy brown / black tones and first impressions – it is a truly nice business seat!

The seat itself is not the widest J seat out there but plenty adequate for me. It was a good space and felt quite private even with the console against the window instead of next to the aisle.

At the entrance of the seat is a small hook to hang your barang if need be which was useful for my small bag.

Placed on the seat was a pillow, blanket, and a pair of slippers for your use. Not sure why there is no amenity kit but perhaps short flight? The seat also has a 3-point seat belt design (sorry for lack of pics of it in action) which needs some getting used to.

The storage compartments are all streamlined as part of the console on the left, starting with the upper left corner where a boxy compartment is, holding a bottle of water and your headphones on arrival. This space has a wireless charging pad, traditional charging ports, a nestled remote for the IFE, as well as a mirror to check your face. Right after this spot is another more shallow triangular storage compartment which I didn’t end up using but it looked great for phones or other small items.

This same aisle continues on to the seat literature pocket where another triangular storage spot lies, the IFE, and the chubby hole which was good enough space for my feet.

To the top left of the seat isa reading light probably more useful for night flights.

Seat controls are available on a touch-to-activate panel on the left of the seat, with a lower separate panel featuring 3 mirrored functions for easy access from a lie flat position. Tried both the Zero G position and flat bed mode and happy to report both are excellent for chilling and napping for sure.

For more privacy, the seat also comes with (manually operated) sliding doors which is of course kept open during take off and landing but otherwise free to activate though I was encouraged to leave it open during meal service as well for ease of service. I wish all business class seats have doors hah.

Just also a quick on the electronic windows which can be controlled by the main touch-screen panel – they really worked so well to block the glare – super impressed! Probably bad pics but just showing you the difference between when they are activated versus natural.

In-flight Entertainment – I realized I didn’t take any pics of these but the selection is basically the same ones as my SIN-TPE leg so borrowing my own pics for show here.

The airline-branded headphones were heaven and earth apart from the Y version – super comfy wrap around the ears and awesome noise-cancelling quality!

Doing a shoutout for what is now my favorite in-flight business class blanket – so fluffy and luxurious I wanted to take it home with me!

In-flight WiFi – again borrowing pics from the earlier sector, connecting to the business class wifi was not difficult as you basically connect to the Galactic_WiFi network and you’ll be directed to a page to verify your registered email address (same as what you used to make your booking) and a few other simple details. I used it for texting and sending images and videos and it worked well. I also liked very much that the device stays connected throughout the flight even after leaving it idle for a while, unlike SQ where you have to reconnect each time.

Lavatories – these were kept rather cleaned throughout the flight and there was mostly no wait. The starlux-branded toilet paper will gets me everytime hah. Facial mist and lotion this time round were Huygens which did what they did.

Food & Beverage – Starlux’s in-flight meals seem to be much raved about and I was excited to finally experience it myself! Upon booking confirmation, you can already pre-select your meal and I have to admit it was very difficult to choose as all of them looked so good. I reluctantly picked the USDA Short Rib Char Siu in the end.

Meal service commenced shortly after the seatbelt sign was switched off as it was a short flight and it only made sense that passengers would want to eat first then rest before arriving in Singapore. A paper menu is available in the seat pocket ad reads as follow

There is also a separate wine list for those who are interested – and I surprised myself by not choosing bubbles as my choice of poison for this flight.

Business class service here is a one-tray service for all the things prior to dessert which makes sense for a short flight. I picked the Contemporary Asian x Longtail Taipei set and everything was absolutely delicious and the Short Rib Char Siu is now officially one of the best business class meals I’ve had in my life. WELL DONE STARLUX!

Desserts and seasonal fresh fruits were later served in one tray as well. The salted egg pudding was too avant-garde for me but fruits were refreshing though in rather sad portion. I also had the Malt Tea (some Jack Daniel alcoholic drink) as part of the set and indulged in a total of four (don’t judge) delicious Baileys Martini throughout the flight.

Service – attentively polite throughout the flight! I was impressed at how I didn’t get any sense of “hurried service” despite it being a full flight so kudos to the crew for keeping their smiles!

In Summary,

Super glad I was impulsive enough to book this trip – a fun whirlwind 2 full days in TPE and definitely no regrets. YAY.