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Show HN: Will my flight have Starlink?

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Re: Show HN: Will my flight have Starlink?

#11

Post by light_hue_1 »

bpodgursky wrote: post #6
gpt5 wrote: post #4

One 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.

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.

> Nobody wants their brand associated with price gouging and half-broken in-flight credit card payment portals

The airlines have no problem with this. T-mobile has no problem with it either.

Re: Show HN: Will my flight have Starlink?

#12

Post by SoKamil »

gpt5 wrote: post #4

One 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.

> I’m not sure why SpaceX is doing this

One word: marketing.

Re: Show HN: Will my flight have Starlink?

#13

Post by caycep »

looking back at the history of starlink, when was it decided to pursue this project at SpaceX? Was it always the natural evolution, i.e. cheap launches = more communications sats? Or was there a specific communications engineer/person that brought it up to Elon or Gwynne?

Re: Show HN: Will my flight have Starlink?

#14

Post by bblcla »

ellyagg wrote: post #2

Thank you for your service. Hopefully something like this can put pressure on airlines to understand how hostile their internet services are and that it matters. Last year I flew roundtrip to the Philippines on Philippines Airlines. Each way they claimed they had internet and each time, they sent an email reneging the day before the flight. The same thing happened when my sister-in-law flew with them a couple months…

That's frustrating. It's possible their link was down for some reason - airline maintenance issues happen all the time. :(

Re: Show HN: Will my flight have Starlink?

#15

Post by bblcla »

Hansenq wrote: post #10

I've definitely thought about substituting a nonstop flight for a 1-stop flight on UA regional jets just to get Starlink on the entire route. The annoying this is I live by a UA hub and UA doesn't fly regional planes between UA hubs. So the best I've been able to do is a regional flight to a UA hub near me, and then a non-regional flight back to my home airport. Which is honestly probably not worth it. And it's defin…

> The annoying this is I live by a UA hub and UA doesn't fly regional planes between UA hubs.

Oh I actually didn't know this! Do you know why?

Re: Show HN: Will my flight have Starlink?

#16

Post by unsupp0rted »

light_hue_1 wrote: post #11
bpodgursky wrote: post #6

Earlier 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.

> Nobody wants their brand associated with price gouging and half-broken in-flight credit card payment portals The airlines have no problem with this. T-mobile has no problem with it either.

Nobody had a problem with flip phones that play snake or Blackberry physical keyboards until the iPhone was demonstrated, and then nobody could conceive of ever going back (except in niche cases, e.g. journalists loved those keyboards)

Re: Show HN: Will my flight have Starlink?

#17

Post by SR2Z »

light_hue_1 wrote: post #11
bpodgursky wrote: post #6

Earlier 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.

> Nobody wants their brand associated with price gouging and half-broken in-flight credit card payment portals The airlines have no problem with this. T-mobile has no problem with it either.

T-Mobile also offers free Wifi on airplanes.

Re: Show HN: Will my flight have Starlink?

#18

Post by oceanplexian »

bpodgursky wrote: post #6
gpt5 wrote: post #4

One 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.

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.

Re: Show HN: Will my flight have Starlink?

#19

Post by SR2Z »

bblcla wrote: post #15
Hansenq wrote: post #10

I've definitely thought about substituting a nonstop flight for a 1-stop flight on UA regional jets just to get Starlink on the entire route. The annoying this is I live by a UA hub and UA doesn't fly regional planes between UA hubs. So the best I've been able to do is a regional flight to a UA hub near me, and then a non-regional flight back to my home airport. Which is honestly probably not worth it. And it's defin…

> The annoying this is I live by a UA hub and UA doesn't fly regional planes between UA hubs. Oh I actually didn't know this! Do you know why?

Regional planes are for direct routes to smaller airports, but hub-to-hub flights can be filled up and easily justify larger airplanes.
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