easyJet Waited 30 Years to Put Wi-Fi on Its Planes. Here’s How to Tell if Your Flight Already Has Starlink.

easyJet has never sold a single minute of onboard internet. That changes in 2027. The British low-cost carrier said on Monday, October 26, that it has signed with SpaceX to put Starlink Wi-Fi on its Airbus fleet, a first in its 30-year history, as UNILAD Tech reported in a piece that also walks through how to tell whether your own flight already has the service.

For American travelers, easyJet matters mostly if you are hopping between European cities on vacation. The bigger story is at home, where United, Alaska, Hawaiian and Southwest are already flying Starlink and American Airlines just committed its whole mainline fleet. Here is what easyJet actually announced, what is still unknown, and how to find out before boarding whether your seat comes with fast satellite internet or the old, sluggish kind.

What easyJet announced

The airline’s release promises “the fastest Wi-Fi in the sky,” aimed at streaming, gaming and browsing on passengers’ own phones and laptops. Installations begin in the first half of 2027 across the A320, A320neo and A321neo, with the rollout expected to be complete by early 2028. easyJet says it flies more than 350 aircraft in total, but its Airbus A319s will not get Starlink; the company plans to retire them by 2029. The airline also says the connection could eventually let passengers order from the onboard menu from their seats.

CEO Kenton Jarvis opened his statement with “Innovation is in easyJet’s DNA,” and SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell said, “We’re proud to bring Starlink onboard easyJet,” pitching fast, reliable connectivity from takeoff to landing. Neither said anything about price, and the deal’s financial terms were not disclosed.

The deal is a reversal. In January, Jarvis confirmed easyJet had been talking to SpaceX but said on an earnings call that “the economics aren’t quite working for us.” Nothing in Monday’s announcement explains what changed, which is one reason travel sites such as Head for Points expect easyJet to charge. Its press office told the site that “more details on access including pricing will be shared as the first aircraft are Starlink-equipped.” Charging would not be unusual for a budget airline. Wizz Air, which signed its own Starlink deal in June for service from 2027, did not say whether its Wi-Fi would be free either, and Copa, Level and Vueling have said Starlink will cost most passengers money, though none had published prices when Executive Traveller reported it in July.

Ryanair is still saying no

easyJet’s move leaves Ryanair as the obvious holdout among Europe’s big low-cost carriers. In January, Michael O’Leary dismissed fitting any of Ryanair’s 600-plus jets with Starlink, arguing that the antennas would add roughly 2% in drag and cost the airline up to $250 million a year, and that few passengers would pay for Wi-Fi on a flight that averages about an hour. Elon Musk called him an “utter idiot” on X and agreed when a follower suggested he buy Ryanair. O’Leary called Musk an idiot back, launched a seat sale mocking him, and said that if Starlink “wants to pay for the fuel drag, we would happily put it on board.” Starlink’s engineers said his drag figures applied to older terminals. Nothing since suggests Ryanair has changed its mind.

Where Starlink stands on US airlines

United is furthest along. On October 15 it said Starlink was on nearly half of its daily departures, with about 639 aircraft equipped, roughly 43% of the fleet. That includes every United Express regional jet and about a third of its mainline narrowbodies, but only a handful of its 248 widebodies, so long-haul flyers are the least likely to see it for now. United is aiming to finish the whole fleet by the end of 2027, and the Wi-Fi is free for MileagePlus members.

Alaska and Hawaiian tie free Starlink Wi-Fi to Atmos Rewards, with T-Mobile as the sponsor. By late June the pair had about 150 aircraft equipped, covering every Hawaiian Airlines flight and Alaska’s regional fleet. Alaska’s widebody 787s were due this fall and the rest of the mainline fleet by 2027. Alaska’s own progress page put the equipped share at 38% at its last update.

Southwest flew its first Starlink-equipped 737 on June 22, 2026. A Southwest executive told AirlineGeeks in mid-October that 47 aircraft were connected, well short of the 300-plus it had targeted for the end of the year. Rapid Rewards members get Wi-Fi free on every Southwest plane, Starlink or not.

American said on October 8 that it will put Starlink on its entire mainline fleet of more than 1,000 Airbus and Boeing jets, with installations starting in early 2027 and no completion date. Its regional jets were not included. Until then, AAdvantage members get free Wi-Fi sponsored by AT&T on most domestic mainline flights through Viasat and Intelsat.

Delta is the big holdout. It uses Viasat, offers free Wi-Fi to SkyMiles members with T-Mobile, and in March picked Amazon’s Leo satellite network, with service due on 500 aircraft starting in 2028.

Loyalty programs at all of these airlines are free to join, so “free for members” in practice means “free if you sign up before you board.” Do it on the ground. Trying to create an account through a captive portal at 35,000 feet is a miserable way to start a flight.

Why travelers care which network it is

Starlink’s satellites orbit far lower than the geostationary ones most older systems use, and it shows in speed tests. Ookla’s in-flight report, published in April with data from the second half of 2025, found United’s median download speed on Starlink was 319.99 Mbps. On the same airline, Intelsat connections managed 56.48 Mbps and Inmarsat 15.34 Mbps. The four airlines that topped Ookla’s consistency ranking, airBaltic, WestJet, Hawaiian and Air France, all use Starlink, and each delivered at least 25 Mbps in 90% of tests.

In plain terms, Starlink is usually fast enough for video calls and streaming, while the older systems often struggle with anything beyond email and messaging. Ookla’s numbers come from passengers running Speedtest, so a full flight of people streaming at once can pull your own speed down.

How to check whether your flight has Starlink

Use the airline’s own tool first. United launched an official Starlink tracker at StarlinkTracker.United.com on October 15. You enter a flight number and a travel date within three days of departure, and it updates when the airline swaps aircraft. United’s fine print says aircraft assignments are typically confirmed within 24 hours of departure, and the airline also flags Starlink in its pre-flight emails and texts. Third-party sites with similar names exist, so check the address. Alaska publishes a fleet progress page with equipped percentages and counts by aircraft type. For other airlines, the inflight amenities section of the flight status page in the app is the best bet.

Look up the actual airplane. Flight trackers such as Flightradar24 and FlightAware show the registration, or tail number, of the aircraft operating a flight, usually by the day of departure. Crowd-sourced sites like StarlinkFlights.com and SeatWiFi keep lists of tail numbers reported as Starlink-equipped, and StarlinkFlights gives probability estimates when the aircraft has not been assigned yet. Treat those as good hints, not guarantees; they rely on passenger reports and public records and can lag behind the airline.

Know what Google Flights can and can’t tell you. Its amenity icons show whether a flight is expected to have Wi-Fi, but not which provider. A Wi-Fi icon on a Delta or American flight today means Viasat or Intelsat, not Starlink.

Expect swaps. Airlines change aircraft at the last minute for maintenance and weather, which is why every tracker is most accurate close to departure. If Starlink is the reason you picked a flight, check again the morning you fly. And if an AirTag rides in your checked bag, here is every airline that supports AirTag’s Share Item Location feature.

The bigger picture

Not long ago, fast and free Wi-Fi was something only a handful of airlines offered. Now the question in the US is less “is there Wi-Fi” and more “whose satellites is it on.” The holdouts are making different bets: Delta on Amazon’s network, Ryanair on passengers not caring. Europe’s phone companies are looking for a counterweight too: as we reported, Europe’s four biggest carriers want their own Starlink, without building a satellite. SpaceX, meanwhile, keeps pushing into connectivity on the ground too, with Starlink Mobile’s plans to become a wireless carrier. For easyJet passengers, the real test comes in 2027, when the price tag finally shows up.

Sources and further reading

• UNILAD Tech: How to check whether your flight has Elon Musk’s Starlink Wi-Fi before you travel
• easyJet: easyJet to offer connectivity onboard for the first time with Starlink
• Head for Points: easyJet to install fast (but probably not free) Starlink wi-fi
• AeroTime: easyJet proceeds with Starlink Wi-Fi despite previous cost concerns
• Reuters via The Star: EasyJet exploring Starlink Wi-Fi deal, but economics not right yet
• The Irish Times: Ryanair would install wi-fi if Musk’s company foots the bill, O’Leary says
• AP via WTOP: Ryanair CEO dismisses Elon Musk’s idea of buying the airline
• Reuters via The Star: Wizz Air to offer Starlink in-flight internet from 2027
• Executive Traveller: Starlink Wi-Fi is no longer free on every airline
• TravelPulse: United Airlines launches tool to see if your next flight has Starlink Wi-Fi
• TechRadar: United now has more than 635 aircraft equipped with Starlink Wi-Fi
• Alaska Airlines: Free Wi-Fi thanks to T-Mobile, powered by Starlink
• AirlineGeeks: Southwest gives update on Starlink rollout
• American Airlines Newsroom: American will bring Starlink to every mainline jet
• CNBC: Delta Air Lines taps Amazon Leo for in-flight Wi-Fi
• Aviation A2Z: British Airways completes Starlink rollout on all 18 A350s
• Android Authority: New Ookla report shows which airlines offer the best Wi-Fi

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