Southwest Airlines Plans Free Starlink Wi-Fi, With Fast Rollout

Airlines are investing a lot of money in inflight connectivity nowadays, with Starlink Wi-Fi being the most popular new service. Along those lines, Southwest Airlines has just made an exciting announcement, which passengers will no doubt be happy about.

Southwest rapidly installing Starlink Wi-Fi fleetwide

Southwest Airlines is partnering with SpaceX, to introduce Starlink Wi-Fi throughout its fleet of Boeing 737s.

The airline expects pretty fast rollout — the first Starlink-equipped plane should be in service this summer, and the system will be available on more than 300 aircraft by the end of 2026. Presumably most planes will have the service by the end of 2027. For what it’s worth, Southwest has a fleet of over 800 737s, with another 500+ on order.

Starlink is known for its high-speed, low-latency broadband internet, and the service is offered gate to gate. Southwest highlights how Starlink Wi-Fi allows for live streaming, productivity similar to on the ground (with high upload and download speeds), gaming, e-commerce, support for multiple devices, and more.

Starlink is becoming increasingly popular on airlines. So far we’ve seen carriers like airBaltic, Air France, Air New Zealand, British Airways, Emirates, Gulf Air, Hawaiian Airlines, Iberia, Korean Air, Lufthansa Group, Qatar Airways, SAS, United Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, and WestJet, all announce plans to install the service.

Here’s how Southwest Airlines’ Chief Customer & Brand Officer, Tony Roach, describes this development:

“Free WiFi has been a huge hit with our Rapid Rewards Members, and we know our Customers expect seamless connectivity across all their devices when they travel. Starlink delivers that at-home experience in the air, giving Customers the ability to stream their favorite shows from any platform, watch live sports, download music, play games, work, and connect with loved ones from takeoff to landing.”

This is a very exciting development for Southwest

As of October 2025, Southwest Airlines introduced free Wi-Fi for all Rapid Rewards members, basically matching the policies of JetBlue, Delta, and now American. The catch is that Southwest’s current Wi-Fi setup is pretty underwhelming, with many planes having very outdated systems. While the airline has been installing Viasat in recent times, that’s only available on a minority of the fleet.

So to see Southwest moving to Starlink is a fantastic passenger experience improvement, as this will be way faster than what’s otherwise available on the airline.

Obviously a ton has changed about Southwest in recent times, as the airline has completely transformed its business model. From ditching open seating, to adding basic economy fares, to charging for checked bags, to introducing extra legroom economy, the airline is a lot more like the competition nowadays.

This is no doubt a positive passenger experience move, as travelers appreciate inflight connectivity, and it’s tough to beat fast and free connectivity. While United and Alaska have committed to Starlink, it’s interesting how American and Delta are holding out, as it seems like they’re going to be at a pretty big competitive disadvantage a couple of years down the road, if they don’t make a move soon.

Bottom line

Southwest Airlines plans to introduce free Starlink Wi-Fi, with the first plane having the service as of mid-2026, and 300+ planes being equipped with Starlink by the end of the year. You can’t beat Starlink for inflight connectivity, so this is great for Southwest passengers, especially given the carrier’s current lackluster Wi-Fi situation.

What do you make of Southwest Airlines introducing free Starlink Wi-Fi?