Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan - Standby on AS Flight, Partner Award

I'm flying SEA-PHX-MIA-GIG on an AA partner award. The SEA-PHX flight is on AS, and it is the last flight out in the evening, connecting to the early AM PHX-MIA flight. I was planning on spending a few hours with a friend in Phoenix that evening, then a schedule change came along that pushed the flight 40 minutes back. So I called Alaska, and the agent said that even though there was W space on the 3PM flight, she couldn't switch me as the flight would no longer be a forced stopover. (Flying out of SCL so can't do a real stopover).


She also said that I wouldn't be able to do confirmed standby or regular standby on a partner award. Do you think if I show up at the airport for the earlier flight they may let me on, or no dice?

The agent was right, and you won't be able to the online same-day change either. Your only chance is at the airport. In my experience, AS treats its Gold members well, and the airport agents do have a lot of flexibility. There's obviously no guarantee, but if you see space still available on the earlier flight the day of, I would head to the airport and see if you can plead your case to a TA or GA.

Thanks, I figured that would be the case. If they don't let us fly we can just take the train downtown for a few hours or something.