Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links below. 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.
Connecting to the internet has always been a gamble on United Airlines. Wi-Fi works for me about 20% of the time for the entire flight, 50% of the time intermittently, and 30% not at all. That’s about to change. United announced today that Starlink will be installed on all United aircraft (more than 1,000 planes) over the next few years and that it will be free.
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 CEO, Scott Kirby, said:
Everything you can do on the ground, you’ll soon be able to do onboard a United plane at 35,000 feet, just about anywhere in the world. 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.”
United currently has four Wi-Fi providers across its fleet. These vary in reliability.
- United Express (regional aircraft) use Intelsat
- Airbus A319, Airbus A320, and Boeing 757 aircraft use Panasonic
- Boeing 737 MAX, Airbus A321neo, and some Airbus A319 aircraft use Viasat
- Most other Boeing 737 aircraft (with the exception of the MAX series) use Thales
The user experience is largely the same, but it will be nice to have one vendor with a more consistent quality level.
Fast, free Wi-Fi was one of the last tech advantages that United’s rivals have had over the carrier. In my opinion, United has by far the best mobile app and has introduced lots of other tech features like ConnectionSaver (it’s proprietary software that determines when to hold flights for connections), dynamic family seating, detailed, real-time text updates, automatic rebboking, wheelchair service, Agent on Demand, and miles pooling.
Anthony’s Take: I cannot wait for United to install Starlink and provide a fast and reliable connection in the skies. My two biggest complaints about the airline are its Wi-Fi and catering and both are seeing improvements.
User Generated Content Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat encourages constructive discussions, comments, and questions. Responses are not provided by or commissioned by any bank advertisers. These responses have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the responsibility of the bank advertiser to respond to comments.
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.
1 comment
International airlines offer internet for a fee even in Premium cabins. Allowing free internet access to ALL is a game changer
Kudos to United