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Back to The airline CEO putting Starlink on every plane, with Scott Kirby.

Why Does United Say Fast Wi-Fi Beats Free Wi-Fi?

Scott Kirby says fast internet is the real value of Starlink on United Airlines, and free is not the value proposition. United was going to make Starlink free anyway. Customers will try United for Starlink and stay because the other technology is better, then switch their loyalty and get the United credit card.

He has flown all three big competitors that already give internet away free on the legacy systems, each two or three times in the last year. The service is terrible. There is not enough bandwidth to make a free connection usable. It is physics. He was sad when they started making it free, because it makes the experience worse and leaves it unusable for almost everyone. There is only one option for fast internet. Calling the other product fast and free does not make it fast. It is slower than dial-up internet.

Everybody is eventually going to have high-speed, low-earth orbit internet, so the lead is temporary. United will have a few years as the only airline with it at scale, a two to three year window to woo customers. The technology gap is getting wider every day.

Grokipedia·Starlink·United!

Transcript

The airline CEO putting Starlink on every plane ·

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More from this episode

  1. Why Did United Buy Planes During COVID?Scott Kirby says United bought planes during COVID because the experts were wrong and every other long-haul airline was shrinking.
  2. Why Does United Own Its Reservation System?Scott Kirby says United owns its reservation system because the airline locked into a legacy mainframe it already owned, and the later owners did not want to…
  3. When Will United Show Weather Delay Odds?Scott Kirby wants United to show a weather-impact percentage on the passenger screen by Christmas, in time for the weather trouble that comes with Christmas…
  4. Why Is Air Traffic Control the Bottleneck for Airlines?Scott Kirby says air traffic control, not airport capacity, is what limits the airline. He puts air traffic control at 90% of the problem.
  5. Why Does Wall Street Hate United Aircraft Bets?Scott Kirby says Wall Street almost always hates the big things United does, and aircraft investment is one of them.
  6. Why Won't Boeing and Airbus Build New Planes?Scott Kirby says Boeing and Airbus will not replace the 757 because the two manufacturers hold a global duopoly and have quietly agreed, though not in any…
  7. Why Do Low-cost Airlines Keep Failing?Scott Kirby says low-cost airlines in the United States keep failing because they left the cheap airports that made the model work and then could not charge…
  8. Why Does United Limit Where It Flies?Scott Kirby keeps United Airlines disciplined by limiting where it flies. United only flies to its hubs.
  9. Why Should an Airline Cancel Routes That Lose Money?Scott Kirby says an airline should cancel any route that loses money, including a route people defend as strategic. The route network is the foundation.
  10. Why Do Credit Card Miles Look Like Pure Airline Profit?Scott Kirby says credit card miles look like pure airline profit because people see only the revenue.

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