While there are lots of areas where United Airlines has been improving, Wi-Fi is an area where the carrier has historically lagged both American and Delta. Fortunately that’s changing — in September 2024, United announced plans to introduce free Starlink Wi-Fi throughout its fleet.
The airline has been making fantastic progress with rolling this out, and has now provided an update on the rollout of this service, which I’d like to cover in this post. This is a game changer for United, once available on a widespread basis.
United Airlines installing Starlink Wi-Fi on 1,000+ jets
United Airlines is partnering with SpaceX, to introduce Starlink Wi-Fi on more than 1,000 aircraft. This is the largest Starlink deal we’ve seen with an airline to date. Best of all, United is offering Starlink Wi-Fi for free to all MileagePlus members. That’s not surprising, when you consider that United is increasingly in Delta’s league, and Delta offers fast and free Wi-Fi (as does American, at this point).
Starlink is known for its high-speed, low-latency broadband internet, and the service is offered gate to gate. United highlights how Starlink Wi-Fi allows for live streaming, productivity similar to on the ground (with high upload and download speeds), gaming, e-commerce, support for multiple devices, and more.
Starlink is becoming increasingly popular on airlines. So far we’ve seen carriers like airBaltic, Air France, Air New Zealand, British Airways, Emirates, Gulf Air, Hawaiian Airlines, Iberia, Korean Air, Lufthansa Group, Qatar Airways, SAS, Virgin Atlantic, and WestJet, all announce plans to install the service.
What’s also great about Starlink is that the installation process is pretty quick, once aircraft are certified to have it installed. The average Starlink installation time is around eight hours, which is 10 times faster than with non-Starlink equipment.
United is by far the most tech-savvy US airline, and I’d be willing to bet that the airline invests more in technology than peers. So it’s fitting that United would also go with the most cutting edge Wi-Fi provider. This would also explain why United didn’t announce a larger Wi-Fi retrofit plan with one of the more established inflight Wi-Fi providers prior to 2024. Sometimes it pays to wait.
United Airlines Starlink Wi-Fi rollout progress & timeline
What’s United’s plan for rolling out Starlink Wi-Fi, and how much progress has been made? Big picture, United expects to offer Starlink Wi-Fi on 1,000+ planes, including all mainline aircraft and regional jets, by the end of 2027.
Where do things currently stand, though?
- Currently, United has Starlink Wi-Fi on 300+ regional jets, which includes most two-cabin United Express aircraft, particularly Embraer E175s
- By the end of 2026, United expects to have Starlink Wi-Fi on 800+ aircraft, so expect a huge number of mainline aircraft to get the service this year; for mainline aircraft, it seems like Boeing 737s are the first to get the service
When you go to united.com and look up flight status, you can see if a flight is expected to have Starlink based on the below banner.
In order for Starlink Wi-Fi to be installed, the airline needs Supplemental Type Certification (STC) from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), for each plane type, so that includes a total of 16 regional and mainline aircraft models. The FAA certification process involves approval of the design, installation, testing, and certification of the system, to ensure safe and reliable operations.
Since this certification is required for each plane, there’s always a testing phase, and then once that’s approved, the rollout can happen pretty quickly.
It’s anyone’s guess what happens next, though one thing that we do know is that United is prioritizing Starlink on its new premium Boeing 787-9s, featuring the new Polaris seats and Polaris Studio. While these are expected to be delivered in the coming weeks, the FAA hasn’t quite approved Starlink for the 787-9, so there may be a period of time during which these planes fly without that service.
For some context on United’s Wi-Fi situation, prior to Starlink, the airline worked with four different Wi-Fi providers:
- The regional jets have (or had, at this point) Intelsat Wi-Fi (formerly known as Gogo)
- Most wide body jets, plus select A319s, A320s, and 757s, have Panasonic Wi-Fi
- Most non-MAX 737s have Thales Wi-Fi
- Most 737 MAX aircraft, A321neos, and select A319s, have Viasat Wi-Fi
Bottom line
United Airlines is rolling out free Starlink Wi-Fi throughout its fleet. United has been lagging American and Delta when it comes to inflight connectivity, but that’s now rapidly changing. At this point, United has Starlink Wi-Fi on 300+ planes, by the end of 2026 United will have Starlink Wi-Fi on 800+ planes, and by the end of 2027 United will have Starlink Wi-Fi on all planes.
It’s great to see the progress being made, and once this is actually available on a widespread basis, it’ll be a massive competitive advantage, especially with neither American nor Delta having even announced plans to introduce Starlink.
What do you make of United rolling out Starlink Wi-Fi?
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