Will my flight have Starlink?
Consumer and social
flight travel tracker
SHOW HN2026
Legend
Will my flight have Starlink?
Hey HN, If you’ve been lucky enough to be on a flight with Starlink, you understand the hype.
news.ycombinator.comHow HN took it
29 positive, 20 neutral or asking, 1 mixed, 11 critical, out of 61 comments about the project. Thread score +0.34.
Pricing: 5 for, 7 againstIdea: 8 for, 0 againstPerformance: 7 for, 0 againstExecution: 2 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Useful for picking flights with Starlink
From 3 comments
This is awesome! In the past I would use the promise of starlink or other LEO internet as a tiebreaker for booking flights and was disappointed a few times (as clearly not all of…
aeblyve on HNThis is awesome! I just came back from Cancun with my family, and I was on a WestJet flight. I was taken aback by a) free Wifi and b) how fast it was to support everyone…
HorizonXP on HNI tried Starlink on a United flight the other day (short hop from Hilton Head to DC) and it was amazing.
rayiner on HN
Starlink inflight internet is fast and good
From 2 comments
I've only had it once, but inflight Starlink is a game changer. I was able to play a ranked AoE2 game over the Pacific Ocean.
apitman on HNI tried Starlink on a United flight the other day (short hop from Hilton Head to DC) and it was amazing.
rayiner on HN
Objections
Many airlines and routes lack Starlink entirely
From 1 comment
My trip from USA to Amsterdam doesn't have starlink, at all. Not a single plane. No matter the company. So sad
Bombthecat on HN
Coverage map was missing for some routes; globe does not pan on some routes
From 2 comments
The globe doesn't pan to some routes - perhaps ones that cross the international date line? - for example https://stardrift.ai/starlink/search?origin=AKL&dest=LAX&depart=2026-03-20
aeronaut80 on HNBig fan. One feature idea/request - a map showing coverage with 0-100% by route (red/yellow/green lines). I’m just curious to see where I should think to look for / expect…
andrewcamel on HN
Requests
Route coverage map showing Starlink percentage
From 1 comment
Big fan. One feature idea/request - a map showing coverage with 0-100% by route (red/yellow/green lines). I’m just curious to see where I should think to look for / expect…
andrewcamel on HN
Integrate into Flighty or Google Flights
From 2 comments
I would love to see this integrated into Flighty.
hughes on HNIt would be great to make this data into a browser extension that overlays the info when using Google Flights
nomilk on HN
Questions
How often is the tail data updated and how stale does it get
From 2 comments
Neat problem to work on. The tail number lookup is the hard part and it sounds like you solved it the right way, by finding the people who actually track this obsessively rather…
neilsharma425 on HNInteresting data problem. Mapping tail numbers to capabilities sounds similar to other asset-tracking systems. How often do you update the dataset?
7xgames on HN
How are last-minute aircraft swaps handled
From 1 comment
Neat problem to work on. The tail number lookup is the hard part and it sounds like you solved it the right way, by finding the people who actually track this obsessively rather…
neilsharma425 on HN
Alternatives named
unitedstarlinktracker.com
From 1 comment
I built something similar[0] a while back, Stardrift looks 100x better - nice work! [0] unitedstarlinktracker.com
martin_ on HN
Amazon Kuiper LEO and Panasonic Avionics as other providers
From 1 comment
As someone who's really not a fan of fElon (he made Twitter steal my OG username), it's nice to see people misuse the Starlink term, and I hope it would eventually be genericised…
ValentineC on HN