Delta Airlines to Elon Musk: We chose Amazon Leo and not Spacex because we want to work with a company that ...

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk recently alleged Delta Airlines of rejecting its space internet service Starlink over Amazon’s Leo. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the world’s richest man alleged that the real issue was the airline requiring passengers to access the in-flight Wi-Fi using the Delta Sync portal, which forces customers to log in with an account number for SkyMiles, the airline’s frequent-flyer program. Now, Delta Airlines has responded to Musk’s claim. In a statement to PC Mag, the airline said “The assertion in question is not accurate”, claiming that incorporating Delta Sync with Starlink would have been permitted under SpaceX's in-flight Wi-Fi agreement. It further stated that it want to deepen work with “a global leader that shares our ambition to build what’s next.”


Replying to this, Musk wrote on X: “They will lose passengers over this”.

Delta Airlines on why it chose Amazon's LEO

As quoted by X user Sawyer Meritt, Delta Airlines explained why it chose Amazon’s Leo saying:


“This agreement gives us the fastest and most cost-effective technology available to better connect the world today, and it deepens our work with a global leader that shares our ambition to build what’s next.”


The airline is reportedly targeting 2028 to start offering Leo in-flight Wi-Fi on about half of its fleet.

What Elon Musk said after Delta Airlines chose Amazon’s Leo over Starlink

Responding to an X post claiming “Delta rejected adopting SpaceX's @Starlink on its fleet because it wanted to provide internet connectivity to passengers via the Delta Sync portal, instead of the Starlink-branded portal,” Musk said that SpaceX mandates effortless, no-portal WiFi experience equivalent to home use, making Delta's approach customer-unfriendly and likely to lag competitors installing Starlink now. Here’s what he 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”.