CHICAGO /PRNewswire/ — United Airlines announced a major milestone in its rollout of the fastest, most reliable inflight Wi-Fi – Starlink, with the high-speed Wi-Fi service available on more than half of its daily flights as of November 12, just in time for Thanksgiving and the start of the holiday travel season. The airline expects to have Starlink on nearly 64% of its daily flights by the end of 2026 and complete installations by the end of 2027.
With more than 6.6 million customers expected to travel with United over the Thanksgiving holiday*, travelers can use the airline’s Starlink Wi-Fi tracker to check whether their upcoming flight is equipped with the service up to three days before their departure. Free for MileagePlus® members, Starlink lets customers stay connected throughout their flight across multiple devices, whether they’re streaming live football games and Thanksgiving Day parades, placing a last-minute grocery delivery order, shopping Black Friday sales, or staying in touch with friends and family. And thanks to United’s collaborations with DISH and Spotify, travelers can stream their favorite collegiate and professional football games live on Starlink-enabled seatback screens and on their personal devices simultaneously so they never miss a play, and can pair their personal Spotify account to their seatback screen to pick up their favorite content right where they left off.
Starlink is just one way United is making travel easier and more enjoyable this holiday season. The airline’s award-winning app can save travelers up to 30 minutes at the airport thanks to features like real-time boarding updates and bag tracking, turn-by-turn walking directions, and biometric bag check. And United’s ConnectionSaver technology will hold eligible planes at the gate a few minutes longer to help customers with tight connections make their flights without impacting arrival times. The airline also recently announced significant enhancements to its onboard menu, with all-new snackboxes, an expanded pre-order menu in the United Economy® cabin that’s now available to customers on flights over 900 miles – about 420 flights per day, and new United Polaris® menu options from acclaimed chefs including Nancy Silverton, David Barzelay and Tomos Parry as part of the airline’s collaboration with Chef’s Table.
“From staying connected with Starlink Wi-Fi to making it easier for families to navigate the airport and know what to expect along the way, we’re focused on giving customers the tools and information they need to make every step of their journey easier and more enjoyable, especially during the busy holiday season,” said United’s Chief Customer Officer, David Kinzelman. “And with our teams across the airline ready to take great care of customers, we’re looking forward to helping make holiday travel as seamless as possible.”
United expects to fly an average of more than 500,000 customers a day on more than 4,800 daily flights from November 19 to December 1. Friday, November 20, is expected to be the busiest travel day ahead of the holiday, with more than 540,000 customers flying, while travel is expected to peak on Sunday, November 29, with around 600,000 customers taking to the skies.
United is offering these customers more ways to stay connected, save time and enjoy their journey this holiday season with its award-winning mobile app, thousands of hours of premium entertainment onboard and expanded food and beverage options:
- Digital travel tools: United’s award-winning app can save travelers up to 30 minutes at the airport with features like Virtual Gate, which provides real-time boarding progress; real-time bag tracking; automatic rebooking; airport navigation and United Club℠ location recommendations based on customers’ departure gates and available capacity at U.S. hub airports.
- Seamless connections: United’s ConnectionSaver technology automatically scans flights for customers who are making tight connections to determine if the connecting flight can be held without inconveniencing others.
- More entertainment at 35,000 feet: United offers more than 2,500 hours of premium entertainment onboard, including content from Apple TV, HBO Max, A24, Peacock and Spotify. The airline continues to install seatback screens across its fleet – up to 1,000 aircraft are expected before the end of 2027 – and is rolling out new airplanes with 27-inch, 4K OLED seatback screens, the largest among U.S. carriers.
- Fresh flavors and more choices onboard: United recently expanded fresh food preorders in United Economy® to customers traveling on shorter flights, giving up to 65,000 more customers per day access to this time-saving benefit.** The airline also refreshed its fan-favorite snackboxes – Tapas, Takeoff and Recline – with new selections, introduced a limited-time Wishes snackbox in collaboration with the Make-A-Wish Foundation and unveiled new United Polaris® dining options through its Chef’s Table program, featuring dishes created in collaboration with acclaimed chefs including Nancy Silverton, David Barzelay and Tomos Parry. To celebrate the holiday season, United has also brought back Sprite Winter Spiced Cranberry on select flights, along with its signature Sleigh Bell Spritz, a festive inflight cocktail customers can create by mixing the seasonal Sprite with vodka, a squeeze of lime and fresh cranberries.
*United defines the Thanksgiving holiday travel period from November 19 – December 1, 2026
**Preordered meals may not be available under certain circumstances
