FriendlySkies

A friend, and fellow FTer, was able to do this at LHR. He asked at check-in, got a DM card, and was assigned a seat at the gate.

FlyerChrisK

Thanks for the data points.

TWAB747nomore

As a rule no this is not allowed INTL flights. .................. though it can be bended but it is hit or miss

exengprof

SEA - IAD - FRA. Ticketed 7:55a departure from SEA. My goal, to give me time in IAD for a visit with family, was to standby on the SEA - IAD red eye at 11:30p, 8 hours ahead of my ticketed flight. SEA - IAD red eye had 50 empty seats (per agents and UAL.com).

Tried to get a DM card at check-in counter "absolutely no".
Tried with phone "absolutely no, but gate agent should be flexible".
Tried at gate "absolutely no".
Did not try RCC.
No bag to check. Premier exec status.

Conclusion: standby on outbound international is hit or miss.

fjfv19

Just another data point. I was scheduled to fly UA846 EZE-EWR on 11/17, landing 11/18. I found out last minute that my father is in NYC from Canada for the weekend, so I tried to fly out on 11/16 to spend a day with him (I leave for HKG on 11/18 afternoon so having the day is critical). I call the UA premier line from Argentina and a friendly, helpful agent says international standby is basically a change fee and typically costs $250. He notes however that if you are lucky, you can get it waived, but you need to go to airport. Ezeiza is 50 mins outside BA, so quite a trek if you get rejected. I go to ticket counter all smiles, friendly, and even asked the question in Spanish. Agent initially tells me that I need to pay $250 for a confirmed seat on flight. So I prod further. What about an unconfirmed seat, so pure standby. He types away for a bit, grabs my passport, and puts me into 16K (had already cleared Argentine security interview at check in counter since I mistakenly went there first). Best part is that I had chosen 16K for my flight on Saturday, so I had the same seat a day earlier. Very lucky, very speculative situation from what I've read here, but this is even more peculiar since many previous example are just different routings on the same day.

WineCountryUA

The info in this thread is dated -- since 3 March 2012 the domestic only restriction has been dropped and international is now premitted

Unfortunately not all agents are up-to-date with the many changes. Believe the agents at EZE are contract employees and there further even further less trained.

Online this should have been clearer.

Glad it worked out.