Aeroplan and United MileagePlus Launch Reciprocal Free In-Flight Wi-Fi

Aeroplan and United MileagePlus have launched a new reciprocal Wi-Fi benefit, giving members of either program complimentary onboard internet when flying on the other airline.

On the Air Canada side, the Wi-Fi is sponsored by Bell, runs gate to gate, and is available on flights within North America and to Sun destinations. Long-haul international routes are next in line for free Wi-Fi later in 2026.

On the United side, you'll need to be flying one of their Starlink-equipped aircraft to get the benefit, which is the part of the United fleet currently being upgraded with the new connectivity setup.

How to Get Free Wi-Fi as an Aeroplan Member on United

If your itinerary lands you on a Starlink-equipped United flight, the process is simple. Add your Aeroplan number to the booking, then sign in onboard.

• Add your Aeroplan number to your United reservation when you book, or after the fact through your United account.
• Sign in onboard using your date of birth and the United booking confirmation code (your PNR).

Once you're connected, you get the same fast Starlink connection that paying customers do – streaming speed, gate to gate, no hourly caps.

How to Get Free Wi-Fi as a MileagePlus Member on Air Canada

It works just as smoothly in the other direction, although the sign-in flow on Air Canada is slightly different.

• Add your MileagePlus number to your Air Canada booking.
• Log in through the onboard Wi-Fi portal using your last name and seat number.

The eligibility list for free Wi-Fi on Air Canada is actually broader than just Aeroplan members. Four groups qualify in total.

• Business Class passengers, on any eligible route in the network.
• Aeroplan members who add their number to the booking.
• Companions on the same reservation as an Aeroplan member.
• United MileagePlus members who add their number to the booking.

That third bullet is a useful one to highlight. If you're flying with family or friends and only one person on the booking is an Aeroplan member, everyone on that reservation gets the free Wi-Fi. You don't need to be an elite, you don't need a paid Wi-Fi subscription, and you don't need to fly in business class to qualify.

Free Instant Messaging Is a Separate Perk for Aeroplan Members

If you fly Air Canada often, this one's worth knowing about. There's also a free Instant Messaging service for Aeroplan members on Wi-Fi-equipped flights, which runs as its own program apart from the full Wi-Fi benefit.

The Instant Messaging service works with iMessage, WhatsApp, Messenger, Google Messages, WeChat, LINE, KakaoTalk, Telegram, and Viber. You can't send photos, videos, or attachments, and voice over IP isn't supported, but for staying in touch on a quick flight it does the job.

You don't need to buy a Wi-Fi pass to use it – just have your Aeroplan number on the booking and you're set.

International Free Wi-Fi Coming Later in 2026

The most exciting piece of this rollout is still ahead. Air Canada has confirmed that complimentary Wi-Fi will expand to long-haul international flights later in 2026.

No specific date has been published yet, but that's the part to watch. International flights are where in-flight Wi-Fi matters most. Long-haul is where you actually want a few hours of solid working time, and historically, international Wi-Fi has been the most expensive to buy by the hour.

Once it's live, you'll be able to land in Tokyo, Frankfurt, or Dubai having stayed connected the entire way over, simply because you put your Aeroplan number on the booking.

A Privacy Caveat Worth Reading

There's one bit of fine print worth flagging. To use Air Canada's free Wi-Fi, Aeroplan members have to consent to Air Canada using their personal information for targeted advertising and to the airline collecting their browsing data for ad measurement.

It's the standard "free service paid for with your data" trade-off that comes with most complimentary in-flight Wi-Fi. If you're not comfortable with the personalized ad tracking, you can still pay for Wi-Fi the old-fashioned way and skip the consent step.

Why Free Wi-Fi Now Drives My Booking Decisions

For me, in-flight Wi-Fi has quietly become one of the biggest factors in how I rate a flight. Long stretches of dead time on planes used to feel like a tax I paid for travel. Now, with a fast connection, the same flight can go from a chore to one of my more productive blocks of the week.

It's gotten to the point where I'll honestly take an economy seat with Wi-Fi over premium economy without it. That's not a sentence I would have written even three years ago, but here we are. The cabin matters less when you can actually get work done, message friends and family on the ground, or stream a show without buffering halfway through.

So a partnership like this one, where my Aeroplan number unlocks Starlink on United and a friend's MileagePlus number unlocks Bell-powered Wi-Fi on Air Canada, is exactly the kind of move that shifts my booking behaviour. It removes one more reason to default to premium cabins for the wrong reasons, and it makes the cross-border points game a little more pleasant at altitude.

Conclusion

If you're an Aeroplan member who occasionally hops on United for a US route, or a MileagePlus member who flies Air Canada more than once or twice a year, this is one more reason to make sure both loyalty numbers are attached to every reservation. Free Wi-Fi on a five-hour transcon is the kind of perk that pays back the 30 seconds it takes to add a number at booking.

Honestly, the bigger story here is the international rollout. If 2026 really is the year free Wi-Fi reaches Air Canada's long-haul network, the in-flight internet experience as we knew it – buy a connection by the hour, hope it works for half the flight – starts to look like a relic.

Before your next flight, make sure to double-check that your Aeroplan or MileagePlus number is actually on the reservation. The benefit only triggers if it's on the booking before you board, and it's the kind of thing that's easy to skip when you're booking quickly through an OTA or a corporate travel portal.