The in-flight Wi-Fi guide

Know your airline’s Wi-Fi before you fly.

Find the providers, equipment and latest updates behind your airline’s connection.

From the airlines

Latest connectivity updates

Published announcements, reviewed on the dates shown. Availability can change.

More updates
Delta Air Lines

Published · Announced · Amazon Leo

Delta announces plans for Amazon Leo

Delta and Amazon announced an agreement for Leo connectivity, with an initial 500 aircraft installations planned to begin in 2028. The announcement does not describe current Leo-equipped Delta flights.

Reviewed

View airline guide →

Browse the guides

Wi-Fi providers

ViasatGEO satelliteProvider →Panasonic AvionicsGEO satellite, LEO satelliteProvider →SESGEO satellite, LEO satelliteProvider →StarlinkLEO satelliteProvider →Gogo Business AviationAir-to-ground, LEO satellite, GEO satelliteBusiness jets →AnuvuGEO satelliteProvider →European Aviation NetworkGEO satellite, Air-to-groundProvider →

Airlines: United States

Alaska AirlinesProviders, availability and how to connectWi-Fi on Alaska Airlines →American AirlinesProviders, availability and how to connectWi-Fi on American Airlines →Delta Air LinesProviders, availability and how to connectWi-Fi on Delta Air Lines →Hawaiian AirlinesProviders, availability and how to connectWi-Fi on Hawaiian Airlines →JetBlueProviders, availability and how to connectWi-Fi on JetBlue →Southwest AirlinesProviders, availability and how to connectWi-Fi on Southwest Airlines →United AirlinesProviders, availability and how to connectWi-Fi on United Airlines →

Airlines: Canada

Air CanadaProviders, availability and how to connectWi-Fi on Air Canada →WestJetProviders, availability and how to connectWi-Fi on WestJet →

Airlines: Europe

Air FranceProviders, availability and how to connectWi-Fi on Air France →British AirwaysProviders, availability and how to connectWi-Fi on British Airways →KLMProviders, availability and how to connectWi-Fi on KLM →LufthansaProviders, availability and how to connectWi-Fi on Lufthansa →Turkish AirlinesProviders, availability and how to connectWi-Fi on Turkish Airlines →Virgin AtlanticProviders, availability and how to connectWi-Fi on Virgin Atlantic →

Airlines: Middle East

EmiratesProviders, availability and how to connectWi-Fi on Emirates →Qatar AirwaysProviders, availability and how to connectWi-Fi on Qatar Airways →

Airlines: Asia-Pacific

Air New ZealandProviders, availability and how to connectWi-Fi on Air New Zealand →ANA (All Nippon Airways)Providers, availability and how to connectWi-Fi on ANA (All Nippon Airways) →Cathay PacificProviders, availability and how to connectWi-Fi on Cathay Pacific →Japan AirlinesProviders, availability and how to connectWi-Fi on Japan Airlines →Korean AirProviders, availability and how to connectWi-Fi on Korean Air →QantasProviders, availability and how to connectWi-Fi on Qantas →Singapore AirlinesProviders, availability and how to connectWi-Fi on Singapore Airlines →

Logo credits: selfh.st/icons (CC BY 4.0); 京市 (CC BY-SA 3.0).

How plane Wi-Fi reaches the internet.

An antenna on the plane talks to towers on the ground or to satellites. Passengers share the aircraft’s connectivity, and the airline’s sign-in page decides who gets on it. Three kinds of link are in use, often more than one in the same fleet.

Air-to-ground

Towers on the ground point up at the plane, like a mobile network turned skywards. Short distance, so little delay, but it only works over land with towers. Europe’s European Aviation Network pairs LTE towers with a satellite.

Distance
Tens of kilometres
Over oceans
No

Geostationary satellite

A satellite about 36,000 km above the equator relays the plane’s traffic to a ground station. A request and its answer travel up and down twice, so the ITU estimates about 500 ms of round-trip propagation delay. Other network delays add to that. Airline services from Viasat, SES (Intelsat), Panasonic and Anuvu use geostationary links on some aircraft.

Distance
About 36,000 km
Propagation delay
About 500 ms

Low-orbit satellite

Many satellites hundreds to thousands of kilometres up, each passing overhead in minutes. The shorter distance can reduce propagation delay. Starlink is one system airlines fit; SpaceX quotes 44 ms on United.

Distance
Hundreds to thousands of km
Example
44 ms on United

Why it’s slow, laggy and capped.

Speed tests on a plane often look fine, then pages hang and calls freeze. Here is what you notice, what is usually behind it, and what Kilobat does about it.

  1. Connected, full bars, nothing loads.

    The airline’s sign-in page holds every connection until you sign in or pay. A VPN, iCloud Private Relay or your own DNS can keep it from opening.

    The menu bar says This Wi-Fi wants you to sign in, with Open sign-in page. Turn the VPN back on once you’re in. Free

  2. Every page takes a second to start.

    On a geostationary satellite, each request goes about 36,000 km up and back down twice. The ITU estimates about 500 ms of round-trip propagation delay; other network delays add to that.

    Health shows the latency and loss as they happen, so the link isn’t mistaken for a problem with your Mac. Free

  3. Fast for ten minutes, then crawling.

    Everyone on board shares one antenna, and the airline shapes the traffic. Many limit or block streaming, video calls and big downloads.

    Live upload and download for every app, in the menu bar, so you see which one is taking your share. Free

  4. A messaging pass, and the Mac still tries to sync.

    Messaging plans let only certain chat apps through. iCloud Photos, backups and updaters keep trying, and fail.

    Mark the network Metered. With automatic switching and updater pausing enabled, Travel limits apps and updaters wait for unmetered Wi-Fi. The network filter must be on. Pro

  5. A big upload barely moves.

    Plane links are slower up than down, and sync apps don’t say how much is left.

    The menu shows the upload’s speed and what it has sent. Send later holds it until you reach unmetered Wi-Fi, for up to eight hours while Kilobat is open. Pro

  6. Slack won’t load. The plane, or Slack?

    Sometimes the service itself is down, wherever you are.

    Is it them or me? reads the service’s own status page and tells you. Free

The sign-in page, free messaging and blocked apps.

Many airline networks show a sign-in page. That is where you may log in to the loyalty programme, buy a pass or pick a free messaging tier. The rules on the page differ from airline to airline.

Before you board.

The best time to sync is on the ground. Let the big jobs finish at home or at the airport, then pause what would start again on the plane. These are macOS’s own switches.

1

Let iCloud Photos finish, or pause it.

In Photos, choose Library in the sidebar, click All Photos, scroll down and click Pause. It pauses uploads for a day, when your library allows it.

2

Skip the backup.

If a Time Machine backup starts, click Time Machine in the menu bar and choose Skip This Backup. Cloud backup apps have their own pause.

3

Hold macOS updates.

In System Settings › General › Software Update, click the info button beside Automatic updates and turn off Download new updates when available for the trip.

4

Turn on Low Data Mode.

Once you join the plane’s Wi-Fi, open System Settings › Wi-Fi › Details and turn on Low data mode. Apps decide for themselves whether to respect it.

5

Download what you’ll need.

Films, playlists, maps and documents load best on the ground. Plane links are shared, and many block streaming.

Then let Kilobat catch what you missed. Mark the plane’s network Metered once you’ve joined. With the relevant settings enabled, Travel and paused updaters can reduce background traffic. Use Send later to hold a supported upload for up to eight hours while Kilobat is open. More on saving data on a metered network.

One flight, with Kilobat.

What Kilobat does from the gate to the hotel.

  1. At the gate

    See what is still syncing.

    The menu bar shows each app’s upload and download live. Photos still uploading? Let it finish on the airport’s Wi-Fi, or pause it.

    Free
  2. After take-off

    The sign-in page hides.

    Your VPN kept the airline’s page from opening. Kilobat says This Wi-Fi wants you to sign in and opens the page with one click.

    Free
  3. Signed in

    Mark it metered.

    One click in Kilobat’s Wi-Fi menu. With automatic switching enabled, Kilobat switches to Travel, so only the apps you chose go online. Paused updaters wait when that setting and the network filter are on.

    Pro
  4. Mid-flight

    Dropbox starts on a folder of videos.

    A row shows its speed and what it has sent. Send later can hold it for unmetered Wi-Fi, for up to eight hours while Kilobat is open.

    Pro
  5. Landed

    Back on fast Wi-Fi.

    If the hold is still active, the upload goes again on unmetered Wi-Fi. Kilobat can tell you it resumed. Your previous profile comes back.

    Pro

In the terminal

The same, from the terminal.

Everything above works from the Kilobat CLI too, so a script or an AI agent can set up the Mac before a flight.

  • Mark the plane’s network metered once you’ve joined it.
  • Open the sign-in page when it doesn’t appear.
  • Hold a sync app’s upload until you’re on unmetered Wi-Fi.

Holding uploads and paused updaters are part of Pro. The CLI itself is free.

Terminal
# Treat the plane’s Wi-Fi as metered
$ kilobat networks cost metered
# Open the sign-in page
$ kilobat portal open
# Hold Dropbox’s upload until unmetered Wi-Fi
$ kilobat uploads hold Dropbox --until unmetered
# Which updaters are waiting
$ kilobat updaters

What’s free, and what Pro adds

Free, for good

  • Spotting the sign-in page, with Open sign-in page
  • Live upload and download for every app
  • Marking a network Metered, Unmetered or Automatic
  • Is it them or me? for over seventy services
  • Latency and loss in Health, and the CLI

Pro, $29 once

  • Travel: only the apps you choose on a metered network
  • Updaters paused on metered networks
  • Send later: big uploads wait for unmetered Wi-Fi
  • Data budgets for capped plans
  • Latency and outage history, and call reports

Pro is $29 once for two Macs, with a 7-day free trial and 14-day refunds. Free for students.

Questions

Why is plane Wi-Fi so slow?

Passengers share the aircraft’s link, and conditions and demand affect speed. A geostationary satellite is about 36,000 km up. The ITU estimates about 500 ms of round-trip propagation delay, before other network delays. Low-orbit systems can reduce propagation delay; actual latency varies.

Why doesn’t the Wi-Fi sign-in page open on my Mac?

A VPN, iCloud Private Relay or your own DNS can keep the network from sending you to its page. Open http://captive.apple.com in Safari, or click Open sign-in page in Kilobat. Turn the VPN on after you’ve signed in. More on the Wi-Fi login page.

Can I use a VPN on plane Wi-Fi?

Often yes, once you’ve signed in, but airlines rarely publish a rule, and high latency can make some VPNs give up. Each airline page here says what the airline publishes.

How do I stop my Mac using plane Wi-Fi in the background?

Pause iCloud Photos and Time Machine and turn off automatic update downloads before you board. With Kilobat, mark the network Metered. With automatic switching enabled, Travel lets only the apps you choose online. You can hold supported uploads for up to eight hours while Kilobat is open.

Is Kilobat free?

Spotting the sign-in page, live traffic per app and marking networks metered are free. Travel, paused updaters, Send later and history are part of Kilobat Pro, $29 once with a 7-day free trial.

Kilobat for…

Hotel Wi-Fi loginLogged out by the sign-in page, not offline, with a warning before the next time.Hotspot dataKeep backups and updaters off your phone’s data plan.Digital nomadsCafé Wi-Fi, hotspots and captive portals, checked in seconds.Video callsA report card after every call that says why it froze.

Land with your data plan, and your patience, intact.

Download for Mac ↓
brew install seifip/kilobat/kilobat