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 and faster than we originally thought. United announced in September 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 for MileagePlus members. Today, it provided an update and now expects to begin testing Starlink next month.
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.
The first commercial flight will be this spring on a United Express Embraer E175 aircraft. After this test, United will outfit its entire two-cabin regional fleet by the end of 2025 and have its first mainline Starlink-enabled aircraft flying this year.
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.
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. Now, it seems like Starlink might be live faster than anticipated (especially on United Express flights).
(Featured Image Credit: United Airlines.)
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.
