What are my options for flying standby?
Continental no longer offers a free standby option in the traditional sense (show up at the airport, ask, and hope that a seat is still empty when they are ready to close the door). Instead they have switched to a "Same Day Confirmed" (SDC) plan whereby your change request is confirmed in exchange for a fee in the majority of cases. So, how does it work?
- You must be within 24 hours of your scheduled departure time.
- There must be seats available in the same fare bucket (the actual fare bucket, not just the booked cabin) at the time of the request. If there are no seats available you can be listed as a standby and cleared at the gate. This still requires paying the fee. If you do not clear you are not charged.
- Changes are only available for the exact origin and destination airport. Connection points may be changed provided the new routing is permitted by the fare purchased.
- You must pay the SDC fee. This fee is $50 for most folks. Gold Elites pay $25 and Platinum Elites can SDC for free.
It is important to note that no customers are to be charged for SDC changes if at the connection point between two Continental flights and you are changing to an earlier connection. Should you run into trouble with an agent trying to charge you for such a change kindly ask them to reference
GG SDC, line 118.
Here are some examples to help explain the rules:
- You are ticketed to fly EWR-ATL at 2pm on Thursday. You want to fly out Wednesday night. You are eligible to fly out on any flight after 2pm Wednesday (24 hour rule) and you can confirm that change starting at 2pm Wednesday for any flights within the next 24 hours. For an 8pm flight that means you would call at 2pm, pay the fee and then head to the airport.
- You are ticketed to fly EWR-ATL at 2pm on Thursday. You want to fly out Thursday night. You are eligible to fly out on any flight after yours as long as you can confirm the change prior to the actual departure time. This can be risky if you don't clear so be very careful! If you want to go on the 6pm flight Thursday you would be able to call at 6pm on Wednesday (24 hours prior) to request and confirm the change and to pay the fee.
- You are ticketed to fly AUS-IAH-TPA at noon on Friday (connecting flight departs at 2pm). You want to fly out at 8am on Friday and take the 10am connection. You can call starting at Noon on Thursday (24 hours prior) to confirm the change as you are within 24 hours of both flights' departure times.
- You are ticketed to fly BOS-CLE-ORD at noon on a Monday (connecting flight departs at 4pm). Just fly on United already.
But seriously, you want to fly on the 3pm departure connecting at 7pm. You can call starting at 3pm on Sunday (24 hours from the new flight) but you're also hampered by the connecting flight. In order to confirm the changes all the way through there must be seats open on the second flight as well and you will not be within 24 hours of that flight. There are two options. The first is to simply wait until 7pm to call. At that point you will be within 24 hours of both flights and eligible to confirm both immediately. The other (untested) option is to call and confirm for the first flight and standby for the second. According to the rules it should work, but it is untested and leaves you at the mercy of the agent. Either way you will pay the fee.
- You are flying TXL-EWR-FLL. You have booked yourself a comfortable 4 hour layover in EWR to account for the chance of a visit to Gander. You arrive right on time thanks to the excellent fuel management of your skilled pilot and light headwinds. You're now through immigration and customs and still have 3:30 to kill. You just want to get home. You are eligible to switch to any flight between your arrival at EWR and your scheduled departure time FOR FREE, assuming space is available. This works because you are connecting and are at the connection point. Again, should an agent try to charge you for this change ask them to reference GG SDC, line 118.
About this fee - where do I pay?
The fee can be paid over the phone to a reservations agent, at a kiosk in the airport, online during the OLCI process, at the ticket counter or at a Customer Service Center. The fee can NOT be paid at the gate. Also, if there are seats available the OLCI and the kiosk will generally offer them to you.
The same fare bucket, not just the same cabin? That stinks!
Sure does, but there is some silver lining on that storm cloud. Assuming there are plenty of seats available to sell Continental will open up all the fare buckets prior to the flight. Specifically, there is a process that should open all the buckets around 3.5 hours prior to departure time. There may be other windows where the cheap buckets show up but this is the official one that Continental recognizes publicly.
What if my flight is delayed?
If your flight is delayed such that you will misconnect you are eligible to SDC for free to an earlier flight. Of course, when Continental doesn't update the outbound departure time even though the inbound is running 2 hours late you might be in a bind, but that is the official rule. Begging may help solve this problem.