American Airlines announced Tuesday that it will bring free high-speed Wi-Fi to its fleet starting in 2026.
Free Wi-Fi, provided in collaboration with AT&T, is available on planes equipped with high-speed satellite connections via either Intelsat or ViaSat.
The airline is in the process of adding high-speed Wi-Fi capabilities to regional jets (small planes like the Embraer E175 and Bombardier CRJ-900), which normally operates shorter routes between larger hubs and smaller cities, and will equip over 500 jets by the end of 2025. Americans say that if they make free services available starting in January 2026 and ultimately have more than 2 million free services per year, they will have more planes with free high-speed Wi-Fi than other domestic airlines.
Heather Garboden, who was appointed in February as America’s chief customer officer, said, “We appreciate staying connected while in the air, including communicating with friends, working accomplishments, checking in on social media, streaming your favorite subscription services, and more.
The airlines have a bigger rollout after testing free Wi-Fi on a limited number of flights in 2022, and after testing free Wi-Fi on a limited number of flights in 2022.
There’s a small catch. Passengers will need to sign up for American’s Aadvantage Loyalty program to access Wi-Fi for free. Also, Americans don’t offer free Wi-Fi on jets that don’t have the right equipment, like old widebody planes.
The sky’s Wi-Fi revolution
Americans are the last of the major US airlines to unveil large, free Wi-Fi products. This has become a table stakes for the aviation industry as it values passengers being connected more air than ever.
Of the US, Delta and United’s “Big 3” US airlines, it was first moved in February 2023 when it announced free Wi-Fi for the Mainline Fleet. By the end of 2024, airlines are free to members of the airline’s Skymiles Loyalty program, as standatlantic Transatlantic Reats on shield rusts on shield rusts on shield cisks on throughting in serient in serient in throughtis on throughtion, so that over 700 planes can provide free internet access.
In September, United announced its intention to install free high-speed Starlink Wi-Fi in its fleet. Services will be installed on local planes by the end of the year, and then installed in the mainline fleet. Ultimately, United will equip the entire fleet with Starlink. United also has free Wi-Fi available to MileagePlus members.
Hawaiian Airlines also has a free Wi-Fi program in collaboration with Starlink on the Airbus A330 and A321neo Planes. The first airline to offer high speed and free Wi-Fi was JetBlue since 2013, and the airline now serves all aircraft in its fleet. With the US announcement, Southwest has become the largest US airline that has not announced plans to equip planes with free high-speed Wi-Fi.
America’s new offer for free fast Wi-Fi is very sweet as the airlines are most charging to stay connected. And the reliability of that connection is at best contradictory. The carrier has no plans to equip most of the seats on the plane with seatback screens for entertainment. That is, Americans bet that when Freeze’s phone, tablet or laptop accesses a free, fast internet connection, it becomes the entertainment needed for most flights. However, the complementary Wi-Fi could be just the first of a series of passenger-friendly changes at the airline that formed a new customer experience team led by Garboden in February.
For now, the race will see which major airlines offer the best and fastest connections in the air. This is great news for passengers who like to connect or need it while flying (and bittersweet news for those who prefer disconnecting during flights or prefer seatback screens with preloaded entertainment options).
