In the spring of 2025, United Airlines began adding Starlink to some of its regional jets in a massive partnership that will eventually see it roll out the Wi-Fi technology to its entire fleet of nearly 1,100 planes.
As of April 2026, passengers planes equipped with Starlink can get access to free Wi-Fi by logging into their MileagePlus loyalty account. Those traveling on a plane that has not yet been equipped need to pay $8 as MileagePlus members and $10 if not to connect through the older Viasat-powered technology.
On April 17, a number of United passengers took to Reddit to share that they could still sign on to free Wi-Fi on flights without Starlink. The news was met with much excitement and reshared by numerous airlines outlets given that United made no announcement of such a change.
United Airlines confirms that free Wi-Fi on non-Starlink flights was a glitch
“Hopefully this means free Internet for everyone similar to how the other guys do it,” one Reddit user wrote in reference to United competitors like American Airlines and Delta. Other travelers reported free Wi-Fi on flights from Los Angeles to Shanghai and Washington, DC to Albuquerque among other routes.
Those on several different flights reported not seeing any such pop-up and having to pay for Wi-Fi as before.
Related: Southwest Airlines to limit item other airlines allow
In what will end up being a massive disappointment to those who might have hoped to connect for free on future non-Starlink flights, the free Wi-Fi was a technical glitch that United resolved by the end of Friday. Instead of the usual pop-up asking passengers for their payment information, they received the same prompt as travelers on Starlink-equipped flights.
“We haven’t made any changes to our current Wi-Fi policy,” United confirmed to Live And Let’s Fly.
Shutterstock
These are the airlines that now offer free in-flight Wi-Fi
All this comes at a time when T-Mobile suddenly dropped both United and American Airlines as carriers where it used to sponsor limited free Wi-Fi to customers or those who watched a short ad. The telecom giant continues to sponsor Wi-Fi on airlines including Delta and Southwest and offered no comment on the abrupt rupture of an agreement with two major airlines. United has said only that it was not the one to initiate the cancelation.
More Travel News:
- Airline to launch unusual new flight to Cayman Islands from the U.S.
- What you can expect at Disneyland’s new ‘World of Frozen’
- Unexpected country is most luxurious travel destination for 2026
- U.S. government issues strange warning on Ireland travel
As more and more travelers come to expect a W-Fi connection on their flights, airlines are rushing against each other to roll it out across their fleets. Air Canada became the first North American airline to commit to making free Wi-Fi available on all its planes over the coming years while European airline giants Air France and Lufthansa are both also currently in the process of retrofitting their extensive fleets with Starlink technology.
United, meanwhile, is caught in a tough spot in that the Starlink WiFi it offers on new planes is some of the fastest in the industry but competitors Delta and American both currently offer free connection on a much larger number of flights.
Related: Bankrupt airline now has ‘last chance’ to survive
