I tried United's new Starlink Wi-Fi, and it feels like the internet finally reached the sky

Picture this: I’m soaring 35,000 feet above the ground, flying through the clouds – and I’ve got the digital world at my fingertips as if I were on the ground. I’m streaming the latest Conan bit on YouTube on my iPad, jumping into a Fortnite match on my iPhone, listening to Spotify in the background, and even knocking out some work on my laptop.

Sounds impossible, right? After all, in-flight Wi-Fi is notorious for being slow, spotty, and unpredictable – varying from airline to airline, and even from plane to plane. But United Airlines is trying to change that. Thanks to its partnership with Starlink for its next-generation Wi-Fi product, it’s rolling out much faster Wi-Fi at no cost across its entire fleet.

The process started back in May 2025, when United began installing new antennas and Wi-Fi access points on its ...