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Back in January, Lufthansa Group told us it was tying up with Starlink and that all 850 or so aircraft across its airlines would be fitted with the service. Now we’re being told that the first Lufthansa Group aircraft carrying Starlink for customers to use will fly in just a few days’ time.
The new service
The new product is called “Lufthansa Group Wi-Fi” and is powered by Starlink. It replaces FlyNet, the group’s existing onboard internet service, and on 19 August 2026, a Lufthansa Airbus A320neo will be the first aircraft to offer Starlink connectivity.
Access is free of charge for Miles & More members and Travel ID users (Travel ID is the Lufthansa Group’s free single login for its airlines’ websites and apps, so you can have one without being a Miles & More member), across all travel classes.
Aircraft from Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines and Brussels Airlines are next in line. ITA Airways, Edelweiss, Discover Airlines, Air Dolomiti, Lufthansa City Airlines and Eurowings are described as “preparing to roll out the new technology”.
We’re told that all of the group’s approximately 850 aircraft will be equipped by 2029 and that the rollout is being sponsored by Mastercard which, presumably, helps Lufthansa recoup some of the costs (Mastercard is currently a sponsor of Lufthansa’s FlyNet service).
Thoughts
It’s good to see yet another airline/airline group offering Starlink connectivity and this is a clear win for Lufthansa passengers who are moving from a relatively slow service for which they have to pay and which doesn’t work from gate to gate to a service that’s free, that’s very fast and that will work from the moment you board to the moment you disembark.
There’s more good news here as well. Specifically two more pieces of good news.
Firstly, the January press release which announced the Lufthansa/Starlink tie-up said:
“New high-speed internet free of charge for status customers and Travel ID users”
Today’s press release says:
“New high-speed internet available free of charge for Lufthansa Group Miles & More members and Travel ID users”
Notice the subtle difference?
In January, Lufthansa appeared to be suggesting that you would have to have some kind of status in its Miles & More program to enjoy free Starlink WiFi. Now, you just have to be a Miles & More member and as Miles & More is free to join, that’s very good news.
Secondly (and this is my favorite piece of good news), passengers have to accept terms of use before connecting and those terms require passengers to:
- Always wear headphones when playing audio or video content
- Refrain from making voice and video calls
- Not broadcast live streams from on board the aircraft
Lufthansa says the terms were “developed based on passenger surveys and thus reflect the wishes of the majority of Lufthansa Group customers” and I couldn’t agree with those customers more.
Airlines that don’t put this type of wording into their ultra-fast WiFi rules are asking for trouble because if you think there are already too many issues with passengers on board aircraft, just wait and see how many more issues there will be when the myriad of thoughtless, self-centered, idiots that are among us start to livestream, voice call and doom scroll social media without headphones on every flight.
Bottom line
Lufthansa Group starts offering at least one aircraft with Starlink from 19 August 2026, beginning with a single Lufthansa Airbus A320neo.
The service will be free for Miles & More members and Travel ID users in every cabin, and because Lufthansa has seen the future, it is banning voice/video calls and live streams completely, and insisting that audio and video content can only be played while wearing headphones.
