United’s Starlink Gap

United passengers with T-Mobile plans have lost a free in-flight Wi-Fi perk before United’s Starlink rollout covers most flights. (pcmag.com) PCMag reported the benefit stopped working on April 15, 2026, after T-Mobile warned customers that free in-flight Wi-Fi “may no longer be available on some flights and airlines” starting April 13. United told PCMag the change came from “an update T-Mobile made to its customer benefit program.” (pcmag.com) T-Mobile’s current support pages now list Delta Air Lines, Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, and Southwest Airlines as sponsored in-flight Wi-Fi partners, but not United. United’s own Wi-Fi page says Starlink is available only on select flights for MileagePlus members, while standard Wi-Fi remains on most flights. (t-mobile.com) (united.com) That leaves a gap on United’s older onboard internet systems: Starlink is free on equipped flights for MileagePlus members, but many planes still use the airline’s standard paid Wi-Fi. Upgraded Points said United is still charging $8 for MileagePlus members and $10 for nonmembers on those non-Starlink flights. (united.com) (upgradedpoints.com) United has moved quickly on the hardware, but mostly on smaller jets first. On February 2, 2026, the airline said it had installed Starlink on more than 300 regional aircraft and that more than 25% of its daily departures, about 1,200 flights, had Starlink. (united.com) Mainline coverage is still catching up. United said in February that it expects to equip more than 500 mainline aircraft by the end of 2026, and Live and Let’s Fly reported this week that only about 10% of the mainline fleet has Starlink so far. (united.com) (liveandletsfly.com) United has been promising a broad Starlink conversion for more than a year. In January 2025, it said Starlink access would be free for all MileagePlus members and that its entire two-cabin regional fleet would be outfitted by the end of 2025, with the first mainline plane expected before the end of that year. (united.com) By March 2025, United said Starlink installs averaged about eight hours for the equipment work itself and that it expected to outfit more than 40 regional aircraft a month. The airline has framed that speed as the reason it can eventually move the service across its full fleet. (united.com) The immediate dispute is over who decided to end the old perk. Live and Let’s Fly said United denied directing the change, while T-Mobile’s public messaging has shifted to a smaller list of airline partners without a detailed public explanation for United’s removal. (liveandletsfly.com) (t-mobile.com) For now, the practical rule is simple: on United, free internet depends on whether your flight already has Starlink and whether you are a MileagePlus member. If not, a T-Mobile phone plan no longer fills the gap. (united.com) (pcmag.com)