Southwest Airlines flies 41% of the seats out of my home airport in Austin. I can’t avoid them. I’ve wanted to, and it’s not because of checked bag fees (I have status) and it’s not because I don’t love their new boarding.
I’m actually the perfect customer for the ‘new’ Southwest in a lot of ways. I’m willing to pay for more legroom so I can open up my laptop and work. They’re going to be opening lounges. I’m betting they add first class.
The biggest problem with Southwest Airlines is that their wifi doesn’t work very well. Flying Southwest has meant giving up hours of productivity for me. And things are worse now that the wifi is free. They should have raised the price of wifi, to ration what limited bandwidth they have on many aircraft.
A little over 40% of their 737 MAX 8 aircraft have ViaSat, which is good, similar to American and Delta. The rest of the fleet is hit or miss at best.
This is the same reason I avoided flying United for so long! But I flew United this week and had a Starlink-equipped regional jet. Starlink wifi just works. You’re in the air and you might as well be on the ground. In fact it works better than most home wifi networks.
The great news is that Southwest Airlines just announced they’re moving to Starlink, and that they expect to do it quickly.
- The first Starlink-equipped aircraft this summer
- More than 300 aircraft by end of the year
It appears they aren’t going to outfit the whole fleet with Starlink. They’ve just been putting in ViaSat, which works fine (but doesn’t come close to Starlink). But we should soon reach the point where flying Southwest isn’t a tradeoff with getting work done. I’d love it if they offered AC outlets at their seats – but that’s why I gave up my Lenovo X1 Carbon (poor battery) and travel with a machine that can go all day without charging.
I never understood the obsession with wifi in air
One of the things I enjoy most on flights is just shutting down, even on very long haul flights (12 and 14 hrs…) let alone on a domestic 2-3 hrs flight
I want magazines back!
Aircraft types: Does adding 120v outlets to each seat ned more than the obvious wiring harness cost? E.g. does power generator or the APU need upgrading as well?
Thanks.
@Gary – You can’t tease us like that. Now I have to know what you do use!
I’m also wondering why your battery life was terrible. The X1 Carbon had a pretty healthy battery life last time I was using one as a daily driver (granted, this was in like 2018 or something). Did it belong to your employer? I’ve seen many laptops ruined by IT/security that doesn’t factor in user experience or lost productivity in selecting a vendor.
@Gary Leff — It is an improvement, but, the main issue these days is that fares are not cheap anymore on SWA. Blame whoever or whatever, but, they’re a LCC charging like a legacy carrier.
@doug — In 2026, all airlines can and should provide free, reliable WiFi to all passengers. The technology is there.
wow. WN might have high speed WiFi on its entire fleet before UA if WN stays with Viasat on some aircraft and adds Viasat on the rest of their fleet.
UA will be last of the big 4 and behind B6 in high speed WiFi deployment.
Go, WN, go!
@Tim Dunn … How’r those 717, CRJs comin’ along? (You don’t have to take the bait…)
Starlink is great until both pax left and right, front and rear start taking and receiving calls via WiFi calling and talking for hours. Pick your poison!
I wish they block it.
People would have paid $8 for Starlink.
Maybe even the same people who won’t pay $100 to fly 250 miles with the new gouge fares.
Excellent move by SW, but strange that they aren’t planning the whole fleet. Starlink is a huge product differentiator and competitive advantage over airlines with high latency, slow last-gen wifi.
@jamesb2147 – my older X1s were great. But I couldn’t go a day with connecting flights without a charge. I’m working off a Lenovo T14s Gen 6 – I can get legit 10 hours of use without darkening the screen or worrying about battery conservation at all.
1990
so glad you asked.
DL is installing the Hughes system in them now.
and more than 2/3 of DL’s large RJ fleet (they don’t have any 50 seat RJs) are done; as I have said for months, DL already has more high speed free WiFI equipped aircraft than any other airline in the world and they will reach 100% of their fleet with full global coverage long before anyone else.
can you tell us how many TATL and S. America flights AA and UA dispatched w/ free high speed WiFi today?
let me help you out.
yes, that many.
@Tim Dunn @1990 – Nice. My next few DL flights are on regionals so hope it’ll be ready by then. Gotta keep up with VFTW in the sky!
Can you do this all our favor and talk to ISOM and ask him to install starlink? Please please please
I flew QR recently, they have free Starlink Wifi. Very, very usable.
Tim — I didn’t pay 500K+ Skypesos for my biz class award ticket either, only 70k Avios. Perhaps delta fans do indeed find the prospect of spending a stopover in Riyadh tempting
jon f
there is no doubt that Starlink is a great product.
My beef w/ this whole discussion is from the fans of that Chicago airline that the hope and promise of Starlink is better than the 900 more mainline DL aircraft that have had free high speed WiFi for up to 4 years and the 700 more AA mainline aircraft that got it with the flip of a switch just days ago – or the 250 more B6 aircraft that have it.
Viasat IS improving its product and it might or might not ever deliver speeds as fast as Starlink but Viasat has had thousands of aircraft with its product for years.
and Starlink isn’t the last best thing in in-flight WiFi; there will be other new products including from Amazon.
The complete irony is that none of the other big 4 have made near as much noise about free high speed WiFi and yet UA has the absolute least number of aircraft w/ Starlink RIGHT NOW.
Just as AA could seriously gain an advantage in Chicago, WN could gain a significant advantage in Denver, Houston and other cities while UA takes another 2 years to get Starlink on its entire fleet.
Starlink users enjoy far superior speeds, stability, reliability and lower latency (70x less signal delay) due to arrays of low earth orbit (closer) satellites that enable gaming, streaming, and video calls that are rough or impractical on other providers like ViaSat that also has huge holes in its coverage (Pacific). Starlink is a game-changer.
United has free Starlink wifi on 315 of 325 two-class RJs and is now focusing on mainline installations that are accelerating on 737-800/900s. UA expects 500 mainline aircraft to get Starlink this year and the rest of the mainline fleet in 2027. In the meantime all other UA aircraft have the last-gen Viasat and Panasonic wifi on aircraft that operate in the Pacific because it has coverage unlike Viasat.
@L737 — And, just in case the WiFi goes down, open up the window shade, so you can still have a literal ‘view from the wing.’ *wink*
rebel,
we get that Starlink is a great product
but UA has it on, like, 10 mainline aircraft.
All the “greatest” of Starlink doesn’t matter if it isn’t even installed on 1000 UA aircraft.
B6 and DL have had free high speed WiFi for years. AA flipped the switch just a couple weeks ago.
WN will have more aircraft w/ high speed WiFi than UA.
UA is truly 5th out of 4 airlines with high speed WiFI – and yet UA yaps incessantly. It is no wonder how disconnected you are from reality because you take your cues from UA leadership.
5th place out of 4 airlines.
Yikes! how pathetically disconnected from reality.
United’s customer Net Promoter Scores (NPS) double on aircraft with Starlink. Amazing.
No wonder SW is lining up for Starlink.
B6 and DL figured that out years ago
and yet UA has over 1000 mainline aircraft – not including the 777s that are grounded due to Pratt engine problems – that DO NOT have Starlink.
If it really mattered, UA would not have started advertising Starlink years ago and still have less than a dozen Starlink mainline aircraft.
WN will have over 500 aircraft with high speed WiFi by the end of the year.
UA is and will be 5th of 4 airlines in WiFi deployment.
Yikes.
Just walk away, rebel, and quit trying to defend such management ineptitude.
United has had wifi on 100% of its mainline aircraft for years. They are now installing cutting edge Starlink and removing the last-gen, higher latency and far slower Viasat that Delta uses.
UA = cutting edge wifi, DL = outdated, last gen wifi.
Tim, you didn’t answer the last question I posed to you previously.
Next year, when UA’s entire fleet has Starlink, will you say UA has the best free WiFi on the most robust network in the industry?
I’m not sure how WiFi in the year 2022 is relevant.
You go on and on about the 20 A350-1000s DL will have in almost three years (compared to the fleet of almost 200 787s UA will have), so surely UA’s Starlink by next year is even more of an accomplishment? Especially considering the relatively small number of pax who will fly on DL’s 20 planes.
Right?
Mark,
you cling to what UA MIGHT HAVE at some point in the future while ignoring the fact that B6 and DL have had free high speed WiFi FOR YEARS.
You ARROGANTLY want to believe that the promise of what UA MIGHT offer is better than what other airlines have offered for years.
UA has precisely ZERO flights operating across any oceans that offer free high speed WiFi.
ZERO.
UA has 1000 mainline aircraft that do NOT have Starlink.
When Matthew Klint that carries the water for UA talks about how bad UA’s WiFi is on its 777 fleet, then it really is bad and doesn’t come close to being in the league of free high speed WiFi that is the standard that UA is now chasing.
DL has free high speed WiFi on 85% of its widebody fleet and routes and will be at 100% by the end of the year.
AA will beat UA with 100% high speed WiFi before UA does.
The absolute arrogance of the UA paid employee internet fan base is beyond belief. But I am so glad they came out of the woodwork YET AGAIN so I can highlight that they are #5 out of 4 airlines in FREE high speed WiFi deployment. and, no, rebel, UA does not have high speed WiFi on its non-Starlink fleet. They don’t even say that.
@Tim,
FYI, AA has a bunch of 787’s with FREE Wi-Fi on long haul overwater routes, not all of ‘em, but quite a few. I don’t have any info on UA.
The mental illness and psychosis exhibited by tim Dunn never stops
What a creepy obsession with delta and insane jealousy of united success
Apparently, united is given zero time to put starlink in Tim’s book while delta, that has never once had free or high speed or global WiFi coverage is given a free pass on their 717 disastrous much delayed wifi rollout on… wait for it… not viasat, not starlink, but Hughes… but it’s a step up from the current delta mailings offering— gogo
*mainline
Julie,
the creepy obsession is from the UA fan club and from UA itself that has been running ads touting Starlink for years and yet they have about a dozen mainline aircraft with it.
AA, B6, DL and WN didn’t spend money on Super Bowl ads to talk about something that is still aspirational – they actually deliver it.
No one has 100% high speed WiFi but DL has the largest WiFI equipped fleet in the world and is offering free high speed WiFi on nearly all flights across the Atlantic and to Latin America.
That is not obsession but fact. Gary has noted for years that AA had the ability to turn on free WiFi because they have had most of the same WiFi infrastructure as DL – but AA didn’t think it mattered to offer it free. AA now has widebody aircraft that do have it including 787s, while Starlink is not approved by the FAA on the 787 yet.
Starlink is a great product but HA has been using it and WN just added it onto its Viasat product. Viasat has been delivering high speed WiFi for years before Starlink became a “thing” and Viasat continues to upgrade its product and capacity including over the Pacific.
Blabbing about how great Starlink is does not provide an advantage over airlines that already have a working WiFi product on more than 80-90 of their fleet which includes AA, B6 and DL.
The only obsession I have is with accuracy and making sure everyone understands reality, not some manufactured advertising non-sense that fails to note that UA is actually 5th out of 4 airlines in WiFi installation.
WN now is proving that Starlink is not even a big 4 advantage for UA when it finally shows up.
Combined with its current Viasat equipped aircraft, WN will have more Viasat and Starlink equipped aircraft by the end of 2026 than UA.
Here is to hoping that AA takes full advantage of its status with a larger WiFi equipped fleet in Chicago and elsewhere while WN does it in Denver and beyond.
“ No one has 100% high speed WiFi but DL has the largest WiFI equipped fleet in the world”
You keep saying this but it isn’t true and hasn’t been for years, if ever.
AA had high speed WiFi rolled out YEARS before delta on mainline aircraft and their entire fleet has had it too.
AA also didn’t induct mainline planes with zero WiFi — zero like delta did for the last few years.
As framed, AA has this talking point not delta, for years now.
And yes. AA has had high speed WiFi across their entire mainline fleet for years (yes. The Panasonic birds were upgraded a few years to stream though it isn’t great but they can stream). And it works globally. Delta has never had that. Ever. High speed WiFi or global coverage.
Delta used to have the most free WiFi equipped planes in the world
But they don’t have that anymore either
Get new talking points. Your current ones are about as decayed as your brain
you, just like the UA fan nuts, love to argue while you ignore key words.
AA did not offer FREE high speed WiFi as DL has done.
AA still does not offer free high speed WiFi on any TATL or deep S. America flight.
DL most certainly does have more aircraft that are not only equipped to deliver FREE high speed WiFi but are offering it over more of their network than any other airline.
And Viasat is launching another satellite over N. America in a matter of weeks while launching one for Asia Pacific later this year – which will benefit AA, DL, WN and other Viasat users.
and DL is adding it to the 717 fleet which has already been prototyped. Given how quickly DL’s large RJs got the Hughes WiFi which the 717 fleet will also have, DL will reach 100% of its fleet -including RJs and global coverage before any other airline.
Your inability to admit that DL really has led and continues to lead the global industry in FREE high speed WiFi deployment is as pathological as the UA fan nuts who are now eating piles of crow with WN’s choice to Starlink in addition to Viasat
“AA still does not offer free high speed WiFi on any TATL or deep S. America flight.”
You need to get out of your house more and learn about the world
Yes they do. And I used it the other night.
Maybe if you stopped your obsession with delta and learned about other airlines. You’d know that.
“AA did not offer FREE high speed WiFi as DL has done.”
Nice attempt at a misdirect but I never said they did. They do now. And delta has never consistently offered free high speed WiFi on their global or mainline fleet. If you want to say delta has rolled out a product with no consistency on their own product? Great. Delta offered something they couldn’t do. Free both speed WiFi. they still can’t do that 😉
Congrats?
You’re a nut job that ignores reality.
Delta Does a lot of things well. Consistently in marketed product vs reality? Not one of them
Hughes internet on the 717…? Lol. What an awful competitive product vs aa and UA but it’s better than delta’s current 717 gogo
Grow up, tim
And learn about the world. You don’t even know where aa has free international high speed WiFi yet you yell like you know something when you’re just an idiot in his basement
The only one that needs to grow up is YOU.
AA had the equipment for years to offer high speed FREE WiFi across a large part of its fleet but they did not buy the capacity to support it.
DL did buy the capacity and has quickly built the infrastructure to offer free high speed WiFi across the majority of their fleet AND NETWORK and based on all of the things that are in process will be at 100% fleet and network before any other airline.
You can easily find an anecdote and exception here and there but AA does not market – because they cannot support – free high speed WiFi on any global region – only in the US domestic and near Latin market.
Quit acting like the UA fan nuts that love to argue because they cannot accept that DL led the GLOBAL airline industry in free high speed WiFI deployment.
And stop arguing long enough to realize that I have repeatedly said that AA will beat UA in free high speed WiFi deployment including on both’s global network.
WN’s announcement while UA was paying for Super Bowl ads about Starlink that will be completed IN TWO YEARS just means that the size of global and fleetwide WiFi deployment will be DL, then AA, then WN, then UA – and B6 already offers free high speed WiFi on more seats than UA.
UA is 5th out of 4 US airlines in WiFi deployment. AA will be #2; they could pass DL when they turn on global rollout for FREE high speed WiFi but will still have a smaller global network than DL or UA.
my statements are correct no matter how much you want to argue
Tim, ok, no more talking about the future.
That means no more talking about DL’s whopping fleet of 20 A350-1000s they’ll have in a few years.
We’ll just talk about the present, like how DL now carries fewer domestic passengers, international passengers, and cargo in NYC than UA, as DL shrinks and UA grows.
How DL is shrinking in LAX. How the profit margin difference between UA and DL is down to 1% and UA rides a huge wave of momentum, before even getting a new credit card revenue agreement with Chase.
How DL is shrinking in competitive markets to build up its fortress hubs, since those carry the hubs where DL is forced to compete.
How UA is currently taking delivery of new widebody aircraft with premium cabins that dwarf the size of DL’s cabins.
Glad we’re on the same page.
Mark,
yes, let’s talk about the present including about free high speed WiFi which is the topic of this discussion.
UA Is #5 out of 4 US airlines – well behind even B6 in number of seats with free high speed WiFI deployment.
and since you are incapable of admitting that, you turn the topic – which I will gladly answer.
While you choose to turn everything into a DL vs UA pis789gn match, if you were smart enough to actually look at the rest of the industry in NYC, there are huge reductions in passengers carried and capacity by WN, F9, NK and B6 – all of whom are more directly competitive with DL than UA.
UA might think it is its role in life to kill every other competitor and then run to the government asking for approval to add even more in NYC but DL does not operate that way.
DL has reduced its capacity at both JFK and LGA because it does not want to abuse its leading position at both LGA and JFK and is undoubtedly making even more money than ever with stronger fares, just as is the case at DTW.
DL and UA run their businesses and airlines with very different priorities. It is clear from true objective measures that DL runs a better business and airline – but you feel free to cling to the notion that UA is winning by growing its market share in NYC and elsewhere – even as they make just 2/3 of what DL does in profits while paying their people less – and being 5th out of the top 4 airlines in high speed WiFi deployment.
The sooner you accept reality as it really exists instead of endlessly trying to carry the water for UA, the sooner that aviation social media will get real boring.
“The sooner you accept reality as it really exists instead of endlessly trying to carry the water for UA, the sooner that aviation social media will get real boring.”
Says the guy who does nothing but carry the water for Delta. You can’t make this $h1t up!
Wow. So why is DL ‘abusing’ their position at ATL, DTW, MSP & SLC? What a clown!
DL built a network around hubs where it could be the largest carrier.
UA was convinced that being a massive global carrier was more important than serving the US – and UA still is the 4th largest carrier in the domestic market.
TO no surprise, the credit card business is driven more by domestic than international passengers.
UA is scrambling to fix yet another strategic mistake and threatening every competitor except DL to fix what UA should have realized decades ago.
It doesn’t tell the whole world that it intends to drive out any and all competitors as UA has one in one hub after another.
It doesn’t overschedule its hubs and then complain that the feds are not doing their job.
DL competes with all airlines including with economy basic – which DL invented. DL was first post-covid to increase salaries for its employees, forcing airlines across the board to raise their compensation or lose employees which is happening at NK.
DL is a tough competitor and it has won by moving slowly and decisively.
and it doesn’t need to serve any other NYC airports so doesn’t have to reduce capacity as competitors slash theirs – but DL understands that not abusing its position is also an opportunity to make more money.
And DL, like AA, could easily add EWR transcon flights if UA follows through on starting JFK transcon flights.
none of which changes that UA is 5th out of 4 US airlines in free high speed WiFI deployment so it is no surprise that you Teflon coated paid UA social media warriors want to change the subject to yet another subject where you think UA has supremacy – even though it is nothing but the same short-sighted moves which end up hurting UA in the long run.
If DL invented Basic Economy then they are the ones who put the LCCs & ULCCs in the bind they find themselves. So ‘abus(ive)’!
reber?
There has never been anything illegal or even immoral w/ competing w/ any kind of company in one’s industry
There are real competitive issues when a company uses its larger position to flood the market w/ capacity, cut fares below costs, and to threaten to eliminate competitors.
DL competes well. It does not abuse its position of strength.
DL was the first global carrier to add high speed free WiFi across the majority of its fleet – and it is closing the gap on the remaining fleet types that don’t fully have it.
WN with this most recent announcement becomes the 3rd largest with WiFi pushing UA even further down the list of US carriers – behind DL and AA and now WN
arguing about a million other topics doesn’t change that reality
SW in ATL? And the things Hauenstein said on the last earnings call. So abus(ive).
@Tim Dunn, @rebel — Y’all tawkin’ bout that monopoly they got at ATL? Mhm… wanna see a real fortress hub, rub the CLT!
DL has high market shares in its 4 interior US hubs as well as the largest position at LGA, JFK, BOS and LAX.
But DL doesn’t talk about eliminating competitors because they have proven they can win while allowing competitors to do what they are going to do.
The contrast with UA’s testosterone driven, combative stance is notable.
and your sidebar doesn’t change that WN just pushed UA further down the list of US airlines in WiFi deployment. Maybe you are finally figuring out that the time to brag is when you actually pass all of your competitors in WiFi deployment – and not before
Hauenstein said almost exactly what Kirby said. He even quoted Kirby saying, “It’s just math.”
So ‘abus(ive)’?
you can’t even accurately quote what is readily available on the internet.
Hauenstein attributed the math comments to Kirby, not something Glen himself said.
H did say
We’re waiting to see what happens with Spirit here as it continues to try and restructure. But that sector has been unable to grow here for the last several years. And when that sector is not growing, it can’t contain its CASM, as CASM goes up significantly every quarter, more than ours.
And so that’s become a real challenge for that sector in the industry. I don’t — Scott Kirby would say, it’s only math, but I think that challenge continues to haunt that side of the industry, and it has to rebalance itself at some point. And the only way it can do that is to get their revenue basis up because their costs aren’t going down. And so it’s taken longer than I would have thought to be quite honest. But I believe it’s still to come, and that is pure upside to us.
that is far from UA’s hostile “we’re going to take out the competition” including AA comments which have been in every UA earnings call for about a decade – or as long as “equipment deprived” Scott Kirby showed up.
This is the real comment that Hauenstein said that should have you and Kirby shaking in your boots:
Internationally, we will build on our leading domestic foundation to expand into high-growth Asia and Middle East markets while continuing to renew our wide-body fleet with larger, more capable and more efficient aircraft
IN other words, DL is going right after the core of UA’s international network and is equipped to do it better than UA.
None of which changes that UA was trumped by WN today in adding Starlink to its Viasat equipped fleet of aircraft, allowing WN to soar right past WN’s goals for the number of aircraft UA will have with high speed WiFi by the end of 2026.
to use UA’s made up “seat cancellation rate,” B6 has a much higher seat WiFi accessibility rate than UA and that won’t change for months
No, Hauenstein did not say it would take out competitors including AA at ORD.
and the biggest statement that Hauenstein said is that DL is intending to use its more capable and efficient widebody aircraft to grow into the Middle East and Asia- which happens to be the heart of UA’s international route system and its only real advantage.
None of which changes that UA was trumped by WN today in adding Starlink to its Viasat equipped fleet of aircraft, allowing WN to soar right past WN’s goals for the number of aircraft UA will have with high speed WiFi by the end of 2026. to use UA’s made up “seat cancellation rate,” B6 has a much higher seat WiFi accessibility rate than UA and that won’t change for months
THAT should have you worried.
No, Hauenstein did not say it would take out competitors including AA at ORD.
Hauenstein did say DL would deploy its new efficient widebodies to Asia and the Middle East, the network advantage that UA has.
And WN trumped UA’s plans for Starlink WiFi rollout today. UA is still 5th out of 4 US airlines in high speed WiFi deployment
No, Hauenstein did not say it would take out competitors including AA at ORD. Hauenstein did say DL would deploy its new efficient widebodies to Asia and the Middle East, the network advantage that UA has. And WN trumped UA’s plans for Starlink WiFi rollout today. UA is still 5th out of 4 US airlines in high speed WiFi deployment
You are misquoting both Hauenstein and Kirby for obvious reasons. And your characterization of DL’s vs UA’s competitive actions is comically false no matter how times you repeat it. The cognitive dissonance is entertaining though.
I copied the quote directly.
we don’t need to debate the competitive situation. The transcripts are readily available.
Let’s face it: you desperately want to discredit anyone that dares speak the truth which regarding this article is that WN leapfrogged UA’s high speed WiFi rollout.
Everyone can see that esp. in Chicago, Houston and Denver
OK. Where and when did he say this?
@Tim
‘ DL is going right after the core of UA’s international network ‘
This is clearly great news for people who want to pay 450K Skypesos for a flight on VA that VA itself prices at 100K miles. And those who want to pay 500K skypesos to fly Saudia to Riyadh rather than the ME Big 3 to DXB, AUH or DOha. And those who prefer Vietnam air to Singapore, Cathay, ANA and JAL.
DL is way behind in Asia, the ME, and SOuth Asia. And even in Africa, UA has its own network and Ethiopian. AA has QR to cover a great deal of Africa, and now has Royal Maroc too.
actually, Jon, DL is about half the size of UA across the Pacific and within about 10% across the Atlantic and to Latin America.
DL is close in size to a number of carriers across the Pacific including CX and KE with which DL has a JV. UA is just ridiculously larger.
As with most other metrics, UA can’t manage to turn its larger size across the Pacific into a bottom line advantage; DL makes more per seat mile than UA flying the Pacific.
and the A350-1000 – which AC has now added to its orderbook along w/ DL – means that UA will be at a significant disadvantage in long haul and ultra long haul flying.
And the Airline Observer says that UA is not going to take the A350 if it can’t Rolls Royce to provide engines at decade old prices. Good luck with that. If UA loses the lawsuit, it will wait for the 777X, which means it will be well into the 2030s before the 777-8 is available and can be delivered to UA giving DL at least 5 years to use the A350-1000 to rebuild DL’s Pacific network which was the largest right after the NW merger.
Yes, DL has outsmarted UA with fleet strategy just as WN has done with its announcement about adding Starlink to end up with more free high speed WiFi equipped aircraft -and certainly more seats – than UA and doing it much faster.
TD claims Kirby said, “we’re going to take out the competition” and “I copied the quote directly.”
Again. Where and when did Kirby say this?
The last time the order was adjusted by UA was in 2017, not a decade ago (Google AI). Since the engine output changed, negotiations with Rolls Royce had to take place at that time. If Rolls Royce agreed on engine prices that were before that time, that is on them. No one saw the disruptions from Covid-19 coming. Of course Rolls Royce wants more money but the contract says otherwise. Rolls Royce has not manufactured the engines for the A350-900 in a timely manner so no wonder United Airlines is upset and now RR wants a premium over contract for a problem that they caused. The only questions are related to United Airlines agreements on delaying the deliveries. If the A350-900s were ready for delivery and UA tried to delay delivery at this time, that would be another situation, but possibly also covered in the contract. Ultimately a lot of the problem was caused by Airbus only having one engine manufacturer certified for the A350 series.