In less than two hours, our Hawaiian Airlines flight will land in Long Beach, California. We’ll be there for a week, mostly to see several Lind cousins, along with a friend from high school, and another old friend of about 50 years who happens to now be retired in LB.

My dad grew up in Long Beach before finding his way to Hawaii, and three surviving cousins are still living in the area.

But getting there provided an opportunity to try out Starlink. Hawaiian started offering free in-flight Starlink internet last year, I believe, but this is the first time I’ve tried it out. And I have to report that the user experience is excellent.

Screenshot

I am sorry to say that Starlink is several times better than whatever system United has been offering. Sorry because I have a very strong hostile reaction to Elon Musk and would rather not support his enterprise. But Starlink just works. And it’s fast. I haven’t experienced any lost signal or dead periods. United is reportedly shifting over to Starlink, but I haven’t run into it yet on any United flight. I would say that they should get a move on and complete the transition, based on my single-flight experience.

It was simple to join the Starlink network once our flight got underway. It was as simple as turning on wifi and selecting the “Starlink WIFI on Hawaiian” network. Bam! Instant connection. And it is impressive in use. Little latency, and a snappy feel.

I’ve been able to send texts with photos, go through email, read the news, etc, etc. All the normal online activities have worked fine. And it works well both on my phone and iPad.

So I would give it a 10 out of 10!

I wonder what Hawaiian has to pay to offer complimentary Starlink?

Anyway, this is just a quick report from the field. Or the sky, I guess, to be precise.