Why I’m concerned about inflight ultra-fast Starlink WiFi

The proliferation of aircraft equipped with ultra-fast inflight WiFi courtesy of SpaceX and Starlink is getting a lot of positive press right now, but at the risk of sounding like a Luddite, I’m yet to be convinced that access to speedy inflight WiFi is going to be a net-positive for air travel and for customers.

Why? Because a significant percentage of the world’s population no longer seems to know or understand how to behave in public.

You only have to take a look around as you go about your everyday life to see that an ever-increasing number of people cannot be trusted not to be selfish, obnoxious, thoughtless, idiots when it comes to the use of personal devices in public, and these people are everywhere. And that that includes aircraft.

These are the people who seem to think that it’s socially acceptable not to use headphones when listening to music, watching videos, scrolling through social media feeds, or when making calls on their laptops, tablets, and phones regardless of how disturbing and annoying it may be to those around them.

Quite simply, these are the people for whom public flogging should be brought back (although maybe not for a for offence – I’m not a monster 🙂 )

Up until now, the lack of reliable fast inflight WiFi has (mostly) limited these abhorrent individuals to annoying their fellow flyers only while the aircraft is still on the ground, but ultra-fast Starlink will change that.

Airlines like Emirates (which announced the introduction of ultra-fast WiFi to their fleet yesterday) are already advertising the fact that Starlink will allow passengers to make video calls from their seats and allow them join in on Teams/Zoom meetings when they’re at 35,000 ft, so does anyone really think that we won’t see an explosion in the number of people using this technology with little or no regard for anyone else?

I have absolutely no faith that giving people access to the same internet speeds in the air as they can access on the ground won’t lead to multiple passengers per flight acting with little or no regard for those trapped around them at 36,000ft, and unless airlines are prepared to do something about this, some flights will be intolerable.

But what can airlines do?

At best, airline managers can instruct cabin crews to take passengers to task when they’re being stunningly thoughtless and self-important, but will those instructions actually be followed?

I have my doubts.

It’s already hard enough to get some of the world’s flight attendants to do what’s currently required of them, so what are the chances that they’ll be happy to add “confronting obnoxious passengers” to their list of jobs?

They’re not paid enough for that, and this could leave us in a situation where passengers are left to police other passengers, and that’s a recipe for a hot mess which airlines are clearly not prepared for.

If you think there’s an issue with the number of air rage incidents right now, just wait and see what happens when the mindless morons we only currently have to deal with on the ground realise that they can video call their dog, livestream their flight, peacock for some god-awful social media app, and have a mind-numbingly inane conversation with anyone in their address book from the comfort of their seat without anyone in authority doing something about it.

Things could get ugly … and quickly.

As more and more aircraft get fitted with ultra-fast WiFi, I expect to hear and read more and more reports of antisocial inflight behavior and I’m dreading the day when journeys by air start to feel like the subway, train, and bus journeys we currently take where we’re often forced to share a confined space with some of the most thoughtless people society has inflicted upon us.

It’s going to be horrible, and it’s a reality that thanks to ultra-fast inflight WiFi, is probably just around the corner.

Bottom line

The fact that an ever-increasing number of major airlines are planning to offer ultra-fast WiFi seems to be getting a lot of positive attention right now, but I don’t think enough thought and attention is being given to how this will affect passenger behavior.

On the face of things, access to ultra-fast WiFi while in the air sounds like a great step forward which should be cheered from the tallest of buildings, but if you look a little closer, you may see that there are issues heading our way for which a lot of people and airlines are unprepared.