Airline · United States

Southwest Wi-Fi

Southwest WiFi is free for Rapid Rewards members, thanks to T-Mobile, and Southwest is fitting Starlink across its fleet. On select aircraft, non-members can buy internet for $8 per device, subject to availability.

Provider
Starlink
Network
Southwest® WiFi
Free
Rapid Rewards members get free WiFi for the whole flight, thanks to T-Mobile, whatever their mobile carrier.

Checked 1 November 2026. Prices and policies as of November 2026.

Who provides it

  • Starlink

    Being fitted across the fleet. Southwest expects to finish in fall 2027. It doesn’t name the system on aircraft without Starlink.

What’s free

  • Rapid Rewards members get free WiFi for the whole flight, thanks to T-Mobile, whatever their mobile carrier. It started on 24 October 2025. Joining Rapid Rewards is free, before or during the flight.
  • Messaging through iMessage and WhatsApp requires free member Wi-Fi or a purchased connection. Set up the apps before boarding.
  • Free movies, TV and live TV stream to your own device on select planes. Southwest says its entertainment portal is unavailable on Starlink aircraft.

As of November 2026.

Prices

PlanPrice
Internet, per device, takeoff to landingUS$8

Southwest lists paid access for non-members on select aircraft, subject to availability and price changes. Service may not last the whole flight.

As of November 2026.

Streaming and calls

Southwest says Starlink brings WiFi “so fast it feels like home”. It also says it may block some high-bandwidth apps, websites and video-conferencing services. Free live TV may cut out on international flights because of licensing.

VPNs

Southwest doesn’t publish a VPN rule.

Which planes have it

WiFi is only on WiFi-enabled designated aircraft, and free entertainment only on select planes. Southwest flies 803 Boeing 737s. It is adding Starlink to the entire fleet and expects to finish in fall 2027.

How to connect

  1. Open Settings and turn on airplane mode.

  2. Turn on Wi-Fi and choose the Southwest® WiFi network.

  3. Tap Access the portal, or type SouthwestWiFi.com into your browser.

  4. Sign in with your Rapid Rewards account for free WiFi, or join there.

On board with Kilobat

Kilobat is a Mac menu-bar app that shows what each app sends and holds back what can wait. On a plane:

  • The sign-in page. When it doesn’t open by itself, the menu bar says This Wi-Fi wants you to sign in, with Open sign-in page. Turn your VPN on after you’ve signed in.
  • Mark it metered. macOS treats plane Wi-Fi as unlimited. Mark it Metered in Kilobat’s Wi-Fi menu or with kilobat networks cost metered, and Kilobat skips its own speed tests. If automatic switching is enabled, it switches to Travel.
  • Updates wait. With Pro, paused updaters enabled and the network filter on, macOS Software Update, App Store downloads, Google Updater and Microsoft AutoUpdate wait for an unmetered network. The apps keep working.
  • See what’s using it. Every app’s upload and download, live in the menu bar, so a messaging-only plan isn’t spent on a sync you forgot.
  • Send later. A big upload, such as Dropbox syncing a folder, shows as a row with its speed. With Pro, Send later can hold it until you’re on unmetered Wi-Fi again, for up to eight hours while Kilobat is open.
  • Know what’s slow. Health shows latency and loss, and with Pro their history through the flight. Those measurements can help you investigate a slow connection. When Slack or Zoom won’t load, Is it them or me? reads the service’s status page.

More in what to do before you board.

Download for Mac ↓
brew install seifip/kilobat/kilobat

Questions

Do I need T-Mobile for free Southwest WiFi?

No. T-Mobile sponsors it, but it is free for all Rapid Rewards members on any carrier.

Does every Southwest plane have Starlink?

Not yet. Southwest expects to finish the fleetwide rollout in fall 2027.

Sources

Checked on 1 November 2026.