On June 22, Southwest Airlines began service with its first Starlink-equipped Boeing 737 in Dallas, Texas. The 1st of 300 expected this year, it was bound for Albuquerque, New Mexico, as the maiden voyage of the high-tech jetliner.

The new in-flight internet service on tail number N8543Z is the first step in a fleetwide rollout that will allow Rapid Rewards members to enjoy free Wi-Fi in-flight under a partnership with T-Mobile. The Starlink rollout will allow flyers to stream 4K content or play live games in flight.

Cutting Edge In-Flight Entertainment On SWA

Credit: Southwest Airlines

SWA bills the new service as an ‘at-home’ internet experience in flight. The introduction of Starlink Wi-Fi to the Southwest fleet will eliminate the need for travelers to download entertainment or work documents before departure. The high-speed connection provided by Starlink allows business travelers to work on cloud documents in flight or stream, and for other flyers, the internet rate is fast enough to stream live sports broadcasts.

Passengers will also be able to have video calls while they are on the plane thanks to the very low-latency performance that support data-intensive streaming services like online gaming. Starlink claims to have enough bandwidth to handle the traffic of every single passenger on the plane streaming at the same time without lagging for individual users.

The catch is that you need a Rapid Rewards membership in order to access it, unlike many other carriers that have Starlink, which provides free service to every flyer regardless of status. If you choose not to join the loyalty program, you will be required to pay a flat fee of $8 per device per individual flight. Tony Roach, Chief Customer and Brand Officer, made this statement in the airline’s announcement:

“Starlink delivers a new era of inflight connectivity to Southwest. Starting with this first aircraft, we will be rapidly integrating Starlink into our fleet this year. This ultra-fast WiFi brings an at-home experience to the air.”

The Secret Behind The Speed In The Starlink Network

Credit: Southwest Airlines

Starlink, built by SpaceX, uses a network of very small satellites in an orbit near the Earth’s atmosphere. A large number of miniature satellites flying at high speed closer to the surface of the Earth than many other communication satellites allows the grid to provide faster rates with unbroken coverage. LEO, or low Earth orbit, is 211 to 348 miles (340 to 560 km) from the ground, whereas legacy satellites are typically parked at 22,000 miles (35,000 km) above Earth.

Because Starlink is roughly 50 times closer to the ground, the signal strength is significantly more powerful, and the physical distance data must travel is radically reduced, according to Cellteks. The unique network also allows Starlink to work from gate to gate as it provides continuous service on the ground or at cruising altitude, unlike many legacy systems that only came online after the plane passed through 10,000 feet.

While the rollout continues, planes not yet retrofitted with Starlink will continue to use Southwest’s older Wi-Fi providers, Viasat and Anuvu. On the legacy planes, the Rapid Rewards rule still applies. Members get free unlimited Wi-Fi across the entire fleet regardless of which partner hardware is flying the route.

Unlimited Streaming From Takeoff To Touchdown

Credit: Southwest Airlines

Starlink provides an increase in download performance that can be anywhere from three times faster than legacy systems to 15 times the speed. What that means in megabytes per second is a range of 50 Mbps to 250 Mbps. That is an enormous improvement over preceding systems like Viasat, which was commonly found to deliver download performance between 12 Mbps and 100 Mbps.

Equally important for streaming on things like games or video calls is the upload rate, where Starlink ranges from 24 Mbps to 37 Mbps. According to Ookla, that means that Starlink has an upload rate that can be up to 25 times better than previous-generation networks. Hawaiian Airlines has the best internet speed in the sky according to field testing by Ookla, thanks to an aggressive rollout of Starlink, just like SWA is doing now. Unlike Southwest, Hawaiian also offers Wi-Fi free to every traveler.