Elon Musk’s Starlink has entrepreneurs determined to ensure their flights include high-speed WiFi access.
Jason Calacanis, an angel investor and co-host of the “All-In” podcast, posted on X on Tuesday about his enthusiasm for the service.
“I’m picking commercial flights based on Starlink, not total time, route, or price,” he said.
Calacanis, who is based in Austin, added that he would drive to Houston to travel with Zipair, a Japanese airline that has Starlink installed on all eight of its airplanes.
He also called on United Airlines to speed up installation for long-haul flights.
The airline announced in late June that it had completed its first transatlantic flight with a wide-body airplane. It expects to have its entire wide-body fleet outfitted by next summer.
Calacanis isn’t the only person changing their flying habits because of Starlink.
“We heard from one of our airline customers, shockingly, customers are flying shorter hop flights instead of direct, so that they could ensure that they’re on a Starlink-activated flight,” SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said on an earnings call earlier this month.
YouTuber MrBeast is one of those people. He said earlier in 2026 that he would eventually choose flights based on whether the plane had Starlink, even if the journey was longer.
More than 40 airlines have announced deals with Starlink, including Alaska Airlines and American Airlines.
It is offered free of charge to all customers, though it often requires signing up for the airline’s loyalty program.
Starlink operates via a constellation of nearly 11,000 satellites in low Earth orbit, providing faster speeds and more reliable connectivity than traditional in-flight WiFi, which uses a handful of satellites much higher above Earth.
This is especially useful for entrepreneurs and other people who work long hours, since you don’t have to go offline during your flight, meaning one of the final bastions of being uncontactable for hours is gone.
Business Insider previously tested Starlink on Qatar Airways‘ first flight with Starlink in October 2024. The connection speed peaked at 215 megabits per second, more than enough for a video call, and faster than many home internet services.
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