Which airlines have no wifi?
Ryanair and easyJet, the two biggest low-cost carriers in Europe, fly with no onboard wifi at all. Frontier has neither wifi nor seatback screens. Wizz Air has announced Starlink and is still fitting it. Nothing needing a network works on those flights. GPS does, because it only receives.
Airline details checked July 2026
Europe: the low-cost fleets are offline
Ryanair carries more passengers than any other airline in Europe and has no wifi on any aircraft. It has looked at satellite options and concluded the economics do not work on short hops. easyJet is in the same position. Between them that is a very large share of everything flying out of Stansted, Luton, Gatwick and the European bases.
Wizz Air is the exception in progress: it has announced Starlink and is rolling it out, so treat any individual Wizz flight as uncertain until it is fitted.
These are also A320-family and 737 narrowbodies, which means no seatback screen either. There is no moving map to watch and nothing to tell you what is below.
| Airline | Onboard wifi | Seatback screens |
|---|---|---|
| Ryanair | None | None |
| easyJet | None | None |
| Wizz Air | Starlink announced, rolling out | None |
| Frontier | None | None |
| Southwest | Yes, paid | None, streaming to your device |
The US: the screens are going, not the wifi
The American picture is the other way round. Wifi is common, but the seatback screen is disappearing from short and medium-haul narrowbodies. American, United and Alaska have all been removing them, and Southwest never fitted them across its 737 fleet. The moving map went with them.
So on a growing number of US domestic flights you can buy connectivity, but the map on the seatback in front of you no longer exists. Delta is the notable holdout, still fitting screens.
What still works with the radios off
GPS. It is a receiver, not a transmitter: your phone listens to satellites and works out where it is without sending anything back, which is why Airplane Mode does not switch it off. Download the map for your region before you board and the position, the route, the altitude and the name of the town below all keep working for the whole flight.
You do not need to buy wifi to know where you are. That is the job SkyDot does.
Questions
Does Ryanair have wifi?
No. Ryanair does not offer onboard wifi on any aircraft, and has said the cost does not make sense for the short sectors it flies. Plan for a fully offline flight.
Does easyJet have wifi?
No. easyJet has no onboard internet. As with Ryanair, the economics of fitting satellite connectivity to short-haul narrowbodies have not worked out yet.
Can I still see where the plane is without wifi or a seatback screen?
Yes. Your phone’s GPS works in Airplane Mode, because it receives satellite signals rather than transmitting. With an offline map downloaded before departure, you get your live position, altitude, speed and the place below without any connection.
Why do budget airlines skip wifi?
Weight, installation cost and fuel burn against short average sector lengths. On a ninety-minute hop the equipment cost per passenger is hard to justify, which is the reason Ryanair has given publicly.