Originally Posted by dmsdfw

I had an incident a couple of years ago where we missed check-in time for the late afternoon SFO->DFW flight by about ten minutes and weren't allowed on even though we had checked in on-line because we had bags to check. Fair enough - I should have got there earlier.

However, the check-in agent wanted $250 each to rebook us on the next flight since it didn't leave until 12:15 am which she saw as next-day and therefore not eligible for standby. I called the EXP desk immediately who said that this wasn't the rule at all and not only could I standby for that next flight but my status would put me top of the list. I ended up having to hand my phone to the check-in agent who, after about five minutes of defensive discussion with the EXP desk, agreed to do the standby but made it clear she didn't agree with it and was going to add a note to the locator to say as much.

In the end, we were #1 and #2 of about ten on the standby list and got on the later flight without further issue. Therefore, in this case at least, standby from a missed last flight of the day worked and the comment from the EXP desk along with the fact that we ended up top of the list suggested that the flat tire rule didn't reduce our standby priority in any way.