CBS News
United inks deal with Starlink to provide free in-flight Wi-Fi
United Airlines will soon provide free Wi-Fi to passengers on flights after inking a deal with Starlink, the satellite constellation internet provider from Elon Musk-owned SpaceX.
The offering will set a new standard for in-flight Wi-Fi, which can often be costly and unreliable for passengers, the airline said in a statement Friday.
Starlink services will be available on United Airlines’ fleet of 1,000 aircraft, enabling customers to stream movies and television without buffering or requiring them to download content in advance. It will also let them browse the internet, upload and download files at fast speeds, and play online games.
United passengers will also be able to connect multiple mobile devices to the internet once, the companies said Friday. In the era of remote work, the service will allow United passengers to work from locations that wouldn’t typically offer connectivity.
The same technology is currently available to Hawaiian Airlines passengers on select flights. Currently, United provides paid Wi-Fi options to customers through four different providers. The service costs MileagePlus members $8, and nonmembers $10 to log on.
United will start testing the use of Starlink internet services in 2025. It’s expected to be deployed on passenger flights later that year.
“Everything you can do on the ground, you’ll soon be able to do onboard a United plane at 35,000 feet, just about anywhere in the world,” United CEO Scott Kirby said in a statement Friday. “This connectivity opens the door for an even better in-flight entertainment experience, in every seatback — more content, that’s more personalized. United’s culture of innovation is, once again, delivering big for our customers.”
Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer at SpaceX, said the partnership will “transform” flying.
“With Starlink onboard your United flight, you’ll have access to the world’s most advanced high-speed internet from gate to gate, and all the miles in between,” she said.
Starlink is enabled by low Earth orbit satellites that let it deliver low-latency internet in remote areas where cell or Wi-Fi signals aren’t typically available, like over oceans, according to the announcement.
Passengers have increasingly come to expect to be able to access the internet during flights. Nearly 80% of flight passengers connect to Wi-Fi when it’s made available to them, according to mobile satellite services provider Inmarsat.
The new deal could even let passengers take Zoom calls from the skies, once again redefining what remote work looks like.
NEW YORK — Former New York Gov. David Paterson and his stepson were attacked in New York City on Friday night, authorities said.
The incident occurred just before 9 p.m. on Second Avenue near East 96th Street on the Upper East Side, according to the New York City Police Department.
Police said officers were sent to the scene after an assault was reported. When officers arrived, police say they found a 20-year-old man suffering from facial injuries and a 70-year-old man who had head pain. Both victims were taken to a local hospital in stable condition.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the former governor said the two were attacked while “taking a walk around the block near their home by some individuals that had a previous interaction with his stepson.”
The spokesperson said that they were injured “but were able to fight off their attackers.”
Both were taken to Cornell Hospital “as a precaution,” he added.
Police said no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
The 70-year-old Paterson, a Democrat, served as governor from 2008 to 2010, stepping into the post after the resignation of Eliot Spitzer following his prostitution scandal. He made history at the time as the state’s first-ever Black and legally blind governor.
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
A 17-year-old boy was critically injured and a person is in custody after a gunman opened fire on a SEPTA bus in North Philadelphia Friday evening, police said.
At around 6:15 p.m., Philadelphia police were notified about a shooting on a SEPTA bus traveling on Allegheny Avenue near 3rd and 4th streets in North Philadelphia, Inspector D F Pace told CBS News Philadelphia.
There were an estimated 30 people on the bus at the time of the shooting, Pace said, but only the 17-year-old boy was believed to have been shot. Investigators said they believe it was a targeted attack on the teenager and that he was shot in the back of the bus at close range.
According to Pace, the SEPTA bus driver alerted a control center about the shooting, which then relayed the message to Philadelphia police, who responded to the scene shortly.
Officers arrived at the scene and found at least one spent shell casing and blood on the bus, but no shooting victim, Pace said. Investigators later discovered the 17-year-old had been taken to Temple University Hospital where he is said to be in critical condition, according to police.
CBS Philadelphia
Through their preliminary investigation, police learned those involved in the SEPTA shooting may have fled in a silver-colored Kia.
Authorities then found a car matching the description of the Kia speeding in the area and a pursuit began, Pace said. Police got help from a PPD helicopter as they followed the Kia, which ended up crashing at 5th and Greenwood streets in East Mount Airy. Pace said the Kia crashed into a parked car.
The driver of the crashed car ran away but police were still able to take them into custody, Pace said.
Investigators believe there was a second person involved in the shooting who ran from the car before it crashed. Police said they believe this person escaped near Allegheny Avenue and 4th Street, leaving a coat behind.
According to Pace, police also found a gun and a group of spent shell casings believed to be involved in the shooting in the same area.
“It’s very possible that there may have been a shooting inside the bus and also shots fired from outside of the bus toward the bus,” Pace said, “We’re still trying to piece all that together at this time.”
This is an active investigation and police are reviewing surveillance footage from the SEPTA bus.