TL;DR
- A new report published by Ookla details which airlines offer the best in-flight Wi-Fi.
- AirBlatic won on reliability; United offered the highest median speeds.
- Partnership with low-Earth orbit satellite network Starlink was a common factor for high-performing airlines.
In-flight Wi-Fi’s gotten a lot better over the past few years. A report released today gives some insight into which airlines offer the fastest and the most reliable data connections — including multiple that boast connection speeds of 300 Mbps or better.
The report, published this morning by Ookla, digs into connectivity quality across a range of airlines. Using data gathered in the second half of 2025, Ookla put together a ranking of which airlines offer the most consistent Wi-Fi quality (airBaltic wins by a nose), as well as which offer the highest download speeds (United takes the prize there).
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It seems like an airline’s in-flight Wi-Fi experience today largely comes down to whether it’s partnered with Starlink. AirBaltic, WestJet, Hawaiian Airlines, and Air France — all Starlink partners — topped Ookla’s reliability rankings, with each managing to provide download speeds of 25 Mbps or higher in 90% of tests.
When it comes to fastest download speeds, United takes the cake with a median score of 319.99 Mbps — when the connection is provided by Starlink. Ookla points out that many airlines use multiple data providers, and its results show that United’s other partners don’t perform as well: the median speed through Intelsat was 56.48 Mbps, while Inmarsat came in at 15.34 Mbps.
Emirates, airBaltic, and Alaska Airlines, all saw median Starlink speeds nearly as high as United’s, with each topping 300 Mbps. Air France was next in line at 281.56 Mbps. That’s very snappy data for 30,000 feet in the air: terrestrial 5G connections are often in the 200 to 300 Mbps range.
While Starlink seems to be the go-to to provider for in-flight data today, Ookla notes that Amazon is getting into the low-Earth orbit game with its Leo venture, and that jetBlue and Delta, two low performers in this report, have announced data partnerships with Amazon that’ll roll out over the next couple of years.
For more nitty-gritty in-flight Wi-Fi details, check out Ookla’s full report.
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