Delta Air Lines is falling behind in inflight wifi. Their current ViaSat product (available on most aircraft) works fine but now that it’s free, it gets a lot more use and can struggle at times. American Airlines suffers from the same problem.
In contrast, United Airlines is installing Starlink wifi. So is Alaska. That’s the fastest wifi in the sky, it has basically no latency, and works better than what most passengers experience at home.
To address this, Delta followed JetBlue and selected Amazon’s wifi as a replacement.
But they’re not getting started until 2028, and only equpping about half their fleet with the service. They will remain behind the competition for a long time. And Amazon’s technology isn’t real yet, so we won’t know for some time how it actually compares.
The world is rapidly adopting Starlink as a standard. It’s being rolled out by IAG airlines (e.g. Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia); Lufthansa Group airlines (e.g. Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, ITA Airways); Hanjin Group carriers (Korean Air, Asiana Airlines, Jin Air, Air Busan, Air Seoul); airBaltic, Air France, Air New Zealand, Alaska Airlines; Emirates; flydubai; Gulf Air; Qatar Airways; SAS; Virgin Atlantic; Southwest Airlines; WestJet; ZIPAIR. JSX was actually first.
American Airlines, even, is expected to pick between Starlink and Amazon. You can get a good deal on Amazon!
- Amazon gets a marquis customer and market legitimacy
- They can do Amazon studios content through inflight entertainment
- And Amazon can discount cloud computing as part of a deal
But that’s not why Delta decided to forego the attractive Starlink system that’s available now. Early Tesla, SpaceX and xAI investor Ron Baron who went on CNBC to talk about the upcoming SpaceX IPO explained what happened.
I saw him on this morning but missed the interview, however Cory Garner flagged that,
the Starlink deal with Delta Air Lines fell through because Delta insisted Starlink access would sit behind Delta’s branded portal/offering.
This wasn’t about gatekeeping the system. United requires MileagePlus credentials to access free wifi and Delta could have done the same.
Delta is buying wifi capability, and offering ‘Delta Sync’ to customers – not Starlink or Amazon Leo. Starlink is… Starlink, and frankly it’s what passengers who care enough to make decisions based on wifi know as the difference-maker. They were apparently at an impasse.
Now, United’s timetable has them finishing their full fleet with Starlink before Delta even begins to equip half their fleet with its competitor.
No airline in the world cares about and promotes its brand – beyond the reality of its product – more than Delta Air Lines. Was slowing down rollout of quality wifi to passengers worth the tradeoff?
I bought a Starlink receiver for my remote ranch property in northern BC Canada where even Cell service is unavailable because I needed connectivity while on vacation there last summer (a big part of why I love going there is to escape the phone and internet) and it works incredibly well, super fast and with very little latency. In my mind, Delta is just being stupid and will get left in the dust by United and most the other carriers. I fly Delta multiple times a month from LA to Atlanta and back, the connectivity is spotty and inconsistent, usually ok for email and text, but no streaming… Starlink on the other hand says “No streaming on your flight? Hold my beer and stand back” It works amazingly well and folks will come to expect it.
TBH no one I know picks their airline based on who provides their WiFi and I work in high tech finance.
I’m just here for the comments.
“All Due Respect” – I worked in IT for 40 years (including as CTO and CIO). When there is a product that is noticeably better (and Starlink is) people absolutely know the brand and search for it. I can see this being a difference for many businesses travelers in selecting which airline to fly all other factors being relatively equal.
@respect
you should start looking for another job
where’s tim dunn?
TIMMY!
@All Due Respect – I avoided United for years precisely because its wifi is unusable. I avoid Southwest whenever possible now for that very reason (although will sometimes roll the dice on a MAX because I have roughly even odds of ViaSat rather than Anuvu).
I know many people in the Bay Area who choose their airline based on wifi, and have for years. Regardless, a bad experience with it may cause them not to book again in the future. And it certainly reduces their likelihood to recommend.
@retired
it’s beyond failing to capitalize on the starlink brand
delta leadership has been coasting on the foundation laid down by woolman beebe and garrett
it took 30 years, but it started mullin’s 3rd day on the job when he walked down a jetway at atl and asked “what type of plane is this”?
grinstein didn’t do anything; anderson and bastian have been coasting and winning because the rest of the industry was/is so incredibly incompetent and bassackwards
the cultural retardation that wants to white-label starlink is the same culture that brought you the cloudstrike melt which was not even cloudstrike’s fault – that melt was a result of poor or non-existent procedures from non-existent delta IT leadership, just as egregious as the 30-year negligence towards IT investment over on denton drive
@All Due Respect is right. Hardly anyone chooses an airline because of the specific WiFi provider. They might consider whether an airline is offering WiFi for free or as a paid service. But, as long as it is reliable, I could care less if it’s Jeff or Elon or someone else’s company making it work. Just make it work and make it free/included.
(Oh no! Viasat! Ugh. It’s free WiFi, but I am morally opposed to that provider. Now I have to cancel… darn! Psh. /s)
UNITED rising
More vapor ware from Delta
wow, the first time i’ve ever disagreed with @1990!!!
gary is correct
the peninsula and global it chooses the wifi, then nonstop over connect, then affinity card lounge situation, then airline, and anyone who disagrees is either 1) not in the industry or 2) not connected to people in the industry
Was it worth it: No.
Does Delta overhype “the brand”? Absolutely
AA should get Starlink and then have billboards at every relevant airport showing how they are more premium than Delta.
“No airline in the world cares about and promotes its brand – beyond the reality of its product – more than Delta Air Lines.”
Amen! #Preach
Do you understand that “Wi-Fi” is not a synonym for “Internet access”? A WiFi is a wireless means by which to connect to a local area network. Starlink is not, primarily, a “Wi-Fi” provider.
@1990 absolutely agree. provider agnostic.
Half of American Airlines is on One Web + Intelsat/SeS, yet he acts as if that doesn’t exist.
An early investor in the SpaceX ecosystem should tell you all you need to know….
I will go out on a not very far limb and guess that Amazon will deliver.
If they screw up for DL, then their name is on the line and Amazon won’t do that.
This would be a good time for a reminder that DL has free WiFi on hundreds of longhaul international flights per day RIGHT now. UA doesn’t have free high speed WIFi on the vast majority of its mainline fleet including its international network
There is still some bizarre belief that UA can show up 5 years after DL’s high speed WiFi and displace what DL has accomplished. It just isn’t happening
Showing up 5 years after…huh? UA’s Starlink installations are well underway. DL’s Amazon installations are not.
This article is about low latency high speed WiFi that feels like you’re at home. All other types of WiFi, free or not, are out of scope.
Delta the worlds most sought after illusionary premium airline
They are replacing Spirit and raising airfares through the roof as quick as they can.
DL has had Viasat WiFi in place for years.
Some people still can’t grasp that DL has had free high speed WiFi in place; they are not starting from scratch.
Is Starlink faster and will Amazon Leo be faster? Yes. and Viasat is also increasing its speed.
The United fanbase and their internet propaganda machine want you to believe that DL has nothing right now – and that couldn’t be further from the truth. Tens of millions of DL customers are connecting to free high speed WiFi now.
UA is not even close to parity in coverage with DL now and won’t be for 18 more months at best.
@ThisGuy it’s not close to half
LOL. Who chooses a flight based on the internet vendor? Is anyone today booking a flight because it has Viasat instead of Panasonic???
I have been a loyal Delta customer for over 20 years. Now I realize they are simply an arrogant airline, not a great one.
Mary is precisely right.
arrogant is a company like United that comes along and thinks that the PROMISE of high speed WiFi that will be fully installed on their fleet seven years after DL rolled out domestic high speed WiFi is supposed to trump all of the progress that DL made to lay the groundwork for widescale high speed WiFi.
and arrogant is thinking that a company as successful as Amazon won’t figure out how to develop high speed low earth orbit WiFI and that Delta can’t figure out how to incorporate new technology in addition to what it did to lead the global industry in high speed WiFi deployment
Mary is precisely right. arrogant is a company like United that comes along and thinks that the PROMISE of high speed WiFi that will be fully installed on their fleet seven years after DL rolled out domestic high speed WiFi is supposed to overcome all of the progress that DL made to lay the groundwork for widescale high speed WiFi. and arrogant is thinking that a company as successful as Amazon won’t figure out how to develop high speed low earth orbit WiFI and that Delta can’t figure out how to incorporate new technology in addition to what it did to lead the global industry in high speed WiFi deployment
It’s just funny to watch Tim and the dumb dumb Mary take such offense that an article critical of ATL could ever be written!
Oh the horror!
@Tim Dunn ” Tens of millions of DL customers are connecting to free high speed WiFi now.”
That statement needs to come with a caveat of EXCEPT IN ASIA, OCEANIA, AND SOUTHERN SOUTH AMERICA since there is no coverage there.
Maybe this is due to the fact that DL just outsource most of its Asia flights to their JV partner instead of flying their own metal.
I just had Starlink on my United ERJ-175 from EWR to MSP and i was able to do high-speed money laundering via crypto trading while watching porn in 4K! For free! My return flight is today. What should I use it for?
Isn’t DL rolling out wifi from Hughes/Echostar?
It’s funny watching Tim writing “high speed wifi” every time to try and defend Delta but it’s like he’s never actually flown on a Delta plane and tried it out…
I did SFO-JFK on Delta 2 weeks ago. It took minutes to load up this blog. I could send messages easily though… oh wait I can also do that on UA.
the only thing that some of us get bent out of shape about is that the same mental midgets think that UA has paid a negative price for not having high speed WiFi for the past five years and is going to wipe out DL’s headstart – when UA finally gets around to installing Starlink- which doesn’t even exist on over 950 mainline aircraft right now.
yes, DL has WiFi from multiple providers including Hughes/Echostar
some people can’t stand to admit that no other US airline has even close to the amount of coverage that DL offers even if there are fairly small parts of DL’s network that are not covered.
and the same small minded people that mention Asia/ Pacific don’t bother to mention that 2/3 of DL’s A350s have WiFi equipment on it now in order to support paid WIFi
and someone that lies so much they won’t even sign their own name doesn’t realize that UA has a larger JV across the Atlantic than DL.
You can’t logically argue how big the Star TATL JV is and then argue about DL outsourcing across the Atlantic or the Pacific.
@Tim Dunn — This thread is feeling very ‘Coke vs. Pepsi’… Sure, some have their preferences, but at the end of the day, it’s all just caffeinated, carbonated sugar water. If the WiFi is included and it’s reliable, who really cares about which service provider it is. Delta and jetBlue lead the way on this; United and American are finally catching up. It’s overall a brighter future for the industry, workers, consumers, all the above.
if only it were just Coke vs. Pepsi.
there are people who really believe that Coke is so much better that anyone who dares use anything else is destined to a life of isolation and failure.
Even Coke’s headquarters employees weren’t and are not as arrogant as Starlink fans – but like so many other things, it really comes down to UA fans who have a few loose screws
Never heard an AS fan belittle users of any other WiFi system…. and that is beyond ironic because AS has a higher percentage of its combined fleet with Starlink than UA does.
@Tim Dunn
The irony of you typing “there are people who really believe that Coke is so much better that anyone who dares use anything else is destined to a life of isolation and failure.” and not realising that the word “Coke” could, in your case, so easily be replaced with “Delta” is too beautiful for words.
@ Tim Dunn: “UA is not even close to parity in coverage with DL now and won’t be for 18 more months at best.”
UA will not be at “parity” in 18 months – UA will have left DL in the dust in 18 months. Parity will happen much sooner. The slowest systems at UA are being upgraded first, and UA will easily surpass DL towards the end of next year when the upgrade is complete.
Compare the differences. You can easily find this info on public sources:
United:
– United’s express fleet today has 100% of the 170s using Starlink, and 81 of the 83 CRJ550s are equipped.
– United’s mainline NB installations were started in March of this year. 2 1/2 months in, 42 planes are finished (41 737s and 1 A321). Today, 5 more are getting final checks and 6 are actively getting installs. With 563 737’s without Starlink, they need to increase the rate to make the previously-announced goal of “all 737s by the end of 2026” successfully, but UA should be able to get the NB fleet done (plus the roughly 200 319s/320s/321s) by the end of 2027.
– United’s widebody Starlink installations are scheduled to begin, and be completed, in 2027. There are currently 233 widebodies in the UA fleet, and “one per day” seems easily achievable to meet the “end of 2027” goal.
– United’s Starlink will be free for mileage plus members.
– Starlink download speeds range between 50 to 400 mbps, with latency between 20 to 40 milliseconds.
Delta:
– Project to complete Free Wifi scheduled to be completed in 2026 (nearly done). Service via Viasat.
– Viasat download speeds range between 12 and 150 mpbs, with latency between 500 to 700 milliseconds.
– Delta’s upgrade to Amazon LEO won’t start until 2028, and will be installed “on 500 aircraft” (so NOT the whole fleet). Even a “one per day” install rate of a new system means only half the current fleet would have LEO towards the back end of 2029.
Delta has a better offering as of today, but that’s rapidly changing. “Parity” will happen within the next 12 months, as getting a NB with Starlink on UA becomes more common than not getting one, and the UA WB fleet starts to see it. Meanwhile, DL is stuck with Viasat. By the time UA is done – a full year before DL even STARTS, it won’t even be close.
At the end of next year, it won’t be “Coke vs. Pepsi”. It will be “Coke” vs. “Shasta Diet Chocolate Soda”.
Ziggy your reply to Spectrum Boy completes me! Chef’s kiss.
kudos to tim for showing his face and making his case
no carbonated beverage brand advertises it’s use of high fructose corn syrup
but they prominently market their use of pure cane sugar
starlink is cane sugar and available right now at point nemo
leo is designed to be cane sugar and will likely taste the same, however they are going to start from high latitudes and work their way towards the equator; DELTA THEMSELVES on 31 march 26 stated leo installations on 500 delta ships *WILL BEGIN* in 2028, at a minimum 18 months from now
search: delta-amazon-leo-sign-agreement-deliver-next-era-connected-travel-and-digital-experiences
2 years from today a fraction of the delta fleet will be equipped with cane sugar internet service
for the next 2 years united and anyone else running starlink has a decided competitive advantage
delta could have kept pace but chose not to because of an arrogance no US airline has merited for more than 30 years
will viasat’s nexuswave product provide competition to the those 2?
it’s a totally different architecture with 3 geostationary birds each designed to support 1 TB / second
viasat claims that will support “millions” of simultaneous high-mobility (i.e. aviation) users
maybe they are a 3rd viable competitor
only the shadow knows
but for now, huff daland dusters have hitched their cropsprayers to bezos and they will be behind for not just 18 months, but likely brushing the end of the decade before their fleet is 100% equipped
and unfortunately for tim, these are facts which can’t be downed using circlespeak gobbledygook
although we all know he will try
@Gary even Copa Airlines is going from zero to hero with Starlink
Absolutely will fly something equipped with STARLINK
Sadly everything else sucks I’ve tried to use with no consistency with signal
As always I avoid fake premium carriers with ego
Not mentioning any names but hello Delta
“wow, the first time i’ve ever disagreed with @1990!!!”
I stopped reading posts from that idiot months ago when I discovered it was wrong 102% of the time. The math doesn’t make sense, but it’s true. It makes these blogs much easier to enjoy: half as many posts to read and no mindless leftist BS to deal with. I recommend this approach to others.
@All Due Respect says:
May 12, 2026 at 4:15 pm
“TBH no one I know picks their airline based on who provides their WiFi and I work in high tech finance.”
But you, no doubt, will pick your business class flight based on who has doors or a better brand of champagne!
I am retired United. I remember well that wifi was totally unavailable then mostly unavailable for years. And it still was unavailable out over the ocean.
I’m impressed with how Scott Kirby has us out ahead and not back in the pack. We now have the world’s largest fleet and the best route system. And we can now add to that the fastest and most reliable wifi for our passengers and…IT’s FREE!
That’s some friendly skies.
StarLink has technology that defies the speed of light! “No latency” is utterly false, as is the idea that it’s faster than what most people have at home – unless there are only a very few users on the particular link. It’s totally usable, better than what we had in the past etc., etc., but spare us the hype that it’s “premium”. SpaceX has executed a remarkable marketing campaign to position this product (ahead of the IPO, LOL), but c’mon…they cannot get past the speed of light.