We’ll have to mark this as “developing,” but it seems worth acknowledging that United Airlines seems to be having some problems with Wi-Fi on its long haul flights, and it might not get better for some time.
In this post:
Complaints of United Wi-Fi not working on long haul flights
Recently there have been many complaints online about Wi-Fi not working on long haul United flights. I’ve even received emails about it from readers, who were confused about what’s going on. Not that it was ever particularly fast, but it has gotten to the point where it’s simply not available on some flights, apparently.
For example, take the below complaint, about three consecutive long haul United flights without functioning Wi-Fi.
A response to that post suggests that maybe United didn’t renew its contract with Panasonic for wide body aircraft, ahead of the transition to Starlink.
While that’s a fair theory, I was skeptical. Since it’ll be another 19 or so months before all long haul United aircraft have Starlink, it would be wild to leave planes disconnected for that long.
I wondered if anything was actually going on. After all, Wi-Fi just doesn’t work on some flights and over some areas. So did anything actually meaningfully change, or is this just a confused passenger?
What’s actually going on with United’s Pacific Wi-Fi availability?
Here’s where it gets interesting. JonNYC recently quoted a source as saying that United pilots received a memo about how the long haul satellite provider (Panasonic) was basically saturated at certain times of the day, especially over the Pacific. This was basically an acknowledgement that United’s Wi-Fi doesn’t work on some (or many) flights.
JonNYC also confirms that what’s rumored above, about United ending its contract with Panasonic, isn’t correct. What I’m not certain of is if this is somehow a United specific Panasonic issue, or one that’s impacting all Panasonic customers equally?
It could be that we’re just hearing about this at United since the carrier has a much bigger route network across the Pacific than most other Panasonic customers. But if all Panasonic customers are impacted equally, you can also expect this to be an issue on American Airlines, Singapore Airlines, etc.
Anyway, I know not everyone cares about Wi-Fi equally, but this is definitely something to keep in mind, if you do. It would suck to board a 17-hour flight from San Francisco to Singapore with a morning departure, expecting to work for much of the flight, only to find the service to be unusable.
So definitely don’t trust United’s Wi-Fi coverage map, in terms of what you can currently rely on.
Over the Pacific, expect coverage may currently look more like Delta’s coverage map, where there’s just no expectation of Wi-Fi in Asia and over much of the Pacific. 😉
Bottom line
There have been lots of reports as of late of Wi-Fi on long haul United flights being unusable (or almost unusable). This is especially the case on flights over the Pacific, which have the Panasonic system.
No, United reportedly hasn’t terminated its contract with Panasonic, or anything like that. However, it seems the airline is dealing with some major coverage gaps and limits that are highly variable, meaning some flights have almost no connectivity.
It’s not clear to me if this is impacting all Panasonic airlines equally over the Pacific, and if we’re just hearing more about this with United because the airline has such a big Pacific network. Either way, it’s worth acknowledging that something is going on, but the issue isn’t that United has terminated its Panasonic contract.
If you’ve taken a long haul United flight recently, what was your Wi-Fi experience?
Agree, LAX-HKG last month and WiFi worked less than 1 hour of the flight. Also on EWR-CDG 787-10 same situation. Wasn’t aware that it was part of a broader issue but it’s annoying at best and highly frustrating. Last year had very few issues. And agree with many, United promoting the heck out of Starlink but I’ve had 45 UA segments this year and have yet to be on a Starlink-equipped aircraft. If they’re making progress I just don’t see it.
Except . no one really cares about wi-fi or not . Just trying to get to the destination .
Ben can correct me but I believe that Panasonic does not provide the actual satellite WiFi service; it manufactures the equipment and works through a number of suppliers, unlike Viasat, Starlink, and Hughes.
It is entirely possible that the huge demand in aviation WiFi is far outstripping the capabilities of providers.
And wi-fi is outstripping the mental abilities of watchers .
10 days ago, my SFO->KIX flight? No internet despite the prominent marketing by UA.
Quite notable how DL actually does not say that it provides WiFi on most of its TPAC network but delivers it on about 2/3 of the A350 fleet which is DL's primary TPAC aircraft while UA promotes WiFi and yet doesn't deliver it.
Just flew MUC-ORD on 787-10 - no internet at all - Panasonic bird. But hey, got a $50 credit ... as a Polaris customer... LOL.
This post from April by Aakash Gupta explained a lot for me. "Emirates' SVP of connectivity just said the entire legacy inflight wifi industry 'didn't really understand the core technologies' needed to deliver working internet on a plane. . . .Here's the stat that tells you everything about suppressed demand. During a recent weather diversion, Emirates had a 25-minute repositioning flight. Nearly 100% of passengers connected and consumed more data over Starlink than passengers typically...
This post from April by Aakash Gupta explained a lot for me. "Emirates' SVP of connectivity just said the entire legacy inflight wifi industry 'didn't really understand the core technologies' needed to deliver working internet on a plane. . . .Here's the stat that tells you everything about suppressed demand. During a recent weather diversion, Emirates had a 25-minute repositioning flight. Nearly 100% of passengers connected and consumed more data over Starlink than passengers typically use on a 7-hour flight with legacy wifi. The demand was always there. The technology was the bottleneck." https://x.com/aakashgupta/status/2044398602823626862
No wifi on UA 384 to HNL once we were over the Pacific. That’s one of the 777-200s
Not gonna lie, when I saw the headline:
“Oh, what's going on (What's going on)…”
Marvin Gaye, anyone?
Can't comment on United's 787s but I have had intermittent Wifi on Singapore Airlines A350s in recent months which also use Panasonic.
Nice humble brag, sir! Sean gets around!
There is nothing wrong with informing the proletariat that SQ flights are favoured by many of us 1990. You might like to give the Worlds Number Two Airline a squirt sometime, you will then see what you are missing …. :-)
Affirmative No WiFi on flight to Sydney yesterday. Crew protectively said there will be no Wi-Fi and Panasonic satellite is down
Impossible. Just impossible. There is no way that United’s WiFi is getting worse until the mythical Starlink arrives
Just impossible that any carrier other than Delta has TPAC WiFi issues according to the UA fan hypocrites
Mythical? Psh. Starlink is one of the few decent things Elon has left, and it’s for real.
Speaking of mythical… where are these so-called United hypocrites? Are they in the room with us now?
See above, 1990.
As for the UA hypocrites, see below. I don't know who is "in the room" until they post. But one was bound to show up.
I have made multiple TATL crossings w/ working free WiFi on DL.
remember how much those hypocrites have told us about the WiFi failures on DL's TPAC network?
Ben is reporting what many of us knew to be the case.
Not a single carrier has consistent global WiFi coverage but DL is by far the furthest along in rolling it out.
"remember how much those hypocrites have told us about the WiFi failures on DL's TPAC network?"
"Not a single carrier has consistent global WiFi coverage but DL is by far the furthest along in rolling it out."
Delta has NEVER had TPAC wifi lol. but yes. AA and UA have had consistent global wifi coverage for years as evidenced by this story with users saying "hey, the internet stopped working to Asia on United"
that's...
"remember how much those hypocrites have told us about the WiFi failures on DL's TPAC network?"
"Not a single carrier has consistent global WiFi coverage but DL is by far the furthest along in rolling it out."
Delta has NEVER had TPAC wifi lol. but yes. AA and UA have had consistent global wifi coverage for years as evidenced by this story with users saying "hey, the internet stopped working to Asia on United"
that's vs a delta pax "Hey, I've never had internet to Asia on Delta"
;)
Try not to spend your entire Saturday being a loser about TPAC wifi again, Tim
Max,
you have NEVER been able to understand that DL does have some A350s that do have high speed WiFi but DL does not promise a service that has only 2/3 of aircraft capable of delivering it.
DL also does not extend free high speed WIFi to TPAC routes because Viasat and Hughes (the A350 fleet has both) cannot provide enough bandwidth to support "free"
YOU are the hypocrite, Max, that has endlessly...
Max,
you have NEVER been able to understand that DL does have some A350s that do have high speed WiFi but DL does not promise a service that has only 2/3 of aircraft capable of delivering it.
DL also does not extend free high speed WIFi to TPAC routes because Viasat and Hughes (the A350 fleet has both) cannot provide enough bandwidth to support "free"
YOU are the hypocrite, Max, that has endlessly trashed DL for its TPAC WiFi offering.
It really doesn't matter if DL does or does not have aircraft that offer it because it is clear that AA and UA do not.
DL does in fact offer some coverage just as AA and UA do.
YOU are the hypocrite that has made a mountain out of something that no carrier has delivered - so you lie incessantly when confronted w/ the reality that DL is no worse off than anyone else.
7am on a Saturday morning and Widdle Timmy already has his tighty whities in a bunch over UA again. TREMENDOUSLY SAD INDIVIDUAL!