Seats.aero Price Increase, EasyJet Gets Starlink, and More

Weekly News Roundup: Seats.aero Price Increase, ANA Limits Standby, EasyJet Gets Starlink, and More

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The end of the month is normally pretty quiet in the points and miles world. Most card issuers, hotels, and airlines typically prefer to wait for the beginning of the month to make major announcements. That wasn't the case this week.

We've brought you breaking news about two refreshed Citi / American Airlines credit cards, BWH Hotels uniting under the WorldHotels loyalty program, Bilt's major 2027 program updates (and November's Bilt Rent Day details), and American Express launching savings account redemptions. That's a lot of information for one week.

Here's the other travel news you might've missed this week, including a Seats.aero price increase, new airline routes, and a surprising airline getting Starlink.

Last Call: Seats.aero Memberships Increase

Seats.aero is one of my favorite award search tools, and one of the few I can confidently say is worth the price. Unfortunately, that price is going up on November 9. Luckily, it's not by much. Starting November 9, 2026, a Seats.aero Pro subscription will increase to $12.99 per month (up from $9.99) or $109.99 per year (up from $99.99).

An extra $10 a year is likely justified, as the platform has released a slew of new features in the last year alone. However, Seats.aero is unique — it grandfathers users in at their current pricing. In other words, if you sign up before November 9, you can pay $99.99 for the lifetime of your account. If you think you might want the pro version, which comes with features like up to one year of availability, advanced filters, unlimited alerts, and more, you should go ahead and register now.

ANA No Longer Allows Standby on Partner Tickets

As first reported by Loyalty Lobby, it appears that ANA will no longer allow you to fly standby on partner-issued award tickets. It's still possible if you book through ANA, but if you book through Star Alliance partners like United MileagePlus, you can't access the standby list. Unless you travel to Japan often, this likely won't have a huge impact, but it's still worth knowing.

EasyJet Rolls Out Starlink

In a twist, low-cost carrier EasyJet plans to add Starlink fleetwide. The carrier announced an aggressive rollout schedule, with deployment set to start in the first half of 2027 and finish by early 2028. It will be deployed across the airline's A320, A320neo, and A321neo fleet, letting passengers stay connected in-flight or order from the in-flight menu directly from their seats.

If you frequently travel within Europe, this is a very exciting development. However, I'd be shocked if this was free for all passengers, as virtually nothing is free when you fly on EasyJet. Only time will tell.

EasyJet plane taking off above a body of water

New Routes

Alaska Airlines unveiled four new routes from Anchorage starting in Spring 2027. Three of them are expected: Austin (AUS), Nashville (BNA), and Dallas (DFW). But one route is a surprise: Tokyo (NRT). What makes this so surprising isn't the destination itself but the plane that gets you there. You'll fly on a Boeing 737 MAX 8. That's right — the roughly eight-hour journey will be operated on a single-aisle aircraft with no lie-flat seats. It will operate daily in the summer (through September 7) and three times weekly in the winter beginning January 2028.

In addition, Aeromexico just launched three new routes [caution: PDF link] from Mexico City (MEX): Orange County (SNA), Fort Lauderdale (FLL), and Portland (PDX).

Finally, United has already announced 13 new routes for 2027, but there are even more exciting routes on the horizon. United announced a new route from Chicago (ORD) to Bermuda (BDA). In addition, the carrier will launch two new routes and resume service to an additional route from San Francisco (SFO): Charleston (CHS), Hartford (BDL), and Oklahoma City (OKC), respectively.

Bottom Line

Once again, we've had a relatively light week in the “extra” news department. If you want to lock in current pricing, make sure to register for a Seats.aero Pro membership this week. Otherwise, look to 2027 for EasyJet Wi-Fi and a variety of new routes.

Enjoy your Halloween weekend!

Check out all the weekly news roundups from October to see any other news you might've missed: