For years I’ve avoided flying United Airlines whenever possible knowing that the inflight wifi would be so bad that the hours on board would be completely devoid of productivity.
With retrofits of United interiors, including seat back entertainment screen and bluetooth connectivity for headphones, new bigger overhead bins, and touches like new LED lighting and refreshed lavatories it was expected that all planes would get ViaSat wifi which had been the gold standard in the industry and a mainstay of many American and Delta aircraft.
ViaSat Speed Test
However, while United has been working to improve its wifi and airline CEO Scott Kirby has even talked about offering free wifi like Delta and JetBlue once they have sufficient bandwidth – free means people use it more and United’s wifi could barely keep up (and often couldn’t keep up) with paid wifi – plans changed. It was reported back in May that United was looking at Starlink as inflight wifi provider.
Referring here to the rumor that Starlink is in the running. As one source (who has no connection to UA, simply peering in from the outside, as it were) says:
"It's only a matter of time until Starlink gets a major carrier"
And very clearly UA has been looking at if they…— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) May 20, 2024
Now aviation watchdog JonNYC says that United is close to an announcing a deal with Starlink.
and, well, I know it's the best choice intellectually, but I still hate to see it, personally, on a solely visceral level– yes, I fully assume it's going to be Starlink.
— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) September 5, 2024
Having seen Starlink perform first on JSX and more recently on Hawaiian I can say that it really is the best inflight wifi product by a lot. Beyond faster speeds, it just has very very low latency. The technical aspects of it are outside my area but signals just don’t have as far to travel with the satellites in low earth orbit. Installations can be done in a single overnight period.
Incredible. I've gotten as much as 80 Mbps down on this @flyjsx flight with @SpaceX #Starlink internet.
It's like working in my office at home… while airlines generally don't even put internet on their ERJ-145s at all. pic.twitter.com/BlAF6UKRIG
— gary leff (@garyleff) March 7, 2023
I’ve seen reports of 200 Mbps download speeds and uploads much faster as well. United could quickly go from industry laggard on wifi to the top of the charts. And while my United wifi experiences have been better than they were 5 years ago, though not quite consistently good enough, this could be a game changer for inflight productivity moving them completely from do not fly into preferred carrier territory.
again, the hypocrisy of telling someone else that they want the last word when you are the one that keeps posting.
you can post all you want but you fail to address the issue which I have raised.
DL will have free, global high speed WiFi across its entire fleet long before AA or UA do – if they ever do.
“ again, the hypocrisy of telling someone else that they want the last word when you are the one that keeps posting.”
From the guy That keeps posting trying to get the last word
Delta will have free WiFi eventually
But they won’t be the first to offer it free by choice
And they’re already the absolute last in terms of global coverage for a global carrier
Delta’s global wifi is so woefully sad vs aa and united lol
How do you even keep a straight face defending 15 hour flights with no WiFi due to delta poor planning?
Those poor folks on delta 201
15 hours with no WiFi lied to by delta about “free WiFi” having no idea delta can’t figure out how to provide global WiFi coverage
Meanwhile… aa is flying over New Caledonia and some guy could be streaming “Emily in Paris” in their wifi
An experience delta can’t provide
Come back to us when delta has global and domestic wifi, Tim
#next
AA doesn’t offer high speed WiFi to all at no charge, Max.
Doesn’t matter what you want to argue.
Delta already has the largest fleet of free high speed WiFi equipped aircraft in the world and they will be the first US carrier to have on their entire fleet and will also be the largest global airline of any nationality to have it.
Nobody is trying to get the last word except you because you fundamentally refuse to accept a reality which you do not want to hear. And you pathologically have a need to argue something different so you can keep the conversation going and get the last word.
As long as you continue to argue something different, I will keep reposting facts and reality- no matter how hard it is for you to read.
No one can guess whatever time zone you will be in so you can make sure you get in the last post tonight and the first post tomorrow morning.
You’re not only wrong on the facts but your sick.
Awww
Tim
Your and you’re
It’s helpful for your future English lessons to sound less stupid but no one expects better from you or delta being from atlanta
Delta seems to be selling austin… they’re so desperate to acknowledge Atlanta is awful and no one wants to go to delta JV cities . How do you live there!?
God knows what else you wrote
I didn’t read it. You can’t even decipher the difference between the you/your/you’re in English
Thank god you don’t have a real job
beyond commenting on other people’s blogs.
I’ll let you figure out English before you try, sadly, to critique others
Sleep tight 😉
It’s so weird that you monitor my bedtime but thank you
I swear I’ll get 8 hours
You should aim for the autistic 12
But props to you
I did realize you didn’t say ANYTHING in response to facts and just resorted to nonsensical attacks, per usual
Thanks, Timmy
Everyone knows you’ve admitted defeat when you go on rabbit trails… you hate it… but it’s your calling card to admit you’re an idiot
We all know you’re wrong
You can just say it or just respond to every point where you’ve been proven an idiot (not unusual for you to be shown that)
The humor will be tim replying from his mom’s basement
Or frankly
Ever used WiFi on an international flight
“Tim” talks a big game but he flies no where and his passport doesn’t say “tim Dunn”
It says “does not exist”
How many more fake names do you need to prove to everyone the fraud you are?
see, I said you couldn’t stay away.
You denigrate me and try to shut me down because you can’t stand to admit that I am right:
DL will have the US’ first free global WiFi network.
AA COULD offer once but won’t.
UA is nowhere near in a position to even promise it.
And it is typically pathological to you to talk about a flight to S. Africa – a continent that AA doesn’t even serve.
AA has, what 3 flights over the Pacific? the only people that have free WiFi are AA FAs.
@ Tim Dunn — Well, the only US airline I’ve been on that offers free global WiFi (via TMobile, so free for all the smart people) is United.
“ see, I said you couldn’t stay away.”
So funny how obtuse and dumb you are
No idea how easy it is to mock you 😉
You just need that last word 😉
Delta will have the largest fleet with free GLOBAL high speed WiFi netwok in the world to go along with its current largest fleet of free domestic high speed WiFi.
You’re so weird lol
Do you even read?
@Max — Did you hear the news? Delta WILL also soon have more than two aircraft with suites with doors! They WILL be the most premiumest airline, too.
Delta has 54 Delta One Suite equipped widebody aircraft right now, Gene.
Given that DL still has more than a dozen more new A330NEOs and A350s on order just in the remainder of 2024 and 2025 and will reconfigure some or all of the ex-Latam aircraft, that number could grow to 75 in just the next 18 months.
AA has ZERO but plans to reconfigure their 777Ws which will give them about 20% of DL’s widebody fleet.
UA has ZERO PLANS.
you really don’t want to go there but, as usual you demonstrate that you aren’t the sharpest knife in the kitchen
@ Tim — WAY sharper than you, dude.
@Tim Dunn – AA – and even UA – offer a better inflight experience long haul than Delta does. The Delta One Suite is built off of a moderately poor basic seat, the Thompson Vantage XL. So sure there are doors, they added these relatively early compared to most, but it’s not a great… seat. Meanwhile the 767s offer a bottom-feeder experience. I will reserve judgment on the new AA suites until they’re actually flying. They look great in mock ups, and the Adient Ascent basic seat is very good! But they have no plans to retrofit the 772s or any 788s with this seat at this point. Still, on average the current AA seat > DL seat.
Delta’s soft product is also weak. They have marginally friendlier and better crew! But their woke amenity kits are sorry. United’s amenity kits > American’s which are about on par with Delta’s. And Delta’s food is surprisingly bad (so is United’s). So as bad as American’s meal service is, it’s still better.
Delta does a better job with basic clubs. The United Polaris lounge network is the best overall of the 3 for dedicated business lounges so far (Delta has only one open Delta One lounge at this point).
Feel free to go on about Delta making money, which is to say changing the subject. From a customer perspective, I’d rather be inflight with most airlines over Delta for long haul.
JD Power rates Delta premium cabins FAR better you. I’m taking thousands of real customers than you.
And UA has 757s which fly the Atlantic and don’t even offer direct aisle access which DL’s 767s do.
And has been stated over and over again, no other large global airline tries to offer the same business class product like UA does.
And UA generally does a pretty good job on hard product but destroys it with their employees.
Delta gets far higher average fares than American and United for good reason and real customers know why.
as for WiFi, you of all people should know that Viasat has had huge delays in getting their latest satellite for the Pacific active which is precisely why DL’s WiFI over the Pacific is not what they planned a year ago.
You can choose what you want – every consumer can – but you cannot logically argue about the choices that millions of consumer make – and which DO translate into higher profits for DL.
your readers never should forget that you have status on AA.
and on that point, what is the highest status you have had on DL and for how long and when did you retain it?
@ Tim — So DL chose a poor WiFi vendor. That is a reflection of poor management decisions.
When’s the last time you flew anywhere, and have you ever had significant DL status? I doubt it.
Gene,
You truly are just now finding out that there are multiple supply chain issues even for airlines?
Boeing has destroyed the plans of multiple airlines not just with the grounding of the MAX 9 but repeated delays in getting the MAX 7 and 10 and the 777X certified
Pratt and Whitney’s Geared Turbofan issues are resulting in hundreds of planes cxld worldwide while parts will arrive.
DL chose the same WiFi vendor that AA uses but Viasat can’t handle more capacity until they get more satellites in the air.
Viasat will get more satellites launched and working long before Boeing and Pratt fix their problems.
and the reality is that DL is turning on free high speed WiFi on multiple routes per month – mostly across the Atlantic – this fall now that it operates the largest fleet of largely domestic aircraft that have free global WiFi.
No other airline is even trying to match what DL is doing domestically and will be capable of doing what DL is doing worldwide over the next year.