‘It will get much worse’: Elon Musk says Delta made a grave error in shunning Starlink internet for Amazon’s solution

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Elon Musk is reigniting his feud with Delta Air Lines [NYSE: DAL] after the company passed on his Starlink satellite internet service in favor of Amazon’s competing network — and now, he’s pointing to passenger complaints about Delta’s wifi as proof that the airline made the wrong call.

On August 19, Musk responded on X to a post discussing passengers who said they were choosing airlines with Starlink-equipped planes over Delta.

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“Delta customers are now admitting that they’re booking flights with other airlines specifically for @Starlink,” @DogeDesigner post reads. “Many Delta customers are complaining on X and tagging the airline’s account, saying that Delta’s wifi is slow, unreliable, or sometimes doesn’t work at all.”

Musk responded quickly and concisely.

“I warned them,” he wrote. “It will get much worse.”

The comment comes several months after Delta announced a major partnership with Amazon Leo, Amazon’s satellite internet network which is a direct competitor to Starlink.

Why Delta is betting on Amazon Leo

Back in May, Ed Bastian, Delta’s chief executive officer, reportedly said the airline chose Amazon Leo because of its “improved bandwidth with a much lower price point than what [they’d] ever seen from Starlink.”

Starlink has become one of the biggest names in airline connectivity, with carriers including United, Southwest and Alaska adopting the technology. Amazon Leo, on the other hand, is essentially Amazon’s answer to Starlink — and, although it comes at a more accessible price point, its satellite network is still considerably smaller and is continuing to expand.

In fact, according to Speedcast, Amazon Leo only has 3,236 satellites, compared to Starlink’s more than 9,000 satellites.

Delta already offers free wifi to SkyMiles members on most of its aircraft, using technology from providers including T-Mobile, Viasat and Hughes. And the airline says its existing service has been rolled out to nearly 1,200 aircraft, reaching nearly its entire global network, with transpacific routes coming online in fall 2026.

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Delta plans to begin installing Amazon Leo on 500 aircraft in 2028. The service is expected to provide high-speed, low-latency wifi and remain free for SkyMiles members.

“Delta’s future is global,” Bastian stated in the partnership’s press release. “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 — creating even stronger human connection for our people and our customers for years to come.”

He added that the “durable partnership engine” would “keep customers coming back to Delta for years to come.” But that sentiment doesn’t seem to be shared amongst all Delta customers.

Passengers have increasingly been comparing Delta’s connectivity with the experience on airlines using Starlink. Recent social media posts have highlighted situations where travelers say they would choose a Starlink-equipped flight, even if it meant taking a less convenient route.

Musk says connectivity could get worse

Musk had previously warned the airline could lose customers by choosing Amazon instead of Starlink.

Delta, however, says the technology is designed to deliver high-speed, low-latency internet with greater upload capacity, allowing passengers to stream, work, share files and use multiple devices while flying. Amazon says Leo-equipped aircraft could support download speeds of up to 1 Gbps and uploads of up to 400 Mbps. Starlink users, on the other hand, typically experience download speeds of between 45 and 280 Mbps, and upload speeds of between 10 and 30 Mbps, according to the specifications.

Nevertheless, Musk is using complaints about Delta’s current connectivity to argue that the airline should have chosen Starlink. Whether his prediction comes true will likely depend less on social-media complaints and more on whether passengers actually begin choosing competing airlines based on their in-flight internet experience.

Either way, Delta’s Amazon Leo service isn’t expected to begin until 2028. That means the airline is making a long-term bet on Amazon while Starlink is already operating on competing carriers.

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This article originally appeared on Moneywise.com under the title: ‘It will get much worse’: Elon Musk says Delta made a grave error in shunning Starlink internet for Amazon’s solution

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