At a time when airlines are doubling down on charging for virtually anything you might want to use on your flight — even Southwest! — there’s a growing exception to this rule. A growing number of airlines are offering (or planning to offer) free in-flight wifi, including United and Air France. Delta has also ventured in this direction, and this week brings a big update from the airline on its plans. It’s more of a mixed bag than you might expect, however.
The Points Guy’s Zach Griff has a good overview of the airline’s wifi-related announcements. The biggest news here is that Delta has added free wifi on flights across the Atlantic to and from destinations in Europe, Israel and East Africa (Griff reports that there are two exceptions: Cape Town and Johannesburg). Delta’s international flights to and from South America should have free wifi later this year.
That’s the good news. The bad news, Griff writes, is that Delta has admitted that wifi connectivity while in the air will depend on the plane’s position relative to the satellites it’s using to get online. Depending on where the route goes, passengers might up losing their connection for some of their flights.
Air France Is the Latest Airline to Partner With Starlink for Wifi
Service will roll out beginning in Summer 2025It’s one of the trickier aspects of multiple airlines’ embrace of satellite wifi. Last year at CNBC, Michael Sheetz explored the different factors in play as satellite internet companies like Starlink and Viasat sign deals with more and more airlines.
Sheetz went on to cite a 2023 Euroconsult report that estimated that service revenues for in-flight connectivity could reach $3.4 billion by 2032. All of which is to say that we can expect more announcements like Delta’s from other airlines — and for those airlines to navigate the same connectivity challenges as Delta as well.
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