Believe me, Im no fan of viasat and the constant need to reset it on seemingly every flight and apologize to pax when it doesn't even work. All Im saying, as others have is if Starlink gets an A+ and viasat improves to a B-, it's likely not going to be a deciding factor for the majority of pax. Just like some pax will pick a carrier because they fly a 787 on a particular route, the vast majority couldn't tell the difference between a Dreamliner and a 767. The other thing to consider is that we are already all in on viasat, are we not? Do you expect mgt to rip them all out, terminate whatever contract we have with them and then sign on with Starlink?

If Southwest c2026, for crying out loud, can afford/manage to dump ViaSat and get Starlink on 40% of it's fleet in the next 12 months, I would think it shouldn't be too heavy a lift for Delta. We've been doing the geosynchronous thing from the start (since 2010)...and have endured all the jokes and complaints from customers that go with it. It's been through two hardware upgrades, and yet it just never has truly been able to keep up with the bandwidth demand. I disagree that 'good enough' WiFi will not be a discriminator going forward. We increasingly live in a world where fast, reliable WiFi is right up there with hot & cold running water in the expectations of a customer, whether it's at a Starbucks, a hotel, or on an airliner. Deprive them of it at your peril...

Full disclosure, Im not aware of the process and costs associated with changing it up at this point or that SWA was doing it. As for "good enough" again Im not a tech guy so Im not too well versed on how many satellites and when they get launched, etc. What I would say is if viasat winds up being "good" and starlink is "great" we are probably fine for the vast majority of pax. If viasat is still objectively "bad" vs starlink being "great" then, yes we will have a problem. Ive had some flights nonreving and DH where the wifi worked the entire flight at reasonable speeds and I was able to stream Netflix and YouTube without a problem.

You’re giving management far too much credit.

Voice / video chat is technically possible right now over ViaSat, using a VPN to get around the filters. The quality of the video stream will depend on how much bandwidth other passengers are using.

Contracting an inferior service simply to prevent passengers from engaging in one particular prohibited activity is comically dumb (and was not their strategy whatsoever).

Bandwidth requirements of everyday applications continue to rise at a rapid pace. The most importance difference between ViaSat and Starlink is total bandwidth available to the aircraft. Starlink offers more than double ViaSat’s highest projections, which makes it far more future proof.

Eventually, Delta management will need to tuck their tail between their legs and adopt Starlink, as is the inevitable result of most of their IT-related decisions.

Someone said the reason why Delta hasnt chosen Starlink is because of the advertising. Delta wants to have control, but Starlink said no. No idea if true.

You know who probably cares the most? The "HVCs" we are all supposed to fawn over. Regardless, people notice these things even if they're just marketing bullet points, which this time is not actually the case. Our wifi is cantankerous at best and usually requires a lot of systems settings interactions just to get connected. Starlink is a superior product. I happen to also be a customer and it is a well run company with a product that I am constantly impressed with. Hell, they sent me an email last month telling me they were doubling my service and not raising the price ( I have a Roam package). it even works in my airplane now, which is an amazing enhancement. I digress....

To me this is among the frustrations I feel every time I go to a lav and find the toilet seat barely attached and the paper towed dispenser speed taped together, which happens with alarming regularity. We are hugely profitable, yes, but I feel like it comes partly from not re-investing enough money in the product (which includes internal systems, too). We can't just tell everyone we're better than the rest and expect them to keep believing (and paying for) it.

All of this!!! Someone is definitely calculating the risk of us operating this way. Anecdotally I do still hear a lot of positive feedback about our overall product relative to the competition. But even with that, I think most people realize the “premium” title is overused and largely inaccurate. We just suck less often than the others. As you said, we are wildly profitable now but this strategy has a shelf life. I sure hope there is a plan for when it expires.

There isn’t fast global coverage. That is the issue.

Thats because… it’s rolling out this year? Going from one semi-damaged ViaSat satellite covering the America’s to three ViaSat satellites covering the globe- improving bandwidth, speed, and latency through ViaSat’s contracted purchase capacity of Telesat’s “Lightspeed” LEO system (LEO’s in 27’). It will work in tandem with ViaSat’s GEO system offering a hybrid GEO+LEO constellation.

It’ll have all the benefits of a LEO system like Starlink, and the benefits of GEO which are capable of broader coverage and higher throughput: ability to handle larger pools of connected passengers without sacrificing download speed; which is Starlink’s main weakness now- suffers compared to GEO once multiple users are logged on (this includes all ground based users and such). Point is, it’ll be the same or better when it’s all said and done. Guarantee it was better to be first to market with free WiFi in 2019 which adds to the reason why Delta continue to leads corporate/business travel today. United may have free WiFi at Delta’s scale going into 2028. They have no global coverage or domestic as only most of their RJ fleet is equipped, no mainline.

JetBlue had free WiFi long before Delta did.