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The fact that you're getting downvoted is a great example of why America is in the state it's in. Personally this tool looks like a useful way of booking a flight without financially funding the rise of fascism.
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Show HN: Will my flight have Starlink?
61–70 of 399 posts
Re: Show HN: Will my flight have Starlink?
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I’m not sure why SpaceX is doing this One word: marketing.
A few more words: they’re struggling to find a niche where their ungodly expensive product makes more sense than the readily available alternatives. In this case, fair play it’s objectively better.
In the (relatively) rural area that I live in, the only ISP options available were something like $75/mo for 10mbsp speeds. Starlink was an incredible blessing when it became available. Legitimately feels like magic in comparison to the existing options we had.
Re: Show HN: Will my flight have Starlink?
#63Ben Thompson interviewed UA's CEO on Starlink a few months ago. Scott said: "It took time to negotiate, because we wanted to own the consumer data, and at the beginning, Starlink did, so that was hard, and then, the other thing was I wanted to let my big competitors in the United States finish their deals with other providers and get locked in so that we would — eventually, everyone’s going to have Starlink." Brillia…
I'm surprised he would admit that publicly on a podcast.
Re: Show HN: Will my flight have Starlink?
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nobody wants their brand associated with price gouging and half-broken in-flight credit card payment portals, and Starlink is better enough than any alternative that they can play hardball with airlines.
Delta is still stubbornly refusing to adopt Starlink. I've got status with them and have started booking with other airlines b/c it doesn't matter how nice the seats are if you can't get any work done. Most airline revenue comes from business flights, I don't think they realize how important this is to their customer base.
Delta uses Viasat and has been rolling out free wi-fi on more and more of their planes. Is it not usable?
Re: Show HN: Will my flight have Starlink?
#65One nice thing about Starlink is that they force the airlines to offer it for free. I’m not sure why SpaceX is doing this, but it was surprising enough to me that my international WiFi was not only fast, but completely free that I researched it.
On the flip side, the "private" aviation customer is 100% forced into the pricey plans privately with (physical) speed enforcement on the terminals. There's even two tiers of aviation speed limting: 300MPH ($250/mo) and 450MPH ($1000/mo). They know who they're targeting at both speed points (the guy flying for fun in a prop VS the guy in a Gulfstream that wants to Get There Now). https://starlink.com/support/article/…
What sucks is that normal "for fun" prop pilots used to be able to use the basic $50 roaming plan, and then Starlink pulled the rug out from under them by taking it away, instead offering the new plan 5X the cost with 1/5 the bandwidth limit. Total scumbags. Even your hated local cable company doesn't have the balls to 5X your monthly bill suddenly out of the blue.
Re: Show HN: Will my flight have Starlink?
#66No internet on flights is one of my favourite features.
Re: Show HN: Will my flight have Starlink?
#67Re: Show HN: Will my flight have Starlink?
#68Re: Show HN: Will my flight have Starlink?
#69I had access to it on a long-haul AirFrance flight. While I avoid doom-scrolling in my daily life because there's better stuff to do... on a long haul flight it's a surprisingly good way to pass time intermittently. I still just watched pre-downloaded dropout for 80% of the flight but when I was too tired to appreciate it I'd turn my brain off and watch a bit of that wonderful doom-scroll slop.
The fact that it's powered by starlink is disappointing due purely to Elon Musk's involvement - but this is one of the better use cases for satellite internet technology. I'm not going to go out of my way to book with airlines that use the service though.
Re: Show HN: Will my flight have Starlink?
#70No internet on flights is one of my favourite features.
Right. I don't know what I find more disturbing: that people are this addicted, or that they don't care. Either way, I'm with you.