I was flying back to DCA from BOS this morning on the Shuttle. When I woke up, the weather was bad, and so I went to the airport early, to try and stand-by for an earlier flight (and pay the $25 stand-by fee because of the low fare :mad: ). I got there, and check-in was a zoo. I asked about getting on a flight two hrs. earlier, and the TA told me that in order to get in F on that flight, it needed to be purchased F, because they did not have a Y seat to give me and then upgrade. That seemed odd, but I figured I'd have better luck at the gate. At the gate, there are about 20ppl. wanting to do stand-by. The GA anounces that the stand-by list is closed, and they all go elsewhere. As the agent is ready to close the door, I go up and ask if there are any open F seats. She says "yes, there are F seats open, let me see your BP." She doesn't want to take more of a delay than she already has, so she just says "Go take whatever is open in F, there are a few seats." She doesn't even give me a BP, or, more importantly, charge me the fee! Usually the more stressful a day the GA is having, the worse your results, but not this time.

Better have the original BP in case you don't get mileage credit! :eek:

Better have the original BP in case you don't get mileage credit! :eek:


Sitting on my desk, right next to the comp. Great minds think alike (and two idiots sometimes just get lucky ;))

This is good business for US. You bought a ticket for them to haul you from Boston to DCA. They had open seats (it shouldn't even matter that they were "F" seats) just prior to closing the door........why not fill up the aircraft, thus opening your seat on the later flight?

Not only did you not cost them revenue on the flight that you took, you may have gained them revenue by opening up a seat on the later flight that could have been sold. ^

This is good business for US. You bought a ticket for them to haul you from Boston to DCA. They had open seats (it shouldn't even matter that they were "F" seats) just prior to closing the door........why not fill up the aircraft, thus opening your seat on the later flight?

Not only did you not cost them revenue on the flight that you took, you may have gained them revenue by opening up a seat on the later flight that could have been sold. ^


Agreed on all points. However, considering that F shuttle service is nothing special (a free drink and snack basket), I was surprised that they were turning other stand-bys away, even though there was one open F seat when we left. I find it hard to believe that there were no other elites on the plane whom they could have upgraded to open a Y seat, and fill the entire plane. But, hey, I got my F seat, no $25 fee, and was in DC 2hrs earlier, so I'm not complaining in the least :D

I've had this happen twice with Express out of Charlotte... weight restricted flights, so there were going to be open seats anyway. Status put me at the front of the standby list and I was the only one to clear both times, didn't get charged on either occasion as they could only put me on at the very last minute because the pilots needed all of the numbers in order to make a decision. No boarding pass given to me, but miles posted correctly.