Delta chose Amazon Leo over Starlink for its next-generation onboard Wi-Fi, and Elon Musk now claims the deal fell apart over something as mundane, and yet potentially very important, as the login portal. But there’s something more going on here than simply choosing the best internet provider.
Did Delta Make A Mistake Choosing Amazon Leo Over Starlink?
Delta Air Lines recently announced that it would bring Amazon Leo, Amazon’s low-Earth-orbit satellite internet network, to 500 aircraft starting in 2028.
That move was a bit of head-scratcher because Starlink is a proven technology already has airline customers, including United Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Qatar Airways, Air France, and others. United plans to install Starlink across its entire fleet by the end of 2027, meaning United may have next-generation connectivity across its entire fleet before Delta even begins installing Amazon Leo on roughly half of its fleet.
That has led to a lot of head-scratching. Why would Delta, an airline that has generally led the U.S. industry on free Wi-Fi, pass on Starlink and wait for Amazon Leo?
One theory is according to Ron Baron, an early investor in Tesla and SpaceX. He says the issue came down to Delta’s insistence that onboard internet access sit behind its own Delta Sync-branded portal.
Elon Musk then weighed in on X, saying that SpaceX requires Starlink to work without what he called an annoying portal:
Musk wrote:
“Not exactly. SpaceX requires that there be no annoying ‘portal’ to use Starlink. Starlink WiFi must just work effortlessly every time, as though you were at home. Delta wanted to make it painful, difficult and expensive for their customers. Hard to see how that is a winning strategy.”
Musk being Musk, the last line should be taken with the appropriate truckload of salt. Delta is not trying to make Wi-Fi “painful, difficult and expensive” for passengers. Delta has been a leader in offering free onboard Wi-Fi to SkyMiles members, and there is no reason to think Delta wanted to reverse course and begin charging for Starlink.
But the portal issue is still interesting.
This Is Not Really About Free Versus Paid Wi-Fi
The easy take is that Delta foolishly chose branding over a better passenger experience.
Maybe.
Starlink is clearly the most proven low-Earth-orbit inflight internet product right now. It works amazingly fast with low latency and is already flying on commercial airlines. Amazon Leo may turn out to be excellent, but Delta is betting on a network that is still ramping up and is not expected to be installed on Delta aircraft until 2028.
But I am not convinced Delta choosing Amazon Leo is necessarily a mistake in terms of the product itself. Amazon is not exactly a sketchy company. Leo may very well become a very competitive Starlink alternative, and Delta’s existing relationship with Amazon Web Services probably matters here. We’ve heard that Delta chose Leo over rivals in part because of its existing AWS relationship.
The real issue strikes me as less about the satellite and more about who controls the customer relationship.
That is where Delta Sync comes in.
Delta Wants The Portal Because The Portal Is Valuable
Delta’s industry-leading profitability in the U.S. is not just about flying airplanes better than others. It is tied to loyalty, credit cards, premium revenue, customer segmentation, and data. Inflight connectivity is a digital touchpoint, a fingerprint that is worth a lot of money in terms of data.
When a passenger logs into Wi-Fi through Delta Sync, Delta knows who that passenger is, where that passenger is sitting, what that passenger might be eligible for, what offers can be shown, how that passenger interacts with onboard content, and how that experience can be tied back into SkyMiles and broader merchandising.
Translation: value.
United understands this too. Its media network is called Kinective Media, and it is designed to use United’s customer data to sell targeted advertising across United’s digital channels. That is the direction the industry is moving. Airlines do not just want to transport you. They want to monetize the relationship around you.
So when people say, “Why does Delta care so much about the landing page?” the answer may be: because the landing page is not just a landing page, but the front door to Delta’s onboard digital ecosystem that has made it a profit leader.
United May Have The Better Near-Term Passenger Product
That said, Delta still faces a real competitive problem.
United is moving quickly with Starlink. If United really does have Starlink across its full fleet before Delta begins meaningful Amazon Leo installations, that will be a passenger-facing advantage…a true advantage over Delta’s, whose current high-speed Wi-Fi is great, but hardly high-speed compared to Starlink.
Fast, low-latency, simple, free Wi-Fi matters. It matters even more as more passengers expect to work, stream, message, browse, and stay connected gate-to-gate. Once people experience Starlink onboard, slower or less reliable systems feel dated very quickly.
Delta has benefited for years from having free Wi-Fi while United was still piecing together a less consistent connectivity strategy (that still fails). But that gap may soon flip. United may go from laggard to leader while Delta waits for Amazon Leo to mature.
But I Understand Why Delta Would Not Want To Surrender The Customer Interface
I am not a Delta apologist unlike one of my favorite readers. I also think Delta can be obnoxiously arrogant about the value of its brand. Sometimes Delta acts as though calling something “premium” makes it premium. But in this case, I at least understand the strategic logic.
If Starlink insisted that service must bypass Delta Sync or diminish Delta’s ability to control the passenger interface, Delta may have seen that as too high a price. Not because the logo matters so much, but because the data and customer relationship matter so much.
The airline business is increasingly a loyalty and data business that happens to move people through the air. Delta knows that. United knows that. American should know that (though one sometimes wonders!).
So the question is not simply: why did Delta choose Amazon Leo over Starlink? The better question is: how much near-term passenger experience should Delta sacrifice to preserve long-term control of its digital ecosystem?
I don’t know the answer to that right now, but Delta still strikes me as the “steady wins the race” airline and while it may not be industry-leading in terms of Wi-Fi speeds, it hopes it can remain industry leading in profitability while still offering a great Wi-Fi experience onboard.
In that sense, Delta’s move makes perfect sense to me. It’s not in the business of providing the best Wi-Fi to its passengers: it’s in the business of making money and has (reasonably, it seems) determined Amazon Leo perpetuates that goal best.
CONCLUSION
Delta may have made a mistake passing on Starlink, particularly if Amazon Leo slips or if United’s Starlink rollout makes Delta’s current Wi-Fi look obsolete by comparison. But this is not as simple as “Delta chose a branded portal over better Wi-Fi.” The portal is the product in some ways. It is where loyalty, personalization, advertising, SkyMiles engagement, and customer data all come together.
Musk is right that passengers want Wi-Fi that just works. He is also self-interested and predictably dismissive of Delta’s business logic. Delta is right that control of the customer relationship matters. It may also be underestimating how quickly passengers will notice if United offers a much better onboard internet experience.
Amazon Leo may turn out to be excellent (I suspect it will). The product decision may not be the mistake, though the timing might be. And if Delta spends the next few years protecting Delta Sync while United passengers are enjoying fast, seamless Starlink across the fleet, that could be a very expensive lesson in the difference between owning the portal and owning the passenger experience. But I do think Delta knows what it is doing here and is making a choice that has clear commercial advantages for its profitable business model.
you get it better than other sites, Matthew, but you still conflate Delta Sync with Viasat vs. Starlink vs. Amazon Leo.
Delta Sync is available on Viasat equipped aircraft – and DL has far more seats w/ Delta Sync than UA has with Starlink or its in-flight products.
DL already has a viable product. Leo will be faster.
DL will no more be at a disadvantage when UA completes Starlink installations in 18 months – almost 4 years after they announced it which is hardly fast – than UA was at disadvantage for the 5 years that DL had free high speed WiFi when UA had at best a T Mobile system on 4 different WIFi providers.
If you’d like to tell us the size of UA’s disadvantage then and now, then we can start talking about a fractio of the disadvantage that DL will have going from Viasat/Hughes to Leo a few months after UA
Isn’t the point that Delta was never going to change for Wi-Fi, but wanted to mange the intake page in a way that Starlink would not allow? I don’t mean to be confusing with my use of Delta Sync…my point was simply that Delta needs more access to data in order to remain so profitable. It was not willing to sacrifice that for faster internet on a shorter time horizon.
I believe we may be missing the fact that Amazon will take every opportunity to best Musk and might have incentivized Delta to make this happen.
Add in the reasons you point out and this was a semi easy decision for Delta.
It’s a very true point that Amazon may have added incentives for Delta so sweet that was difficult to turn them down, as Delta becomes somewhat of a flagship launch customer for Leo.