OMG, I’m so excited, and need to take a deep breath… whew.
In this post:
Redeem Alaska miles for Starlux business class
In April 2023, Alaska Airlines and Starlux Airlines announced a new partnership, coinciding with Starlux launching flights to the United States (Los Angeles is the first destination, and San Francisco will launch later this year).
With this partnership, the airlines will offer reciprocal mileage earning and redemption opportunities. While the partnership at first just included reciprocal mileage earning, we’ve now seen reciprocal mileage redemptions rolled out.
There’s some great news — not only is award pricing incredibly attractive (at least between Los Angeles and Taipei), but availability is amazing.
At the moment I see Starlux business class award availability on just about every single flight, which is so cool to see. Alaska is Starlux’s first major airline partner, so I suspect Starlux doesn’t realize just how many redemptions are about to be booked.
For example, take a look at the below award calendar in business class between Los Angeles and Taipei.
Alaska Mileage Plan no longer publishes award costs, so what is pricing like? For bookings through August 31, 2023, there’s special introductory award pricing if you’re traveling exclusively between Los Angeles and Taipei (though not beyond there). You can expect to pay the following number of miles for a one-way journey:
- 20,000 miles in economy
- 40,000 miles in premium economy
- 60,000 miles in business class
That’s a phenomenal deal, especially given the lack of surcharges.
What’s pricing like in other markets (pricing is one-way, and keep in mind that Alaska allows stopovers on one-way awards)?
- Awards between the United States and Asia cost 65,000 miles in economy, 85,000 miles in premium economy, or 130,000 miles in business class
- Awards between Taipei and Southeast Asia cost 25,000 miles in economy, 32,500 miles in premium economy, or 50,000 miles in business class
- Awards between Taipei and North Asia cost 10,000 miles in economy or 15,000 miles in business class
- Awards between Southeast Asia and North Asia cost 35,000 miles in economy or 60,000 miles in business class
As you can see, you could actually save miles by booking your two segments separately, at least for a limited time. You’d pay 110,000 miles one-way in business class, rather than 130,000 miles.
Eventually award pricing between Los Angeles and Taipei is expected to increase, and I suspect it will then be more in line with the other pricing.
Why this is such an exciting opportunity
Starlux is still a relatively new airline startup, and the company describes itself as a “detail-oriented luxury airline.” I flew Starlux’s A321neo business class shortly after the airline launched, and was amazed by the carrier’s inflight product. The long haul experience should take Starlux’s product to the next level, and I’m sure I’m not alone in being excited about this.
Furthermore, currently award availability across the Pacific is virtually non-existent, so it’s especially exciting to have an option with plentiful award availability.
Keep in mind that if you don’t have Alaska Mileage Plan miles, you can buy them. Through August 20, 2023, you can buy them for as little as 1.85 cents each. At 1.85 cents each, you could acquire 60,000 Mileage Plan miles at a cost of ~$1,100. That’s a heck of a deal!
Bottom line
Alaska Mileage Plan has finally added award redemptions on Starlux Airlines. This is now Starlux’s only airline partner with redemptions, so this is an incredible opportunity to redeem for Starlux’s premium cabins. I can’t wait to fly Starlux between Los Angeles and Taipei, and I’m sure I’m not alone!
So, who is headed to Taiwan on Starlux Airlines?!
Had to call customer service to for seat selection but I wonder on how to pre order meals if can't access "Manage My Trip" on STARLUX Website or App. Need to call customer service for pre order meals too? Hope they fix this soon.
Why are you worried about the minutia? Is your trip soon? If not, relax.
It just last a few hours... NOW business seats are on 165k + taxes.
No Way pal!!
Hahaha, they TOLD US they would do this, yet people were all excited.
A simple PR stunt, nothing more.
Now, alaska's website showed the biz class needs 165K instead of 65K
There are still some days available over the next week where Business is available for 60K points. Otherwise, it seems all the available inventory for the 60K award has been booked up.
I don't think all the available for 60k has been booked. They saw it was being booked and they rise up the price to empty frequent flyers pockets
Deal is dead, 165k on almost all days into next year. Too good to be true lol.
jumping 105k points from 60k to 165k is a bit extreme, especially also compared to premium economy, which is still at 40K. i am wondering if they are still working out the kinks. 8/5 lax-tpe business is still showing at 60k...
jumping 105k points from 60k to 165k is a bit extreme, especially also compared to premium economy, which is still at 40K. i am wondering if they are still working out the kinks. also at 165k, that's only 2 cents per point for business class, that's really low for alaska miles. 8/5 lax-tpe business is still showing at 60k...
The article literally says that normal pricing is in that range. This piece really should have focused on "hurry and get these before the pricing becomes ludicrous" instead of "ooh, you can book Starlux with AS", as if the pricing would stay attractive (or even worth considering).
I was able to snag a LAX - KUL biz class seat for 85K when I booked last night but Starlux's website still wouldn't allow me to make my seat assignments. Well, I called their number and had the agent make the seat assignments for me. She told me that award seats made through Alaska cannot be managed online on their website. She has no idea if/when this will change.
The dates I need to go (Dec) are 62.5k for main cabin... is that anything to write home about?
It was 80k introductory LAX-TPE-BKK that I booked for January. Was able to change a SQ award to try these guys out. Received 15k miles back in my Alaska bank. Figured I would give them a go as my way back to the states involves a stopover in SIN and then flying SIN-JFK on SQ24. The price gets quite high on these, similar to Qatar and Aerlingus once those one or two cheap awards are...
It was 80k introductory LAX-TPE-BKK that I booked for January. Was able to change a SQ award to try these guys out. Received 15k miles back in my Alaska bank. Figured I would give them a go as my way back to the states involves a stopover in SIN and then flying SIN-JFK on SQ24. The price gets quite high on these, similar to Qatar and Aerlingus once those one or two cheap awards are gone. I looked to possibly leave a day earlier (saturday vs sunday) and it would have been 280K! For some reason if I added on atl-sea-lax to get to the flight it was over 300k! I'll stick with paying cash for a direct ATL-LA area thank you very much.
This seems to be dead. I'm seeing biz at 165k 1 way.
Thank you...cum again!
Yeah all I see available are this month and next. Rest of the calendar is 165K.
Booked economy NRT to TPE and the Alaska site says 2 free checked bags, but Starlux site says 1 or 2 free checked bags depending on which ticket type for economy is purchased. Does anyone know if it is indeed 2 free checked bags like the Alaska site says? Thanks
Award tickets typically have the most generous rules, so I think Alaska is correct but it's best to crosscheck with Starlux directly.
Does anyone know if Alaska still has the rule where a new member has to wait 10 days before being able to purchase miles? It used to be like that around 2017, not sure if the restriction is still there now.
BKK-LAX 85k in Business.
Same here. Got 2 Business seats for 85K each for end of Oct 23 so I cancelled my AA premium economy seats for flight credits.
Been awhile booking with AS miles and forgot the middle name gets dropped on partners. Called Starlux to confirm ticket and seats, and also confirmed no middle name was passed over.
Likely no issues but annoying..
The regular pricing is just beyond consideration. Yay for the promo, but I'm laughing at the idea of paying 250K+ one way as something to celebrate
Sorry, round trip.
Any idea which lounge Starlux uses for business class passengers at LAX?
OneWorld business class lounge
Believe its the Qantas Business Class lounge per their website
Hope you got to book! I read your posts every day and they have helped me learn so much about award travel.
I know how excited you were about the potential to book this so I wanted to tag you.
Thanks for the shout.
I was able to book two tickets from LAX to TPE for January and one separate ticket from TPE to KUL. Yes, it did error out several times but I just kept refreshing until it went through. Thank you Lucky!
anyone know if I book a round trip and cancel the outbound leg LAX-TPE later, will Alaska rerate based on regular rate (one way 130k)?
Why wouldn't you just book two one ways?
Is the seat pitch in business class on their A350-900 really only 44"?
That's more in line with a premium economy seat than a business class seat, especially on a 14 hour+ flight.
Yes, the cubby hole for your feet doesn't count in the seat pitch calculation
For those having trouble booking, it kept erroring out on the website for me pretty early in the booking process. I used the app instead and easily got to the very last step and clicked to complete booking. It then stalled for a long time. I eventually got an error message that it didn't process, but 5 minutes later got a confirmation email and can pull up the reservation on the site.
Same here. Kept getting error messages on the website, so switched to the app. Error there also but confirmation from Alaska came through.
After chat/calls with both Alaska Air and Starlux this is what I found out: 1) they just opened for booking using miles last night. 2) demand has been very high. 3) it is a known issue according to Starlux rep that their web site won't pull up the booking record even though Alaska Air says it is confirmed and gives you a Starlux PNR. Starlux confirmed everything is ok. You can call Starlux to complete the seat assignment until their web site is updated.
Thanks for checking!!
Does anyone know when the sfo tpe route will be available on Alaska to book?
Book the LAX route first, then call Starlux to swap to SFO once it's open for booking.
can that change be done with change fees?
I don't think Starlux will do that for you, if the tickets were booked by Alaska Airline.
Exactly, any changes have to made with Alaska not Starlux in this case.
In addition, won’t the itinerary be re-priced at the non-promotional rate if you change the departure city?
Just FYI, it appears that a live chat is available on the Starlux website starting at 9:30 AM Taiwan time, which is about five hours from now.
Is anyone else seeing 165k price for business class around holidays and weekends? Most dates are the 60k price, but there seems to be higher redemption dates too. Weird.
So many people must be booking. By the time I got to submit the checkout on a ticket from LAX-TPE in late December I got an error that no seats were available. It took me back to the calendar page and the 60k award was now 190k! Maybe it is only one or two seats per flight? I finally got confirmed seats on another date, however, now the web site is extremely slow / My Account isn't working.
Alaska Airlines is so clever by setting the redemption rate for an award ticket with a connection in Taipei ridiculously high. This would definitely prevent quite a lot award ticket resellers from buying up all award seats and reselling them at quite inflated prices.
While the "promo" price 20/40/60 is reasonable, close to "regular" price like CX, the actual "regular" price of 65/85/130 is way too high. And if you try to add any connections, even on AS in North America, you lose the "promo" price. So it's only useful in very limited number of cases when if you need LAX-TPE ticket. I need YVR-BKK ticket, so it doesn't make sense for me at all.
use positioning flights. 130k when normal is not good value. 60k for now excellent value
Amazing, thanks a ton for sharing, Ben! I'm already booked for some major trips next year, but I decided to snag RT in Business for 2/22 to 3/04 - $120k + $63. Tail end of Lunar New Year, just in time for the Lantern Festival on 2/24! First time visiting Taiwan, but as an American-born Chinese with a lot of Alaska miles to burn, I've been soft considering Taiwan for a long time.
TPE - LAX --> 60k in biz..... Great!
TPE-LAX-EWR/IAD ---> 140k in Biz! Insane.....
Gone are the days of AS allowing you to add an AS segment on for no additional miles if there was award space on the flight....They haven't actually shared what the updated rules are for this, you're just at the mercy of their inconsistent site.
Here's another example of how AS awards have absolutely no rules now On...
TPE - LAX --> 60k in biz..... Great!
TPE-LAX-EWR/IAD ---> 140k in Biz! Insane.....
Gone are the days of AS allowing you to add an AS segment on for no additional miles if there was award space on the flight....They haven't actually shared what the updated rules are for this, you're just at the mercy of their inconsistent site.
Here's another example of how AS awards have absolutely no rules now On Nov 7th:
HND - JFK: 45k miels in Y
HND-JFK-SFO: 35k miles in Y
@Ben what do you make of these inconsistencies when booking with AS now + no longer posting rules for their redemptions (stopovers, adding AS segments, award pricing, etc)?
@ LAX2SEA -- Well keep in mind the LAX-TPE pricing is specifically an introductory deal exclusively for the route, so that creates some strange inconsistencies. For example, I booked LAX-TPE-KIX, and booked the two segments separately for a total of 75K miles. Indeed, if you add any connection on Alaska, it triggers the standard pricing (which presumably will apply across the board as of September 1).
Regarding the JAL award, Alaska has indeed broken the...
@ LAX2SEA -- Well keep in mind the LAX-TPE pricing is specifically an introductory deal exclusively for the route, so that creates some strange inconsistencies. For example, I booked LAX-TPE-KIX, and booked the two segments separately for a total of 75K miles. Indeed, if you add any connection on Alaska, it triggers the standard pricing (which presumably will apply across the board as of September 1).
Regarding the JAL award, Alaska has indeed broken the US up into two zones, and that creates some quirks, as you note. I suppose the other way to interpret it would be that Alaska has very generous routing rules when traveling between Japan and the West Coast. ;-)
I hope you are on the A330 900neo
As soon as they open for January, I'm on this!!
The pricing doesn't make sense if you try to add a connection. For example, if you price out NRT>TPE>LAX, it shows 140k miles. But if you book them separately, it's 37,500 + 60,000 miles.
Ignore my comment. Clearly I didn't read through Ben's post. Got too excited.
If I book a cash ticket on skylux from TPE onward, would they be able to make it a connecting itenerary?
@ Ethan -- In terms of what? They should probably be able to check your bag through (if you have that) as you're traveling on the same carrier. They won't be able to merge the reservations, but you shouldn't have any issues, unless I'm missing something.
Yea I just meant so that my bags can pass through and I don't have to go through border control. Sounds like that shouldn't be an issue. thanks
There will be no more blog posts until Ben has booked this as I imagine this is his only priority right now. :) I can only imagine the excitement.
@ DENDAVE -- And I'm BOOKED! So back to blogging!
@Ben are you able to find your booking on the Starlux website?
Just booked for August 23rd! Woohoo!
Just booked but unable to bring up my reservation on the Starlux site. Site gives me an error and I'm using the correct partner confirmation code from my alaska booking. Anyone else having trouble?
Same for me! At least it shows that it's ticketed on Alaska's site, but the Starlux PNR errors out. Looks like no Taiwanese carrier has their tech in order hah.
Same, although I also got an error when booking with Alaska. It was only afterwards that the booking appeared in my Alaska dashboard.
Cannot add connection on either end, such as SEA-LAX-TPE. Price reverts to "regular".
Is it possible to redeem miles for first class?
@ Eli -- Unfortunately not!
Woot! this is incredibly timely as I have a trip to TPE planned in the fall. I booked China Airlines tickets since that was quite literally the only way I had found to get there, but cancelled the way back to do Starlux instead. So excited!
Hey, are you ticketed?
@ Eli -- Not yet, but am trying to figure out my schedule and hopefully book shortly!