Nov 8, 2015, 3:40 pm
Last edit by: Prospero
American Airlines Same Day Standby Policy and Discussion
(Not to be confused with SDFC / Same Day Flight Change - see links below)
Standby has its own rules and peculiarities: (As of 14 Jan 2016)
Same-day standby
Standby for a fee (waived for AA Elites)
For $75 on domestic flights, you may standby on an earlier flight under the following conditions:
*Standby between NYC-LON is offered for $150.
AAdvantage elite members may use the standby option for earlier or later flights.
Though it appeared those with checked bags were being denied SDS, JonNYC clarified that AA affirmed AA Elites are allowed to SDS if they have checked bags. Link.
Complimentary standby
Get complimentary same-day standby with:
Complimentary same-day standby is also available for:
Link
The following passengers may standby at no charge based on availability:
Link
Q. What happens to my upgrade if I stand by for another flight?
Your upgrade and position will be lost. You can not be added to the upgrade list on your desired flight until you have cleared from standby. At that point, it may be too late to request your upgrade, given upgrade requests are normally processed prior to the standby list.
See "Airport Upgrade and Standby List" / Order, PALL List and issues (FT)
Previous posts have been archived and can be read here
Standby is not the same thing as SDFC / Same Day Confirmed Flight Change:
See "Domestic" Same Day Confirmed Flight Change / SDFC / CFC / "Standby" or
International Same Day Flight Change / SDFC / SDC / CDC
(Not to be confused with SDFC / Same Day Flight Change - see links below)
Standby has its own rules and peculiarities: (As of 14 Jan 2016)
Same-day standby
Standby for a fee (waived for AA Elites)
For $75 on domestic flights, you may standby on an earlier flight under the following conditions:
- Standby is not allowed for international flights*.
- Has the same origin and destination
- Is for the same calendar day of departure
- Is marketed and operated by American Airlines or American Eagle
- Changes to another multi-city airport or to different connecting cities are not allowed
- You can standby for your originally purchased cabin (not upgraded cabin)
- Standby means upgrades on the original flights are lost (you can not be on an upgrade list until your standby has cleared)
- Standby pax may be required to gate check carry-on baggage
- Standby is prioritized - see "PALL List" link below
*Standby between NYC-LON is offered for $150.
AAdvantage elite members may use the standby option for earlier or later flights.
Though it appeared those with checked bags were being denied SDS, JonNYC clarified that AA affirmed AA Elites are allowed to SDS if they have checked bags. Link.
Complimentary standby
Get complimentary same-day standby with:
- Unrestricted Economy Class (Y fare), Business or First Class tickets
- American Airlines AAdvantage Executive Platinum, Platinum, Platinum Pro or Gold status and companions in same record
- oneworld® Emerald, Sapphire or Ruby status and companions in same record
- AirPass membership
- First and Business Class MileSAAver award tickets
- AAnytime award tickets
- Choice Plus fares
Complimentary same-day standby is also available for:
- Active U.S. military personnel traveling on orders or personal travel
- Active U.S. military dependents traveling on orders
Link
The following passengers may standby at no charge based on availability:
- Customers who purchase unrestricted Economy Class fares (Y class of service)
- Customers who purchase Business or First Class tickets
- Active U.S. military personnel traveling on orders or personal travel
- Active U.S. military dependents traveling on orders
- American Airlines AAdvantage® Executive Platinum, Platinum Pro, Platinum or Gold members
- oneworld® alliance Emerald, Sapphire or Ruby members
- Customers flying on the same reservation as an American Airlines AAdvantage Executive Platinum, Platinum or Gold member or oneworld alliance Emerald, Sapphire or Ruby member regardless of frequent flyer status or fare type
- AAirpass® members
- First and Business Class MileSAAver® Awards
- First, Business and Economy Class AAnytime® Awards
- Customers who purchase a Choice Plus fare
Link
Q. What happens to my upgrade if I stand by for another flight?
Your upgrade and position will be lost. You can not be added to the upgrade list on your desired flight until you have cleared from standby. At that point, it may be too late to request your upgrade, given upgrade requests are normally processed prior to the standby list.
See "Airport Upgrade and Standby List" / Order, PALL List and issues (FT)
Previous posts have been archived and can be read here
Standby is not the same thing as SDFC / Same Day Confirmed Flight Change:
See "Domestic" Same Day Confirmed Flight Change / SDFC / CFC / "Standby" or
International Same Day Flight Change / SDFC / SDC / CDC
Same Day Standby / SDS (not SDFC) Rules & Discussion (master thread)
Feb 18, 2017, 1:57 pm
#422
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: FIND ME ON TWITTER FOR THE LATEST
Posts: 27,730
A friend of mine shared this story with me and I was curious on opinions.
She works for AA and was utilizing the non-rev benefits, and was one of the last ones to board a the flt from CLT-LAX. She was cleared a seat on the aisle, and when she got to her seat, a passenger was sitting in her seat. Upon realizing this, she notified them it was her seat. The person looked up at her scoffed, made a comment about her travel badge and how if she is an employee and she gets whatever she gets, and refused to move. This was a full flight and so she just gave in and walked back eight rows and took the leftover middle seat I assume belonged to the poacher.
I personally told her I thought that was wrong, and employee non-reving or not, you were given an assigned seat and you should have had said seat. I told her she should had notified the FA, but she was afraid that because she wasn't a revenue pax the FA would not help.
I think that is wrong, I certainly don't think it's right for a non-rev to help themselves to someone else's seat just because, I also don't feel it's right for a revenue pax to just help themselves to a nonrevs seat just because.
Thoughts?
She works for AA and was utilizing the non-rev benefits, and was one of the last ones to board a the flt from CLT-LAX. She was cleared a seat on the aisle, and when she got to her seat, a passenger was sitting in her seat. Upon realizing this, she notified them it was her seat. The person looked up at her scoffed, made a comment about her travel badge and how if she is an employee and she gets whatever she gets, and refused to move. This was a full flight and so she just gave in and walked back eight rows and took the leftover middle seat I assume belonged to the poacher.
I personally told her I thought that was wrong, and employee non-reving or not, you were given an assigned seat and you should have had said seat. I told her she should had notified the FA, but she was afraid that because she wasn't a revenue pax the FA would not help.
I think that is wrong, I certainly don't think it's right for a non-rev to help themselves to someone else's seat just because, I also don't feel it's right for a revenue pax to just help themselves to a nonrevs seat just because.
Thoughts?
Can't quite see the relevance to this thread, per se. Maybe this thread?
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...solidated.html
Feb 18, 2017, 3:06 pm
#423
Join Date: Apr 2015
Programs: AA Gold, Enterprise PLT, Marriott Gold
Posts: 604
Can't quite see the relevance to this thread, per se. Maybe this thread?
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...solidated.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...solidated.html
Feb 19, 2017, 2:18 pm
#424
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: San Antonio
Programs: DL DM, Former AA EXP now AY Plat, AC 75K, NW Plat, Former CO Gold, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 27,042
AFAIK non-revs are always supposed to give way to revenue passengers. Doesn't matter what the issue is. Meal choice, or choice of seat assignment, both should defer to revenue passenger. I know at most airlines the employee would actually be in trouble if they didn't defer to the paying customer.
Feb 20, 2017, 2:48 pm
#425
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: ORD
Programs: AA PLT
Posts: 2,781
Recent data point on standing by for a later flight: calling isn't necessary. I tweeted AA, and they were able to not only get my ticket set correctly, but actually added me to the list without having to be at the airport. Pretty painless.
Feb 20, 2017, 6:24 pm
#426
Join Date: Sep 2016
Programs: AA Plat
Posts: 122
Twitter team is great! They can usually solve 99% of my issues. Forget calls and emails- TWEET TWEET!
Feb 20, 2017, 6:43 pm
#427
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: SFO/STS
Programs: AA EXP, HH Diamond
Posts: 396
Confirmed Standby for EXP
Had a great experience last week flying MAF-DFW-SFO. Finished work a day early so I showed up for the 05:00 flt to DFW (was scheduled on the 16:24 later that day). Went straight to the gate and when the agent arrived, I requested to go standby. I had already received the upgrade for my scheduled flight that afternoon and he was not sure that he had seats available. He indicated that he recently learned that EXPs could get a confirmed seat on same day standby without paying the $75 fee. That said, he gave me confirmed seats on both legs and put me on the upgrade list. I shot to #1 on both flights and got the upgrade for both legs at the gate(s).
Feb 20, 2017, 7:51 pm
#428
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: LAX
Programs: AA Plat, UA Gold
Posts: 609
Made a huge rookie mistake today. Was rushing to the gate to try and get on standby as boarding was finishing (plenty of seats still available). I just assumed first class would be full (LAX-ORD). I took the only aisle seat left in the back over a middle exit row towards the front.
As I boarded, I was one of the last people, I noticed 2 F seats still empty. I got back to my seat in the back and pulled up the seat map on expert flyer and sure enough those 2 F seats were showing as open.
Was there anything I could have done at that point to get moved up to F using stickers? We were so close to door closing that I didn't think getting off the plane to go talk to the gate agent would have been possible.
As I boarded, I was one of the last people, I noticed 2 F seats still empty. I got back to my seat in the back and pulled up the seat map on expert flyer and sure enough those 2 F seats were showing as open.
Was there anything I could have done at that point to get moved up to F using stickers? We were so close to door closing that I didn't think getting off the plane to go talk to the gate agent would have been possible.
AA agents selectively enforce these standby rules. I've been able to do standby on intl itins, award flights, and 1stop to direct flights. This is why I always ask. If the agents were consistent, I wouldn't try to push my luck.
Feb 21, 2017, 8:45 am
#429
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: PHL
Programs: AA - Plat, HHonors - Diamond, IHG - Plat, Marriott - Gold, National - Exec, Amtrak - Select, NEXUS
Posts: 1,075
Had a great experience last week flying MAF-DFW-SFO. Finished work a day early so I showed up for the 05:00 flt to DFW (was scheduled on the 16:24 later that day). Went straight to the gate and when the agent arrived, I requested to go standby. I had already received the upgrade for my scheduled flight that afternoon and he was not sure that he had seats available. He indicated that he recently learned that EXPs could get a confirmed seat on same day standby without paying the $75 fee. That said, he gave me confirmed seats on both legs and put me on the upgrade list. I shot to #1 on both flights and got the upgrade for both legs at the gate(s).
That agent must have "recently" been trained/re-trained on the correct policy, as it's been this way at least since I came over to AA from US during the merger. The only time an EXP should go on standby is when there is no available seat at the time of the request.
Feb 21, 2017, 8:56 am
#430
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: San Antonio
Programs: DL DM, Former AA EXP now AY Plat, AC 75K, NW Plat, Former CO Gold, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 27,042
No-charge SDFC (different from SDSB, the subject of this thread) is a standard benefit for EXP when a seat is available on a same-day flight subject to the SDFC rules, but that's a different thread.
That agent must have "recently" been trained/re-trained on the correct policy, as it's been this way at least since I came over to AA from US during the merger. The only time an EXP should go on standby is when there is no available seat at the time of the request.
That agent must have "recently" been trained/re-trained on the correct policy, as it's been this way at least since I came over to AA from US during the merger. The only time an EXP should go on standby is when there is no available seat at the time of the request.
Feb 28, 2017, 11:17 am
#431
Join Date: May 2015
Location: LAX
Programs: AA Platinum
Posts: 10
I travel every month LAX-IAH-LAX. Every time I call up the plat desk and ask for same day standby on the 12:30 am LAX-DFW and then the 7 am DFW-IAH, and they always pull through and I always make the flights, even clearing into F every time DFW-IAH. Every time I have had no issue. But isn't that against the rules? I thought you could not add a connection? I'm thinking that if they will allow me to add a connection I should be able to go standby LAX-MIA-IAH as the times work perfectly plus I'll get a leg on the 77W. Going to try this later this month. Anyone see any issues with them not allowing it?
Mar 1, 2017, 2:06 pm
#432
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Sacramento - SMF
Programs: AA PLT/1MM
Posts: 68
I had a different experience a while back flying CLT-CAK.
Inbound flight arrived way early so dashed to gate to SDSB. Gate agent said she couldn't do it for me because I wasn't EXP (was PLT at the time), so sent me to customer service.
Customer Service agent hemmed and hawed for a bit and told me the same thing. I asked if something had changed in the last week as I'd done a SDSB just the week before. She 'relented' and handed me a new boarding pass. Apparently, they were all confusing SDSB with SDFC.
I chalked it up to being a learning curve issue for former US agents trying to understand AA policies.
Inbound flight arrived way early so dashed to gate to SDSB. Gate agent said she couldn't do it for me because I wasn't EXP (was PLT at the time), so sent me to customer service.
Customer Service agent hemmed and hawed for a bit and told me the same thing. I asked if something had changed in the last week as I'd done a SDSB just the week before. She 'relented' and handed me a new boarding pass. Apparently, they were all confusing SDSB with SDFC.
I chalked it up to being a learning curve issue for former US agents trying to understand AA policies.
Mar 1, 2017, 6:14 pm
#433
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: US
Programs: AAdvantage
Posts: 1,753
AFAIK non-revs are always supposed to give way to revenue passengers. Doesn't matter what the issue is. Meal choice, or choice of seat assignment, both should defer to revenue passenger. I know at most airlines the employee would actually be in trouble if they didn't defer to the paying customer.
Last edited by ThreeJulietTango; Mar 1, 2017 at 6:19 pm
Mar 2, 2017, 12:34 am
#434
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: San Antonio
Programs: DL DM, Former AA EXP now AY Plat, AC 75K, NW Plat, Former CO Gold, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 27,042
I don't believe this applies to a seat poacher. The employee is expected to accept any available seat, but customers are not entitled to take seats assigned to employees (or to anyone else, really). The situation could have been avoided by the employee not wearing their badge, at which point the revenue passenger wouldn't have felt so entitled.
Mar 2, 2017, 12:37 am
#435
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: US
Programs: AAdvantage
Posts: 1,753
Without prominently displaying employee ID, I don't see the harm in advising an FA that one's seat is occupied. I doubt they're observant enough to notice the lack of a ticket number, or that a non-exit seat is assigned