Southwest Rapid Rewards - New same-day standby

In all the commentary on the new WN Business Select and Business fares and A1-15 and through passengers and all that, I've seen very little discussion here of what seems to me to be a very valuable feature to a lot of people: same-day standby.

Southwest's exact wording:

"Same-Day Flight Changes

On your original date of travel you are free to fly standby or make confirmed changes (if seats are available) for another flight to your destination at no additional cost."

It doesn't apply to me much, but road warriors who might get out of meetings several hours early would presumably LUV such a thing.

Or were they all paying fares before that allowed unlimited changes and thus this doesn't mean much to them?

And does this policy mean you can "standby" for a later flight? Not exactly what the word appears to mean, but they do say "for another flight" "on your original date of travel," not "for an earlier flight." Would you have to notify them, or just show up late?

Would appreciate comments from anyone who has been "standing by" under the new policy.

even if you have a confirm standby, it is still comes down to how the original fare was booked. with a full refundable, it can be upgrade to bs for little $. with any other discounted fares will takes a lot more $ to upgrade on earlier or later flights.

Or were they all paying fares before that allowed unlimited changes and thus this doesn't mean much to them?

Exactly. Standby for an earlier flight always required buying up to full fare, but if you're already paying full fare, there's no further charge.

Refundable Anytime, now Business, always allowed same-day flight changes at no additional cost. Business Select simply inherits this with the enhancement that assuming there are Business Select "seats" available on the flight you want to change to, you still get to board first (or close to first).

whoa... does this mean that we have to pay the BS fares (did they really not think the acronym through?) to do what you could always do with refundable fares?

as a bus traveler, one of the main advantages to flying SW was the ability to walk on to any other flight so long as you had a refundable fare or paid the difference. also, because SW had only one class of service, corp reimbursements were no big deal. many businesses will view BS as a "premium" that they might not reimburse (although i know that for some airlines, refundable = first/bus class).

The comparison matrix at southwest.com makes it clear that free standby comes with both business and business select.

Refundable Anytime, now Business, always allowed same-day flight changes at no additional cost. Business Select simply inherits this with the enhancement that assuming there are Business Select "seats" available on the flight you want to change to, you still get to board first (or close to first).

OK, sorry, I wasn't aware that the new "Business" is identical to the old "Refundable Anytime."

OK, sorry, I wasn't aware that the new "Business" is identical to the old "Refundable Anytime."

No sweat. :)

You can switch flights any time of either Bus. or BS fares. Major diff is BS will get you to board first (plus free drink and 1/4 extra credit) . Otherwise, likely a C BP if buying (changing a business tix) in last few hours - I think Business still is with the 24 hr. check in rule.