Space, the final frontier: our first look at the brand new Starlux Galactic lounge in Taipei

Summoning Captain Kirk to the starship lounge.

Starlux, the Taiwanese startup airline, opened its second lounge at Taipei Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) on February 1, 2024 and could serve as the setting for Star Trek. The Points Guy was one of the first travel companies to get an inside look.

In case you’re not familiar, Starlux is an airline that just started flying in 2020, but has big ambitions. The airline now serves 23 destinations, mainly in Asia, but has just expanded service to San Francisco International Airport (SFO). The airline is also reportedly planning to launch flights to Seattle.

I got to experience business class this month on one of the airline’s newer routes from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Taipei and back. I’ll have a formal review from the airline soon, but I also got to check out their brand new Galactic Lounge in Terminal 2 right after it opened.

In short, I was blown away.

This is what you can expect.

Access to Starlux’s new Galactic Lounge

To access the Galactic Lounge you must be a top Starlux Elite member or hold a First Class or Business Class ticket on Starlux. Those with Starlux’s Cosmile Explorer or Insighter status can access the lounge if flying the same day. Starlux offers three elite levels – Adventurer, Explorer and Insighter – and those with status in the top two levels get lounge access with at least one companion. Starlux Galactic does not accept Priority Pass or other club program passes.

The lounge is open every day from 5:00 AM to 11:30 PM.

Related: Flying Starlux’s impressive new business class

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Please note that most Starlux flights depart from Terminal 1, which also has a small Galactic Lounge – usually for Starlux flights to the rest of Asia. The long-haul flights depart from Terminal 2, and it sounds like the Galactic Lounge there is much fancier than its counterpart in the other terminal.

Starlux Galactic Lounge layout

Once you pass the welcome desk, you enter cool sliding doors that open onto a main floor with bright yellow lockers on the left, and a wall of reading material and plenty of island food and beverage options and a buffet on the right. More about the food and drinks later. Newspapers and magazines offered included the New York Times, the Financial Times and Vogue.

This was one of the coolest lounges I’ve been to from a design perspective. The steel gray interior looked like it was taken straight out of a Star Trek movie. The decor was plain and gray with hints of bright yellow to break up the metallic tones. I was one of the first guests to arrive that day for the evening flights, so I saw that the club was mostly empty. Not only the interior is cool, but the staff uniforms were also stylish and futuristic.

There are two floors here. The main level has a gigantic sitting area with plenty of chairs and padded sofas.

You will find plenty of sockets, including standard sockets and USB ports, both under the benches and even built into the free-standing tables.

In the back there were a number of toilets with sliding doors that made a buzzing sound when the doors opened with the push of a button… just like on a Star Trek ship. Naturally, the toilets were automatic and contactless and equipped with bidet toilets from Toto.

The facilities were branded Eden Breeze by a natural beauty company called Thann. They smelled fresh with a hint of citrus, although not very futuristic.

There was another seating level downstairs, along with the showers. I can’t imagine this lounge ever getting completely full with all this space and only a few flights a day to the United States. In fact, there are 116 seats in the lounge.

There is also a separate first class lounge in the same spot, but it was cordoned off when I was there. There were no first class passengers on my flight to New York that evening, which is probably why it wasn’t open. There is room for 17 people, although I wasn’t allowed to look at it.

Starlux Galactic Lounge location

The Starlux Galactic Lounge is located after security, near gate D7 in Terminal 2 at Taipei Taoyuan International Airport. My flight departed from gate D8, so it will probably be close to your departure gate if you’re going to Los Angeles or San Francisco with Starlux.

It’s a bit of a journey from where most lounges are located in Terminal 2, including the Priority Pass-accessible Oriental Club Lounge. The other clubs follow immediately after you pass security, but you have to keep going to the D gate to find the Starlux lounge.

Starlux Galactic Lounge Facilities

The Galactic Lounge had plenty of amenities, although there was no spa or nap area there was plenty to do to kill a few hours.

Unlike the Starlux lounge in Terminal 1, the Terminal 2 lounge has plenty of bathrooms and even showers. I got to try out a shower and the water pressure was incredible. The high-quality design and many bathroom amenities made it a refreshing pit stop. You will need a key card at reception in exchange for your boarding pass. Another spaceship-like door leads you to the shower room. Here you will also see Toto washlet toilets.

The lounge has free WiFi. The internet was good enough to stream Netflix, at least for a while. The speed test showed that the internet speeds were ‘fine’. I lost my connection for a while, but was able to reconnect after about 20 minutes. It was similar to my internet experience on board Starlux planes.

The service during my visit was exceptional, with staff going out of their way to ask if customers needed anything. Dirty dishes were removed quickly and food was delivered quickly and with a smile. When the staff saw me taking hundreds of photos, they even offered to photograph me in the lounge.

Starlux Galactic Lounge Food and drinks

There was a great selection of food and drinks in the Galactic Lounge. You can order a la carte via a QR code menu by taking a photo of your table number with your mobile phone.

There were four hot dishes, including a shredded chicken dish, beef sukiyaki, gua bao and four-spice soup or a Japanese-style tofu burger. I tried the gua bao and soup, although it wasn’t my favorite. Food was brought out within 10 minutes.

In the main dining room there was a huge wall of options including hot and cold dishes and desserts, along with an island buffet of salads and other dishes. The hot dogs looked interesting, but I wasn’t brave enough to try it.

Hot dishes on the buffet included fried pork with Kyoto sauce, braised beef in a truffle mushroom sauce, Wollongong brown sugar rolls and handmade baozl, steamed crab shaomai and Chinese pearl meatball with sticky rice. I have tried different dishes. I didn’t care for the beef or chicken, both of which were heavily seasoned. I loved the sticky rice meatball though.

There were also many drinks, including San Pellegrino, Coca-Cola, Sprite, a Jing Shang Yu brand cold tea, Natural Benefits honey lemonade and a local soft drink called Pocari Sweat. I enjoyed a bottled vegetable juice (usually carrot) called Vigor Dong Shih. Check out the cooler among Taiwanese treats: Ninao iced yogurt.

Of course there were also many drink options. Among the spirits were Jose Cuervo tequila, Bacardi rum, Jim Beam bourbon and Bombay Sapphire gin. Wine offerings included Stags’ Leap Napa Valley chardonnay and petite sirah.

Starlux Galactic Lounge In short

Starlux’s brand new Galactic Lounge in Taipei’s Terminal 2 is simply out of this world…pun intended. I loved flying Starlux Business Class, which I’ll get into more in a future review, but the lounge was a happy surprise on top of some great flights.

The new space-themed lounge was especially nice, as I’d heard mixed things about the small Starlux lounge in Terminal 1 – and I hadn’t heard great things about the Priority Pass lounge in Terminal 2 either.

I’m curious to hear what other travelers have to say about the new lounge, especially as Starlux continues to expand its menu to include other long-haul destinations in the coming years. Hopefully this innovative airline can continue to amaze consumers and provide serious competition to some of the best airlines in the world.

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