I used Starlink on a plane – here’s why it changed my expectations of in-flight Wi-Fi

If you’ve ever paid $30 plus to access in-flight Wi-Fi, only for it to drop out for at least half of the time you’re in the air, I can’t even begin to tell you how much you will appreciate Starlink. I’ll admit, I boarded my Virgin Atlantic flight with very low expectations of it.

Despite being told (very excitedly, I might add) by a fellow journalist that our plane to San Francisco was an A350-1000, which consequently made it one of 12 Virgin Atlantic planes to have the technology installed, I was far from convinced it would be a better experience than previous in-flight Wi-Fi. 

The aforementioned journalist even tried to increase my enthusiasm to the same level as his (which frankly was impossible) by telling me Virgin had even managed to livestream a full live music performance from 35,000ft with zero interruption thanks to Starlink’s low-Earth orbit satellite network. In case you’re interested, it was a Sugababes performance, and it was designed to prove that inflight Wi-Fi could support high-bandwidth, low-latency applications at altitude, and at scale, which it seemingly succeeded at, given we recieved a press release about it.

I can’t say I watched that performance from the ground, though we’re told it was uninterrupted, much like my working experience turned out to be on the flight I took with Starlink on board. I don’t love to be wrong (who does), but I absolutely was in the case of how much better the Wi-Fi experience at 35,000ft was with Starlink over traditional systems. I worked the entire 11-hour flight from gate-to-gate, uploaded various features, streamed several movies for background watching and didn’t once see a buffer wheel or time out. 

What makes Starlink different?

Instead of one giant satellite parked around 22,000 miles up, Starlink runs more than 10,000 small ones just a few hundred miles overhead, making it the world’s most advanced satellite constellation in low-Earth orbit. The shorter distance means the signal doesn’t have to crawl, so lag drops and speeds jump compared to older systems like Viasat or Gogo. To give you some context, Starlink is capable of up to 500 Mbps download speeds to a plane (not per passenger), compared to previous systems that capped out around 100 Mbps.

A flat antenna bolted to the fuselage on a plane electronically steers itself toward whatever satellite is passing overhead, swapping targets every few minutes without any moving parts. Those satellites bounce data between each other using lasers, then down to ground stations tied into the regular internet.

What can you do with Starlink on a plane?

Anything you do on your home Wi-Fi, you should be able to do with Starlink. Message, send emails, video calls, stream TV shows or movies, browse the web – I could go on. You can also connect to Starlink on multiple devices at the same time so you don’t need to make that tough decision between working (laptop) and spending 11 hours doomscrolling (phone). 

There are a couple of ground rules, of course, but they are basic common courtesy so they shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone with manners. If you’re calling someone (please don’t unless absolutely necessary), you should keep your voice low and use headphones.

If you’re watching or listening to content, the same applies: get those over-ears or earbuds out. And, while some sites will be blocked (probably doesn’t take a genius to figure out which ones), airlines are asking that you watch cabin-friendly content and don’t download anything offensive.

What planes offer Starlink?