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Connecting to the internet has always been a gamble on United Airlines. Wi-Fi working is hit or miss most of the time. That’s about to change as United has began installing Starlink across its fleet. United announced in September 2024 that Starlink would be installed on all United aircraft (more than 1,000 planes) over the next few years and that it would be free for MileagePlus® members. Today, it shared that the first regional aircraft now has Starlink installed.
United expects to have Starlink added to 40+ regional aircraft each month beginning in May through the end of the year. Amazingly, the average Starlink install time is only eight hours. This excludes any de-installation of existing equipment, testing, or aircraft modification. This is approximately 10 times faster than installing non-Starlink equipment.
Customers onboard Starlink-equipped regional aircraft can expect Wi-Fi speeds up to 250 megabits per second (Mbps), which is around 50 times faster than current regional aircraft speeds. Starlink delivers internet access around the world, including over oceans, polar regions, and other remote locations that previously did not offer Wi-Fi signals. United is the first carrier in the world to commit to installing Starlink service at this scale. Other airlines like airBaltic, Air New Zealand, Hawaiian Airlines, Qatar Airways, and WestJet have plans to install Starlink, but United will be by far the biggest.
Once installed, United shares that passengers will be able to watch live TV and movies without buffering or needing to download content in advance, play live games, and connect multiple devices under one user (which is something that cannot be done today).
United currently has four Wi-Fi providers across its fleet. These vary in reliability.
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
