United now lets you check if your flight has Starlink Wi-Fi

It's a simple lookup page. You type in your flight number and your travel date, and it tells you whether Starlink is expected on that plane.

Engadget reports you can check within three days of departure. The tracker then shows updates and last-minute hardware changes in real time.

9to5Mac adds a useful detail about timing:

• More than 48 hours out: the tracker shows a percentage likelihood, based on recent flights on the same route.
• Within 48 hours: you get a generally reliable answer for your actual plane.

United already mentions Starlink in its pre-flight emails and texts. The tracker is there for the cases where something changes after that.

In real life You're flying Denver to Chicago on Friday and you need to join a video call mid-flight. On Wednesday evening, enter your flight number on United's tracker. If it says Starlink, plan the call. If not, maybe move it.

Because airlines swap planes more often than most of us notice. 9to5Mac explains that a technical fault or a cancelled flight can leave aircraft in the wrong place for their next trip, so the airline brings in a different one at short notice.

Why it matters: during the rollout, the replacement plane may not have Starlink, even if your original one did. Those are exactly the changes the tracker is built to catch.

It's a bit like booking a hotel room with a view and checking the morning of your trip that they didn't move you to the parking lot side.

Yes, it doubles as a progress report. According to Engadget, it also lets you:

• See daily departures that have Starlink on board.
• Explore the fleet by type: how many regional, narrowbody and widebody planes have it.
• Check by hub: Chicago, Newark, Washington, DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston and Denver.

Further than it was even eight months ago. 9to5Mac reports that United already has more Starlink-equipped planes than any other airline in the world. Here are the numbers United gave in February, next to the ones it gives now (via 9to5Mac and Engadget):

By the numbers: more than 250,000 United customers fly on a Starlink-equipped plane on an average day, 9to5Mac reports.

The coverage isn't even across the fleet yet. According to 9to5Mac, 68% of United Express regional jets have Starlink, compared with 37% of the mainline fleet.

That makes sense given the order of the rollout. United started with its two-cabin regional jets and said in February it had equipped most of them, more than 300 planes, in less than a year.

Some cities got Starlink much faster than others, because the regional jets went first. When United ran its Starlink TV ad during the Big Game in February, it picked local markets where those jets fly: Cincinnati, Cleveland, Colorado Springs, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis and Kansas City.

In many of those cities, more than half of United's flights already had Starlink back then:

• Indianapolis: more than 63% of United flights.
• Kansas City: more than 53%.
• Cincinnati: more than 51%.

The ad itself leaned into space travel, with a voiceover styled like ground control talking to the cockpit. "It's Wi-Fi that actually works? That's one giant leap for inflight Wi-Fi," it says.

"We are focused on what we call 'travel truths' in our advertising," said Maggie Schmerin, United's chief advertising officer, at the time.

United is installing Starlink on about 20 aircraft a week, and plans to finish by the end of 2027, Engadget reports. 9to5Mac says the airline is aiming for 100% coverage by then.

The harder part is the bigger planes. In February, United said it would seek FAA approval to install and run the system on more than a dozen aircraft models, including the Boeing 737-900ER, the Airbus A321 family and the Boeing 777.

The timeline so far:

• September 2024: United announced its partnership with SpaceX's Starlink, per Engadget.
• January 2025: testing began a few months later.
• February 2026: most of the regional fleet was done, and about a quarter of daily departures had Starlink.
• October 2026: more than 635 planes and nearly half of departures, plus the new tracker.
• End of 2027: the target for the whole fleet.

United's pitch is Wi-Fi that works like it does at home. In its February ad campaign, passengers watched live sports, played online games and checked their home security cameras, things United said traditional in-flight satellite Wi-Fi couldn't really handle.

When the rollout began, United said it expected download speeds of up to 250 Mbps, about 50 times faster than the old Wi-Fi on its regional jets, Broadband Breakfast reported. United also said it would be free for MileagePlus members, with streaming, gaming and browsing included.

How does that compare with a real flight? Broadband Breakfast pointed to a PCMag test on a 12-hour Qatar Airways Starlink flight, where reviewer Rob Pegoraro measured average downloads of 108 Mbps and uploads of 29.57 Mbps. He wrote that Starlink's speeds "comfortably exceeded most in-flight Wi-Fi services."

When the first United regional jet got Starlink, United planned to add more than 40 planes a month. "We're rolling out this innovative service at unprecedented speed and scale," said Grant Milstead, United's vice president of digital technology.

In February, United said Wi-Fi customer satisfaction scores on Starlink planes had nearly doubled. Travelers specifically mentioned gate-to-gate connectivity, reliable service and streaming.

The big picture: United isn't alone. Engadget lists Emirates, Qatar Airways, WestJet, SAS, Alaska Airlines and Air France among the airlines that offer Starlink. United currently has the most Starlink flights, according to the Starlink Flights tracker. Satellites are also coming to your phone: the big US carriers recently made their satellite venture official.

• Check before you fly: use United's tracker within 48 hours of departure for the most reliable answer.
• Join MileagePlus: United has said Starlink Wi-Fi is free for members, and joining costs nothing.
• Regional flights are your best bet for now: about two-thirds of United Express jets have Starlink, versus about a third of mainline planes.
• Plans can change: if your plane gets swapped, the tracker shows it, so check again on the day.