Starlux Business Class awards available to Taiwan for 75K each way

Update 2/23: As of this morning, this is effectively sold out. I was only able to find two days at 75K for the rest of the year.

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There’s not a plethora of options for flying business class non-stop between the US and Taiwan. So, in early 2023, when Alaska Airlines and Taipei-based Starlux Airlines announced their intention to partner with reciprocal mileage earning and award redemptions, folks were cautiously excited to see what would develop. Initially, Starlux planned to fly an A350 between Taipei (TPE) and Los Angeles (LAX), with TPE-San Francisco soon to follow.

When Alaska and Starlux launched their partnership later in the year, Mileage Plan said that its members would be able to redeem their miles at an initial promotional rate of 60K miles in business and 20K in economy…a great price for an excellent way to get to East/Southest Asia. That got people excited…so much so that the “promotional” awards sold out much faster than Alaska was expecting, and most folks never even got a sniff.

Since then, there hasn’t been much in the way of saver availability for Starlux via Mileage Plan. Instead, we’ve seen months and months of non-saver availability, which Alaska prices at a whopping 165K miles each way.

All of a sudden, there’s quite a bit of Starlux business class saver space that’s been released between San Francisco and Taipei over this Spring and early Summer. The best months are April and June, with a much more palatable price of 75K Mileage Plan miles each way. Most dates currently have at least two seats available, but that probably won’t last long.

The Deal

• Starlux business class saver awards from San Francisco to Taipei are available via Alaska Mileage Plan for many dates this Spring
  • Saver price is 75K miles each way.
  • Best months for availability are April and June, but there are scattered dates in March, May and July as well.
  • Many dates have 2+ seats available.

Quick Thoughts

Starlux is a Taiwan-based airline that was founded in 2018 and began operations in 2020, a tricky time to start a new travel company, to say the least. Despite the poor timing, it has garnered quite positive reviews for both its hard and soft product. The airline now operates two long-haul routes, flying A350s nonstop between Taipei and both LA and San Francisco.

We’ve seen hardly any saver availability come online since the initial launch of the Alaska/Starlux partnership last year. Suddenly, the SFO-TPE route has multiple seats available throughout the next few months. Although 75K isn’t as sweet as the initial 60K promotional rate, 75K + $19 for a non-stop flight between the US and Taiwan on an appealing business class product is a good price and will be tempting for many.

As of this writing, here’s what was available in April and June for 2 passengers:

There are a smattering of dates in February, March, May and early-July as well, but none of them have anything approaching what we’re seeing during the other two months.

This space most likely won’t last long, so if it fits into your travel plans, I’d book now and ask questions later.

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