WiFi Odds · American
Inflight WiFi as a forecast · figures checked daily · this build 25 Jul 2026
The forecast · tier D

American inflight WiFi

51
ConnectScore mixed · ranked 11 of 18

American scores 51 out of 100, which is mixed, and sits 11 of 18 on the board. Nobody publishes per-tail data for this fleet, so this is a number about the airline and nothing narrower. The signed deal below counts zero until hardware flies.

type-resolved · 2 fleet segments over 989 aircraft with a published system, added up = 51 / 100

Reported · fleet state compiled from public American announcements, Jul 2026 · quality weights from Ookla Speedtest Intelligence, 28 Apr 2026

Free Viasat/Intelsat on ~90% of the fleet today. Airbus-only Starlink from 2027. Boeing stays Viasat.

Today in figures

Where the rollout stands

as of 2026-07
890 / 989
Aircraft equipped
90% of the fleet carries Viasat.
Viasat
System
Geostationary hardware. Slower, and it scores 0.55 out of 1.00.
free onboard
Cost onboard
Free-for-you factor 1.00.
51
ConnectScore
Band: mixed (18 airlines ranked).

Signed for later, and scored zero

American has starlink signed from 2027-Q1 (500+ Airbus aircraft signed). ConnectScore counts zero for hardware that is not flying yet, because a deal you cannot connect to is not connectivity.

What the signed count would be worth

51installs begin 2027-Q1FIRM

Reported Runway Girl Network, 2026-05-26: American pivots to Starlink for 500+ Airbus narrowbodies, 26 MAY 2026.

That is the next-gen number this fleet would carry if the deal lands as announced: 500 of 989 aircraft committed × 1.00 low-earth orbit × 1.00 free-for-you. A committed share of the fleet, not a measurement. None of them are flying it yet. It is grey by rule, it sorts nothing, and it never appears without the date beside it. All four projections, and the rules →

The ledger · type-resolved

How the 51 is built

Every aircraft American flies, by system, priced. The rows add up to the published ConnectScore, and the top row on its own is the next-gen number. The build fails if they stop adding up.

SegmentAircraftShareShare of the fleetQualityFreePoints
Viasat or Intelsat
Free for everyone. American names both systems and publishes no split, but both are modern GEO on the measured numbers, so the range does not widen.

Reported American free-wifi announcement; RGN, 2026-05-26 · 2026-07

89090.0%
0.551.0049.5
Panasonic
The widebodies, explicitly excluded from the free offer.

Reported American onboard wifi page · 2026-07

9910.0%
0.220.701.5
ConnectScore989100%51
Next-gen odds, the top row on its own0.0%0

989 aircraft with a published system. Segments come from a published fleet table by aircraft type. Points are shown to one decimal place; the unrounded rows sum to 51.04, which rounds to the published 51.

Unpublished splits: Viasat or Intelsat (890 aircraft). American free-wifi announcement; RGN, 2026-05-26 would settle it.

The playbook

What to do about it

Four things, in the order they become useful. Every one of them is available at tier D, which is the tier this page was derived at. Anything this fleet cannot support has been cut from the list.

American WiFi questions

Does American have Viasat WiFi?

American has Viasat on 890 of its 989 aircraft (90%) as of 2026-07, so it is close to a sure thing. Its ConnectScore is 51 out of 100, in the mixed band.

Is American’s WiFi free?

On American it is free onboard. ConnectScore multiplies the fleet share by a free-for-you factor, so a paid or unconfirmed free claim scores lower than the same fleet given away free.

How many American planes have Viasat?

890 of 989, or 90% of the fleet. Compiled from public airline announcements, July 2026.

ConnectScore is an expected value over a whole fleet, not a prediction about one flight: United measured 320, 56 and 15 Mbps on three systems in one livery in one reporting period. Aircraft whose system an airline does not publish are left out of the denominator rather than assumed. Signed-but-unflown deals (AA Starlink 2027, DL/B6 Amazon Leo) score zero until they fly.
Add an observation

What the record cannot see

Everything on this page comes from what American has published about its own fleet. Nobody has published what it was like in the seat. If you flew American this month, thirty seconds here is a data point nobody else has.

The captive portal usually names it.

Every submission lands unpublished and a person reads it before it appears here. No account, no cookie, no email field. The full form, with speed and latency boxes, is on the methodology page.

Reported Fleet state compiled from public American announcements, Jul 2026. Quality weights: Ookla Speedtest Intelligence, 28 Apr 2026. Full credit and citation →