My Honest Experience Using United Airlines Wifi?

United WiFi in the Sky

Yes, in short - airline Wi-Fi is mostly shite.

Well, sort of.

Somewhere over Scotland on the way to the US, on a 9-hour United Airlines flight, I made what should have been a simple decision:

“I’ll buy the Wifi”. Easy decision, and what should have been a simple task.

But it didn’t work like it should. It should be as simple as making a cup of tea or turning on a TV - but it’s not.

It’s not a simple button click, where you enter your credit card details and you are online.

No.

Here’s what I experienced and what annoyed me.

It did that nobby thing with the lead in prices - classic bait-and-switch.

So what I thought was a commitment of $7.99 for Wi-Fi for the flight, changed to $7.99 for just one hour.

Only then was the price for the duration of the flight displayed as $14.99.

I guess if nothing else, by comparison it meant that the flight price for the full 9 hours of $14.99, looked quite cheap.

Except that I’ve been pissing around for an hour now trying to get the internet to work on the laptop.

I’m now considering trying wifi on the phone and then hoping to tether my laptop to the phone connectivity.

As an aside - I’m writing in real time - the cabin crew are giving off in a SPRITed fashion about vegetarians - which feels a little harsh, especially as at least the last 4 rows can hear their ranting.

They aren’t service oriented individuals on this airline. Efficient, by not service orientated.

Trying to type details into my phone - why should it work on my phone and not on my laptop?

Hooray - it worked

I’m connected to wifi now on my phone - albeit to the slowest of slow internet connections.

Bugger, my personal hotspot is disabled - no tethering option. Bugger.

Now what?

Online help suggested I could “switch devices”, phone to laptop….

At this point I had the confidence level of a man trying to repair a nuclear reactor armed only with a spoon.

Still…what else am I going to do with 8 hours?

I gave it a go.

Followed some pretty simple instructions, clicked on a button, and….wait, what?

Expelliarmus.

I shit you not.

It worked.

It’s witchcraft a la Harry Potter and his mates.

United Airlines you are all forgiven!

What followed was a further happy 7+ hours of doomscrolling nonsense around the internet.

Not sure it was productive - but at least I was happy.

Our Next Flight

On our next flight from Denver (DEN) to Puerto Vallarta (PVR) - yep we were going on holiday!

We had Starlink. It was easy to connect to - same way via the App, and then switch devices.

But even better it was FREE, and oh so fast.

So, Starlink = brilliant. If its one of United Airlines’ older wifi suppliers then lower your expectations and bring some patience.

You’ll need it.

Starlink is such a completely different experience.

Fast, free, simple — exactly how airline wifi should work in 2026. No buffering, streaming worked, pages loaded instantly, social media/video worked - what’s not to like?

Now if someone could explain to me how they attached a satellite dish to the plane - that would be appreciated.

United Airlines website says that Starlink Wi-Fi is already available on selected flights, as I experienced. And that it is rolling out Starlink Wi-Fi across its fleet.

Wi-Fi connectivity will be free to their MileagePlus members - and that isn’t just messaging - but full blown connectivity.

As another aside, I was impressed when the efficient crew quickly interjected by slapping down one of those tossers - we’ve all come across them, started to watch their TikToks out loud without any headphones.

But Wi-Fi in the sky - this feels like a massive step forward - connectivity is a God given right now - isn’t it?

Back Home

Thinking back on our experience - having done 4 flights in all with United Airlines….

It’s not a massive step forward in technology, it’s more a massive step forward in the product offering and such a welcome one.

I thought that maybe United Airlines had got the jump on the competition.

Nah !

Having done a quick surf of the internet on my non-Starlink home Wi-Fi - its evident that all the other airlines are catching up - if not already ahead.

Having had a look at the Starlink website - it appears that typical install takes between 2 and 4 days, though this can extend to an additional 2 or 3 weeks if cabinets, panels and other interior features need to be swapped out.

I imagine this work would be done during the frequent maintenance cycles that aircraft undergo.

I could try to explain the merits of Starlink v’s the competition now, and then go into how it works and what its advantages are - but there is a website for that www.starlink.com.

The Future

Have a look at the Wi-Fi details offered for your next flight - for there is a good chance that the aircraft will already be Starlink enabled and perhaps even your Wi-Fi will be free.

The industry is trending in a single direction - even in economy seating we all get a seat, a light, a little air vent. In 2026 expect to get bundled Wi-Fi in your ticket price.

Don’t be getting too excited though - you won’t be getting this free service on the Low Cost Carriers such as Ryanair, EasyJet or Jet2 - well not for now anyway.

In 2025 Wi-Fi in the air felt like an overpriced gimmick - it was slow and pretty useless. In 2026 it's becoming part of the expected bundle.

Once you the passenger experiences fast, free connectivity in the air, there’s really no scrolling back.