Last month, American Airlines announced that they will begin offering free Wi-Fi in January 2026. The airline is partnering with AT&T, and passengers must be a part of the AAdvantage program for the offering.
Prior to that announcement, American had been testing free Wi-Fi on a few select routes, to which they said it “…surpassed performance expectations.” American will begin another series of tests starting on Monday, this time on a larger number of routes.
“We’re kicking off another free Wi-Fi test on Monday that will run through June 1 and offer free Wi-Fi on more than 50 daily flights from CLT, DFW, JFK, LAX, LGA, MKE and SAN,” American Airlines chief customer officer Heather Garboden said.
“All of this work is helping us get ready to deliver free Wi-Fi, powered by Intelsat and Viasat, to AAdvantage® members beginning in January 2026, sponsored by AT&T. Plus, we’re equipping our regional aircraft with satellite Wi-Fi and already have more than 25% of our regional jets flying with high-speed Wi-Fi today.”
In addition to observing the strength of its inflight connectivity systems, this additional testing on a broader number of routes should give American a better idea regarding passenger behavior accessing free Wi-Fi when given the length of the flight, cabin class, and other factors.
In 2026, American’s aircraft that are equipped with Viasat and Intelsat’s inflight connectivity systems will get this free Wi-Fi. The fleet equipped with Panasonic, however, will not get free connectivity as it doesn’t have sufficient bandwidth to handle a spike in passengers accessing free Wi-Fi. This means that almost all of its narrowbody fleet will have free Wi-Fi, but only a select number of widebodies will.
All photos taken by the author.
