Inflight Wi-Fi Satisfaction Jumps 13 Points to 79 as Starlink LEO Systems Outpace Legacy Networks
Updated
Updated · CX Today · Jun 11
Inflight Wi-Fi Satisfaction Jumps 13 Points to 79 as Starlink LEO Systems Outpace Legacy Networks
3 articles · Updated · CX Today · Jun 11
Summary
ACSI’s 2026 travel study showed inflight Wi-Fi satisfaction rising to 79 from 66 in a year, lifting it from last place among airline experience measures to parity with food and above seat comfort.
Starlink-equipped fleets helped drive that rebound by replacing legacy air-to-ground and geostationary systems, whose 600-800 millisecond latency often made paid internet unusable for video, cloud tools and calls.
Ookla data for H2 2025 showed Starlink’s low-Earth-orbit network delivering 30-80 millisecond latency and typically 100-350 Mbps per aircraft; even its slowest 10% of users saw 63.71 Mbps, above rivals’ medians.
That performance matters because 80% of passengers now call inflight Wi-Fi essential, and airlines increasingly face pressure from corporate travel buyers whose employees expect to work productively at 35,000 feet.
Starlink had been deployed on 1,397 confirmed aircraft across more than 205 airlines by mid-2026, while Delta and JetBlue are waiting for Amazon’s Project Kuiper rollouts from 2028 and early 2027.