Getting on a plane used to be a communications blackout, which was fine if you didn't have work to catch up on -- or you weren't flying during clutch live sporting events. Airlines now offer expensive in-flight Wi-Fi, but it tends to be riddled with limitations.
United Airlines is betting that its new Starlink Wi-Fi service will leave those frustrations grounded. The company is rolling out the technology to mainline 737-800 aircraft in its fleet, starting with a demonstration flight I boarded with other journalists in Chicago last week to learn firsthand whether satellite internet at 30,000 feet is an improvement or a gimmick.
At a time when our phones and smartwatches have satellite connectivity options -- helping us reach emergency responders or send text messages when we're out of range of a cell signal -- Starlink and United are providing travelers with an upgraded convenience. What's more, we're getting in-flight Wi-Fi with speeds and connectivity that rival what we experience at home or the office.
Air travel presents a conundrum: If you need Wi-Fi in the air and it's not working, you're cooked. There's no stepping out to a coffee shop hotspot or rebooting your home router. In-flight Wi-Fi has improved over the years, but it still feels risky whether it will work well or at all. And you don't discover that until you're already in the air.
The plane I traveled on isn't the first United aircraft carrying Starlink's satellite Wi-Fi equipment. United began outfitting many of its regional Embraer E175 jets in March after signing a deal with Starlink's parent company, SpaceX, last year. Although it's the inaugural United mainline aircraft, Hawaiian Airlines got the jump late last year when it outfitted its Airbus planes with the technology.
The Boeing 737-800 I flew on went into active service the next day, Oct. 15, starting with a leg from Houston to Fort Lauderdale. Over the coming months, United expects to outfit approximately 15 mainline Boeing 737-800 planes per month with Starlink antennas.
United is offering Starlink Wi-Fi access free to United MileagePlus members. The Standard Wi-Fi option costs $8 or 1,600 miles for MileagePlus members, or $10 for everybody else. Subscriptions for frequent travelers start at $49 a month (or 7,500 miles).
In-flight Wi-Fi is all about the experience
Believe me, I want to talk about speeds and bandwidth and what a Starlink connection could mean for getting work done or being entertained in the air. But it all starts with getting connected, and too often, that experience sucks.
On my flight from Seattle to Chicago the day before my demo, United's Standard Wi-Fi took nearly an hour to connect to any of my devices. (United uses different internet providers depending on the aircraft and operating area, and this flight was connected by satellite internet provider ViaSat.) Once the main menu page loaded, selecting most options, including "sign in" and "free messaging," timed out with an error that there was no network connection.
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