United Airlines is making a major investment in inflight Wi-Fi with the debut of Starlink satellite service — for free.
The Chicago-based carrier announced on Friday that it will add SpaceX’s Starlink service to its fleet of over 1,000 jets.
United expects to install Starlink on all its aircraft — more than 1,000 planes — over the next several years. Testing begins early next year, and the first passenger flights are expected later in 2025.
“Everything you can do on the ground, you’ll soon be able to do on board a United plane at 35,000 feet, just about anywhere in the world,” said United CEO Scott Kirby. “This connectivity opens the door for an even better inflight entertainment experience, in every seatback — more content, that’s more personalized. United’s culture of innovation is, once again, delivering big for our customers.”
Starlink, an arm of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, provides satellite internet access in over 100 countries worldwide. While the company’s customers range from individual homeowners to the U.S. military, perhaps the most exciting development for travelers is Starlink’s deployment on commercial airplanes.
United will become the largest airline yet to partner with Starlink, which will bring some serious upgrades to the inflight connectivity experience, especially for the airline that has historically offered Wi-Fi from a mix of four somewhat mediocre providers.
The satellite internet provider offers download speeds of up to 350 megabits per second — fast enough to support gaming, VPN access, streaming and much more. (Inflight calling still won’t be allowed, per FAA rules.)
Better yet, Starlink Wi-Fi will be free on United — a major move that brings United into the same league as Delta and JetBlue, which currently offer free inflight connectivity.
Right now, United uses four different Wi-Fi providers across its fleet, with varying levels of reliability and speed. The best is Viasat, which is installed on select Airbus A319s, Boeing 737-900s, 757s and the 737 MAX 8 and 9.
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The slowest and least reliable provider is Wi-Fi Onboard (formerly known as Gogo), which offers air-to-ground service on regional jets. But with Starlink, these regional jets will go from one of the worst to one of the best connectivity experiences in the sky.
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In fact, the entire United fleet will become one big living room in the sky — arguably even better than Delta’s current free Wi-Fi partnership with Viasat and T-Mobile.
Last year, I got to test Starlink’s blazing-fast speeds on a demonstration flight from public charter jet service JSX. Though JSX isn’t a traditional airline like United, it offers free Starlink Wi-Fi on its fleet of 30-seat Embraer regional jets.
JSX was the first carrier to install Starlink Wi-Fi, and based on my tests during the demo flight, this service has a lot of potential in the aviation industry.
I had no trouble streaming content, joining Zoom meetings and even downloading music simultaneously on five devices. Real-world download speeds topped 100 megabits per second, and the low latency meant that I didn’t need to worry about buffering when watching movies and TV shows.
In addition to United, Starlink is either installed or being installed on seven carriers worldwide. They include JSX, Hawaiian Airlines, airBaltic, Zipair, Qatar Airways and Air New Zealand.
As speedy inflight internet access becomes an amenity that passengers expect, hopefully we’ll see more carriers partner with Starlink. After all, it’s the fastest, most reliable satellite internet provider I’ve tested in all of my travels.
And for United, this marks another major investment in the passenger experience. In 2021, the airline launched its so-called United Next campaign, which includes an all-new domestic signature interior rolling out across the single-aisle mainline fleet. The United Next cabins feature seatback entertainment screens with Bluetooth connectivity, power outlets and larger overhead bins.
And soon, the jets will also be equipped with free Starlink — another bold move that’ll help United shape itself into one of the nation’s most premium carriers.
Now, let’s just hope United can stick to its rollout schedule because I, for one, can’t wait to try this new service out.
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