Club Benefits
Flying feels weird these days. There’s this underlying tension every time you board, whether it's questions about delays, concerns about safety or anxiety about rising travel costs. So when I stepped onto a United Airlines 737 to test Starlink Wi-Fi, collecting speed data wasn’t necessarily my top priority. I wanted to know if this internet upgrade could actually make flying my go-to airline feel better.
On this flight, I was surrounded by other press and creators, all running speed tests and comparing numbers. And sure, those benchmarks matter. For the record: I clocked 155 Mbps downloads and 4.46 Mbps uploads, ironically faster than the Verizon 5G I had at the gate.
But I don’t care about the megabits as much as I care about what they enable.
Article continues belowCould I scroll through 300 TikToks without interruption? Could I text friends like I wasn’t 32,000 feet in the air? Could I stream March Madness without buffering? I’m happy to report that the answer to all of these is yes, and with ease.
Wi-Fi on planes has always felt like a gamble, so I usually skip it entirely. It’s not worth the cost and frustration, especially when you’re trying to be productive or just pass the time. But this was free (for MileagePlus users,) fast and, most importantly, reliable.
That reliability hit me hard. I’ve been traveling for nearly two weeks, and in that time I missed most of the March Madness energy I usually share with friends. There’s a real kind of FOMO that comes with feeling out of sync with your life. But somewhere over the California coastline, I streamed the second-round USC vs. South Carolina women’s game via YouTube TV, texted reactions in real time, and felt connected again.
The experience itself was surprisingly seamless. Once I logged in on my phone, I used a QR code to connect my laptop instantly, because yes you can connect unlimited devices. I even uploaded a 40-second TikTok, something I’ve never attempted mid-flight because it usually requires leaving the app open and hoping it doesn’t fail. With Starlink, it took about five minutes and worked on the first try.
Video and voice calls aren’t allowed under Federal Aviation Administration regulations, though with rare permission I briefly tested a FaceTime call to show my mom the views of the Pacific, and I swear it was better than the connection I sometimes get in my own apartment.
Don’t get me wrong, travel is probably always going to be stressful. But for many people, it’s not optional. So if you’re going to spend hours in the air, being able to stay connected makes a meaningful difference. And I can guarantee I’ll notice the difference the next time I fly without Wi-Fi like I experienced on this flight.
Starlink is rolling out across United’s entire fleet by the end of 2027, and with what flying feels like these days, it couldn’t be coming at a better time.
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