On DL, from my experience, if you are traveling on a discounted fare, you can't change the routing if you want to fly standby for the same day you are ticketed. For example, if you are ticketed for the afternoon LAX-CVG-DCA flight, they won't let you on the morning LAX-ATL-DCA flight.

Is US so strict? I'm US Preferred Gold so I should know, but I don't. Any experiences?

[This message has been edited by Skylink USA (edited 02-06-2001).]

I find it depends on how full the flights are and what airport you're at. One time, I was flying PVD-PHL-LAX, and my upgrade PHL-LAX had not cleared. I politely asked the agent in PVD if I could get on the flight to PIT and then on to LAX from there. She said, "Sure, no problem. I can even get you the upgrade from PIT to LAX and it gets you in a little bit sooner."

I have a feeling that if the flights were more full, or if I was in PHL or BOS (for example) instead of PVD, I would've gotten a very different response.

So, in short, it CAN be done, but I think you have to get lucky and have all the right circumstances fall into place.

------------------
"Visualise whirled peas."

NATHAN PRODUCTIONS
Professional Music, Audio Production, and Website Design
http://www.nathanproductions.com

If you are changing your connecting cities, that would be considered a "reroute" and therefore you would be assessed the change fee. As far as I know, you might be allowed to standby for an earlier flight provided that the routing does not change.

Originally posted by aw:
If you are changing your connecting cities, that would be considered a "reroute" and therefore you would be assessed the change fee.I'm not too sure about that!

Prior to having any status with US, I had a PHL-SFO itinerary. It was in late April and my roommate was flying out as well so we carpooled. I arrived a little earlier than I would have liked at PHL and didn't want to wait around so I had asked to be routed PHL-BWI-SFO, which would get me into SFO earlier AND get me an extra 1000 miles due to the Double Miles promo last spring.

in most circumstance transit reroute at the gate is not treated as "true" reroute. i know this is true for ua/aa, i believe us follows the same rule. (of course, subject to the last minute capacity utilization...)

[This message has been edited by pegasus8228 (edited 02-07-2001).]

I did a mileage run in December and did a lot of standbys to change to different flights.
The counter agent charged the "change" fee for a reroute (PIT - ATL changed to PIT-CLT-ATL). Later I talked to Gold Customer Service and the Special Services counter and they refunded the change fee. They said as long as the ticket rules allowed day of travel standbys then only the origin/destination matter and reroute should Not have been charged as a change.

I've spent a lot of time flying standby on US and have learned some important rules: first, the gate agent can do anything; second, your fare will probably indicate, in detail, what you can and cannot do. Surprisingly, you can often do a lot of things standby under the fare and the agents need to be shown the language in the fare (if they at first refuse the polite request); third, sometimes pulling out the details of the fare and showing the possibilties of what can be done to the agent is enough to convince him/her without them triple checking (and finding a problem). I always print out the fare basis when I purchase the e ticket.

I'm just a lowly Silver Pre. and I was ticketed SAN-PHL-RDU but the check-in agent changed me to SAN-PIT-RDU flight leaving 40 minutes later.

I had spent 20,000 miles to upgrade but the PHL flight was 319 and full in FC. The PIT flight was a 757 and had some space. I had asked for standby but he confirmed my wife and I the entire way. Nice Guy.

Our tickets were mega discounted ($218 for each which was the RT fare) and he still switched it. Perhaps it depends on the agent and how nice you talked.

From what I've been reading in this forum, it seems that US Airways is more lenient than most other carriers when it comes to standby, especially towards its Preferred members.

I agree with most of you that the gate agent has the last saying. My point is that if you were to make a change in your connecting city to fly standby and you call reservations, chances are that you would be assessed a fee because in airline language you are "rerouting". Say you fly from MIA-CLT-SFO and you decide to go MIA-PIT-SFO. If you are holding a paper ticket, my experience has been that your coupon needs to match the segments you are flying. A ticket reissue constitutes a change w/a penalty fee in most cases. Does this rule apply everytime? Of course not! it would be naive on my part to say that things are black and white. However, if you try this on UA, they would just say NO!

It would seem to me that the point of flying standby on an earlier flight is to try to get home earlier.

If you have a connection enroute and you arrive at your connecting city early and nothing is available on the earlier connecting flights you at least have your confirmed flight to go on.

If you change your connecting city by standing by for an earlier flight somewhere else, what happens when nothing is open to get you to your final destination? You have no confirmed seat to get you there.

It would seem to me that in order to guarantee you a seat you would have to pay the fee to get confirmed. This is now no longer standby.

If you were allowed to standby and change your connecting city and got stuck, what would you expect the airlines responsibilty to be?

TW

It's all in the hands of the gate agent. Be nice.

You might also check the rules of your fare. I just booked an E-Saver, which is probably one of the MOST restrictive fares you can buy (?), and I found this in the fare rules:

" ** CHANGE IN CONNECT POINTS ARE PERMITTED "

So perhaps some fares explicitly allow you to change your connecting city, providing that your origin and destination do not change.

------------------
"Visualise whirled peas."

NATHAN PRODUCTIONS
Professional Music, Audio Production, and Website Design
http://www.nathanproductions.com

If I have a super discount ticket for Friday, but want to show up at the airport on thursday, and there are seats, what are the chances they would let me on the flight. Non-stop flight, so connections are not an issue. Going from CLT to Vegas.

Originally posted by NoStressHere:

If I have a super discount ticket for Friday, but want to show up at the airport on thursday, and there are seats, what are the chances they would let me on the flight. Non-stop flight, so connections are not an issue. Going from CLT to Vegas.


Well, if you're willing to pay a change fee and any additional fare, chances are you'll get in the flight on Thursday...

However, stand-by travel is typically allowed for same-day travel only.


RZ

I would expect a change fee. But, since the ticket probably does not allow (officially) standby on a different day, I would guess it would be up to the gate agent.

As far as paying the difference, any ticket now available would be hundreds if not a $1000 more expensive.

So, bottom line, would gate agents be open to letting you take a flight the night before, for either no fare, or at least tehe $100/75 fee?

And, how about same day?

Originally posted by aw:
From what I've been reading in this forum, it seems that US Airways is more lenient than most other carriers when it comes to standby, especially towards its Preferred members.
...

Could this be one of the reasons they say they need to be bought by United in order to survive?

Jeff

Originally posted by NoStressHere:

I would expect a change fee. But, since the ticket probably does not allow (officially) standby on a different day, I would guess it would be up to the gate agent.

As far as paying the difference, any ticket now available would be hundreds if not a $1000 more expensive.

So, bottom line, would gate agents be open to letting you take a flight the night before, for either no fare, or at least tehe $100/75 fee?

And, how about same day?

I would defininitly try it.
I give you a 75% or better chance of flying on Thursday at NO CHARGE, and a 95% chance of flying on Thursday at NO CHARGE or a $100 change fee. It is especially lucrative for them to let you leave on Thursday if Fridays flight is sold out.
Just have a plan B of still leaving on Friday if they won't go for it.

Maybe it is because I am a chairman preferred but my experience is that I am almost NEVER charged change fees and I travel all the different fares....and I change my itinerary A LOT!!!

Just two weeks ago I showed up at the gate a day early for my flight home from Logan and said to the gate agent (well actually,I was at the Club desk): "My reservation is for romorrow but I finished ahead of schedule is there anything available today? (of course I had called my travel agent and confirmed there was a flight with open seats) and the print me a boarding pass every time at no charge.

It makes sense to me that if a plane is ready to take off with empty seats and I have paid for a ticket (any ticket) why not fill the seats?? That may open the seat on my scheduled flight so they can sell it "again".

Tips:
Always call ahead and confirm space when wanting to change. I call my travel agent instead of the airline and have them tell me exactly how many seats are open so I kinow what my odds are.

Don't call in on the preferred phone line and have a mark on your record that you have been conspiring to change.

Try to pack so you can take carry ons instead of checking baggage. The ticket agent's are more likely to charge you, gate agents or the Club desk are more likely not to charge.

Be polite and a bit confident like you believe that your request is "normal" and allowable but don't be demanding or get rude.

I only use E-Tickets, they seem to make it much simpler but I don't know if it really makes a difference???

good luck

[This message has been edited by LikeItUpFront (edited 04-04-2001).]

How about a US2 changing the destination that's considered a co-terminal?

For example, I'm ticketed to travel BUF-BWI. Would I be able to standby for a flight to DCA instead? Though I do realize that the fare to DCA is much higher.

If you trip to DCA involves the shuttle, then chances are not good. I find that the shuttle has gotten more and more restrictive. It seems that some of the agents have gotten in trouble for letting on passengers from deeply discounted tickets to IAD or BWI.

FlyerAl: I have been successful standing by for different destination airports in the DC area in the past. None involved the shuttle - all were either PHL or PIT to DCA/IAD where my original flight was delayed or canceled, and I was willing to fly to the other airport (I lived in Tysons Corner at the time, which is about halfway between DCA and IAD).

I've also been able to standby for different routings from time to time - but it was always simple stuff such as eliminating a stop (i.e., MCI-DCA instead of MCI-PIT-DCA), I've never attempted to create a longer journey for a mileage run using standby travel. I think the agent might smell a rat if you did that. Other than that, US agents truly have the power to do whatever they feel like (good or bad), which is a bit different from UA and AA. Be nice to them http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif.

The shuttle seems to have its own entire set of rules, so I don't know what your experience would be switching those flights.

Thanks for the advice. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

This wouldn't be an attempt to have a mileage run. I just wanted to switch to the DCA non-stop instead of the BWI flight as my destination is downtown DC. I'll give it a try when I check-in for my flight.

I thought I'd let everyone know about my experience with standby.

On my outbound BUF-BWI flight, I didn't bother trying to switch to a DCA flight because the one I wanted got cancelled due to the bad weather Friday night.

On my return BWI-BUF segment this afternoon, I showed up knowing that the flight I wanted was wide open. The agent called the rate desk who confirmed that DCA isn't considered a co-terminal with the dirt cheap ticket I had. However, she was able to get approval from a supervisor and placed me on the standby list for the DCA-BUF flight. After hanging out at the US Airways Club for a bit, I went to the gate and the agent was able to confirm me right away. I even showed her one of my NAU certs and she gave me a seat in First Class. Sure beats the Dash-8 from BWI http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

In conclusion, the impression I get is that the supervisors are willing to bend the rules for Elite members.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Originally posted by Skylink USA:
On DL, from my experience, if you are traveling on a discounted fare, you can't change the routing if you want to fly standby for the same day you are ticketed. For example, if you are ticketed for the afternoon LAX-CVG-DCA flight, they won't let you on the morning LAX-ATL-DCA flight.

Is US so strict? I'm US Preferred Gold so I should know, but I don't. Any experiences?

[This message has been edited by Skylink USA (edited 02-06-2001).]</font>

Maybe the rules on Delta have changed in the 4 months since the original post, but I've had no problems flying standby. About a month ago I bought a JFK-SEA webfare ticket (U class, about the lowest fare class you can buy). The only outbound flight at the sale price ($219) was a 5:50p-9:07p nonstop. I showed up at JFK early and was able to get on the 7:05am flight (connecting thru SLC), with an arrival before noon. Never would have purchased the ticket if I couldn't standby for the earlier flight.

Jeff

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Originally posted by m60:
If you trip to DCA involves the shuttle, then chances are not good. I find that the shuttle has gotten more and more restrictive. It seems that some of the agents have gotten in trouble for letting on passengers from deeply discounted tickets to IAD or BWI.</font>

So far this year, I've succeeded in (a) standing by for a nonstop CLT-CMH where the original itinerary had me going through PIT, and (b) changing connecting point from CLT to DCA, thus moving onto the shuttle, when my original flights were fouled by a schedule change.

Note that standby travel is not allowed on US E-savers either. Twice this past weekend I tried to standby for an earlier flight PHL-BOS and BOS-PHL... the gate agent simply took a look at my record and all she said was that since it was an "internet fare", standbys' are not allowed. I knew that from seeing the endorsement on the E-saver, but thought I'd try my luck.

And while I agree that E-savers are much more restricitive, I think not allowing to standby -especially, on a route that has hourly flights- is just plain stupid.

I have had several exceptions permitted recently. After having become quite inflexible on most things, staffers have really lightened up of late. Either I have been lucky, or with business falling off, the word has gone out to be nicer to elites.

Just to throw this in as well...

I often fly on cheap(er) fares from PVD rather than from BOS to take advantage of the competition from Southwest. For example, fares to the west coast are often $198 from PVD vs. $400+ from BOS. I always fly PVD to the west coast (LAX, for example). But, on my return, I always ask in PIT or PHL to standby for a flight to BOS on my last segment (ticketed for PVD). My success rate...100% as US2.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Originally posted by ThisFlightNoFuel:
But, on my return, I always ask in PIT or PHL to standby for a flight to BOS on my last segment (ticketed for PVD).</font>PVD and BOS are co-terminals? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/confused.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Originally posted by jwhite4:
&lt;BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica"&gt;quote:&lt;/font&gt;&lt;HR&gt;Originally posted by aw:
From what I've been reading in this forum, it seems that US Airways is more lenient than most other carriers when it comes to standby, especially towards its Preferred members.
...&lt;HR&gt;&lt;/BLOCKQUOTE&gt;

Could this be one of the reasons they say they need to be bought by United in order to survive?

Jeff</font>

No, its called good customer service and its appreciated. Look at it this way, if you've already bought a ticket and there's a seat on another flight available, what difference does it make to the airline which flight you take? None, as far as I can tell.

I've found the standby policies to be pretty liberal in general; the trick is to bear in mind that they're doing you a favor by letting you change and act accordingly.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Originally posted by us2:
No, its called good customer service and its appreciated. Look at it this way, if you've already bought a ticket and there's a seat on another flight available, what difference does it make to the airline which flight you take? None, as far as I can tell.</font>

I totally agree! What does it matter? A sold ticket is a sold ticket which they have to honor. If they have availability, what difference does it really make? They have to get you there eventually anyways. Why not make you happy in the process and earn satisfied customers.

On Sunday as I went to try to stndby on the 8pm shuttle from dca to lga, the agent pointed out to be that my fare was totally restricted--no standbys. (I was on the 9pm) I was flabbergasted. On a Sunday!! For a flight that eventually was less than half full. Fortunately, I had had an earlier flight canceled, and she put me onto the 8pm (not on stndby) as an accommadation because of the earlier problem. But this was only after making a call to a supervisor.

m60, if your fare says no standbys, it means just that. If your ticketed flight is oversold, that would be a different story, as flying on an earlier flight would help the situation. But if there are plenty of seats on your ticketed flight, why should US break the rules just for you? Presumably you paid less for the ticket in exchange for no standby. If you want a fare with standby allowed, pay more. The fact that it was on a Sunday is irrelevant.

My experience with US is limited, but I did have an ISP-PHL-SFO-hub?-ISP a year ago (about $200 to match the WN sale!), and on the return, I asked if I could hop on the flight to CLT and then to LGA (a coterminal); got my boarding passes for the trip all the way home right away.

If the ground crew in SFO vs. EWR for CO is any indication, I'm sure the fact that I was in SFO helped!

Edited to add P.S.: I was Gold at the time (had it comped from CO and NW elite status(statuses? stati?)).

[This message has been edited by LGA (edited 06-29-2001).]

I suspect the reason for the "No Standby's" on E-Saver fares is that the E-Savers are offered on inconvenient (empty) flights.

The purpose of the E-Saver is to generate additional revenue. However, what was happening was that people like me who were buying weekend trips anyhow (at much higher fare), were shifting to E-Savers, and then crowding the gate for a stand-by for a more convenient flight. You always used to know it was an E-Saver flight, when there would be a mob of standby's hovering near the gate, and a gate agents who looked like they could use a stiff drink.

So before the "no-standby" policy, USAir was losing money on me (actually, making less than the would have). I'm just glad I was able to exploit the E-Saver for as long as I did.

I had a discounted internet (not e saver)fare BOS-BWI. On my return last night I was able to go standby BWI-PHL-BOS instead of BWI-BOS. I left an hour earlier but arrived a half hour later than the original routing. I did not have to pay any change fees and both the phone agent and gate agents easily accomodated me.

Why did I bother?
Can you say triple and misc bonuses?

I had a web fare (not E-Saver) that included a Metrojet portion. I was not allowed to standby for an earlier flight, thru a different connection city, because it was not a Metrojet flight. I tried 3 different agents and none would do it. I guess once booked on Metrojet you must fly Metrojet.

I have stoodby for several flights, including a change in connection points, without a problem. However, last month I was flying LEX-PIT-CLE on a Sunday evening with the PIT-CLE flight on a Saab 340. I was checking ITN and noticed that flight was severely oversold. I quickly called up reservations and asked to speak to a supervisor, I explained to him my case, told them his flight is oversold, which he verified - and I asked if I could be rebooked to Monday, which only benefitted themselves. Basically I was told get lost, you are ticketed on Sunday and must travel on Sunday. No waivers.

As it turned out, I took those flights..PIT-CLE went out needing 4 volunteers.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by m60:
If you trip to DCA involves the shuttle, then chances are not good.</font>

I had no problem changing a connection from ATL-CLT-BOS to ATL-DCA-BOS (shuttle on second leg). However, this may have been because they created the problem (schedule change that broke the connection in CLT and the only repair without moving the connecting point got me to Boston substantially later).

TimCLE,

While your logic makes perfect sense it could be very easily exploited. For example, I would book a speculative trip with a return on Thanksgiving Sunday and then try to get out of a change fee to reschedule the trip because the flight is oversold.. And then next trip I would ask for the same favor even though the flight isn't oversold, but just looks like it will be oversold...

It opens up a whole can of worms to allow exceptions, even if that particular exception benefits the airline.