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 first regional jet with this feature entered service in May 2025. There’s now an exciting update, as the first mainline aircraft will shortly be flying with Starlink Wi-Fi. This will be 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 plans to offer 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 is offering fast and free Wi-Fi.
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, Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Qatar Airways, Scandinavian Airlines, 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 as fast 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 a year ago. Sometimes it pays to wait.
Here’s how Grant Milstead, United’s VP of Digital Technology, describes this:
“Customers are loving the Starlink experience onboard our regional aircraft, and our first Starlink-equipped mainline aircraft will bring a superior inflight experience to even more people. We’re working to install Starlink and offer game-changing inflight entertainment experiences like streaming services, shopping, gaming and more.”
United Airlines Starlink Wi-Fi rollout progress & timeline
What’s United’s plan for rolling out Starlink Wi-Fi? United expects to eventually offer Starlink Wi-Fi on 1,000+ planes, including all mainline aircraft and regional jets. We don’t know when the installation will be complete, other than that it’ll happen “over the next few years.”
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.
In May 2025, United began Starlink Wi-Fi installation on regional jets, with the United Express Embraer E175s being the first to get the service. At this point, over half of the United Express fleet has Starlink. The airline is continuing to add this service to 50+ regional jets per month, and hopes to have that installation done by the end of the year.
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.
The latest update is that the FAA has approved STC for Starlink Wi-Fi installation on the Boeing 737-800, so the first of those planes is expected to enter service with Starlink as of October 15, 2025. We can expect that more 737s will get the service installed quickly.
It’s anyone’s guess what happens next, though one thing that we do know is that United plans to have Starlink on its new premium Boeing 787-9s, featuring the new Polaris seats and Polaris Studio. Those are expected to be among the first wide body planes to get the service, and they’re expected to enter international service as of early 2026.
For some context on United’s Wi-Fi situation, prior to Starlink, the airline is using four different Wi-Fi providers:
- The regional jets have 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. In the spring, United began Starlink Wi-Fi installation on the United Express regional jet fleet, and the entire regional fleet should have the service before the end of the year.
Now we’re seeing the first Boeing 737s with the new service, so you can expect that those planes will be getting Starlink installed pretty aggressively. After that, we’ll see Starlink Wi-Fi installed on newly delivered Boeing 787s, or at least that’s the goal. Over the coming years, we should see Starlink Wi-Fi installed on over 1,000 aircraft, though as you can tell, that’ll require some patience.
What do you make of United rolling out Starlink Wi-Fi?