Travellers flying between North America and Taiwan now have a smoother option: American Airlines and Starlux Airlines have upgraded their year-old interline deal into a full codeshare agreement.
The backstory matters here. The two carriers struck up a basic interline agreement in mid-2025 — enough to sell connecting tickets on each other and check bags through, but not much more. A codeshare is a genuine step up: each airline can now put its own flight code on the other's planes and market those routes as its own.
So what changes in practice? American is initially placing its code on Starlux flights from Taipei to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Ontario, California. Notably, Starlux's Phoenix route is missing from the first phase. In the other direction, Starlux can attach its code to American's domestic network out of Los Angeles and Phoenix — handy if you're connecting from somewhere like Dallas via PHX onto Starlux's nonstop to Taipei.
The big open question is loyalty. A codeshare doesn't automatically mean you can earn or redeem miles across both programmes, and nothing has been announced yet. Still, the signs are encouraging: Starlux already has full frequent flyer reciprocity with Alaska Airlines, and American historically has some form of earn-and-burn deal with nearly every non-alliance partner it codeshares with. If AAdvantage members could eventually earn on Starlux — and redeem for its excellent business class on the TPE-LAX route — that would be a genuinely good deal for flyers.
There's alliance politics bubbling under the surface, too. Starlux wants to join oneworld (it would make sense, since rivals China Airlines and EVA Air sit in SkyTeam and Star Alliance respectively), but Cathay Pacific reportedly holds veto power and is blocking the entry — even while being relaxed about Philippine Airlines joining. Meanwhile, American's existing transpacific joint venture with Japan Airlines gives it a financial reason to funnel Asia traffic through Tokyo, so its enthusiasm for Taipei may be more about competitive relevance than revenue.
Why should a traveller care? If you're based in the western US and want to fly Starlux — widely praised for its cabins and service — the codeshare should make booking a one-stop itinerary through American far simpler, with through-checked bags and protected connections. And if loyalty reciprocity follows, points collectors just gained a fresh option for one of Asia's most exciting premium airlines. Watch this space: the interline became a codeshare within a year, so earning miles may not be far behind.
