United Airlines is making incredible progress introducing free Starlink Wi-Fi for MileagePlus members throughout its fleet. The airline has just shared an update regarding the rollout of this service, and the expectation is that 1,000 planes will have the service by the end of the year. To say that United is leaving American and Delta in the dust when it comes to connectivity would be an understatement.
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United installing free Starlink Wi-Fi fleetwide
Historically, inflight connectivity is an area where United has lagged both American and Delta, but that’s quickly changing. In September 2024, United announced plans to introduce free Starlink Wi-Fi throughout its fleet. Starlink is free for all MileagePlus members, and they can log in on multiple devices.
Starlink is known for its high-speed, low-latency broadband internet, and the service is offered gate to gate. United highlights how Starlink Wi-Fi allows for live streaming, productivity similar to on the ground (with high upload and download speeds), gaming, e-commerce, support for multiple devices, and more.
As you’d expect, this isn’t an overnight process, and it does take some time to install the service. While many airlines have announced plans to introduce Starlink Wi-Fi, this is still the biggest deal we’ve seen to date, as no other airlines of this size has announced plans to install Starlink on all aircraft.
In order for Starlink Wi-Fi to be installed, the airline needs Supplemental Type Certification (STC) from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), for each plane type, so that includes a total of 16 regional and mainline aircraft models. The FAA certification process involves approval of the design, installation, testing, and certification of the system.
What’s also great about Starlink is that the installation process is pretty quick, once aircraft are certified to have it installed. The average Starlink installation time is around eight hours, which is 10 times faster than with non-Starlink equipment. United is taking full advantage of the speed with which it’s installing this service, and is doing so at a lightning pace.
The current state of United’s Starlink Wi-Fi installation
For quite some time now, United has been sharing that it expects to offer Starlink Wi-Fi on 1,000+ planes, including all mainline aircraft and regional jets, by the end of 2027. However, that timeline has just been moved up considerably.
Currently, United has Starlink Wi-Fi on over 400 planes, though in fairness, most of those are regional jets, since that’s where the airline started with the project. However, in recent months we’ve seen mainline aircraft increasingly get this service, and United now shares that it expects to have Starlink on 1,000 aircraft by the end of 2026. That’s absolutely incredible, and beats the previous estimate of having it on 800 aircraft by the end of the year.
We’ve already seen Starlink start to be installed on Airbus A320-family and Boeing 737 aircraft, and now we’re starting to see Starlink on wide body aircraft. United has just operated its first Boeing 777 flight with Starlink, with the goal being to have 60 wide body aircraft with Starlink by the end of the year, and to have Starlink on all wide body aircraft by the summer of 2026.
When you go to united.com and look up flight status, you can see if a flight is expected to have Starlink based on the below banner.
United destroying American & Delta on Wi-Fi front
Up until Starlink installation started, I (fairly) called United the worst of the “big three” when it came to inflight connectivity. And even when United introduced Starlink, I of course appreciated the concept, but what matters isn’t what’s promised, but instead, what’s delivered.
As of this very moment, United is still behind American and Delta when it comes to connectivity, as I see it, at least from a consistency standpoint. Of course if you only fly regional jets, United is probably best, but I’m looking at this broadly.
If United can really follow through on having Starlink on 1,000 aircraft by the end of 2026 (just six months from now), the airline would be in a completely different league than American and Delta on that front, and would have an advantage that will last years.
It’s actually amazing how American and Delta have been asleep at the wheel on that front:
- American has Viasat Wi-Fi on most aircraft (and Panasonic Wi-Fi on most wide body aircraft); the airline also plans to install Starlink starting in early 2027 (which it only recently decided on), though has only committed doing so on around 500 jets, including the narrow body Airbus jets
- Delta has Viasat Wi-Fi on most aircraft, but opted not to get Starlink, and will instead install Amazon Leo, which will be introduced in 2028, best case scenario; furthermore, Delta only plans to install that on 500 aircraft
As the saying goes “a luxury, once enjoyed, becomes a necessity.” I think some airlines are underestimating the extent to which blazing fast inflight Wi-Fi will soon become a basic customer expectation, vs. something that’s nice to have, as Viasat Wi-Fi will quickly start to feel like the equivalent of dial-up internet.
Bottom line
United is rolling out free Starlink Wi-Fi throughout its fleet. Historically, United has been lagging American and Delta when it comes to inflight connectivity, but that’s now rapidly changing.
At this point, United has Starlink Wi-Fi on 400+ planes, including a vast majority of regional jets, and now increasingly mainline planes as well. By the end of 2026, United will have Starlink Wi-Fi on 1,000+ planes, with installation being completed before the end of 2027.
It’s great to see the progress being made. By the end of this year, United will be at a massive competitive advantage compared to American and Delta.
What do you make of United rolling out Starlink Wi-Fi?
Cool. Catching up to jetBlue and Delta, which have had free WiFi on most of their fleet for nearly a decade… the technology was there; this was about nominally profiting off a captive audience. WiFi should be relatively reliable and included with all airfare by now.
The gap in benefits between shitty free wifi and Starlink is much larger than that between shitty free wifi and shitty paid wifi. Not an opinion, but a fact.
But! But! But! Mishandled bags!!! That’s the metric that really matters!
LoAd FaCtOr
Yeah, but CASM.....
You say CASM, Tim say RASM.
And remember: Your opinion is an anecdote; his opinion is facts.