Originally Posted by
cepheid
Yes, because those are multi-airport cities, as I stated previously; that is the only exception to the co-terminal standby exclusion.
That entirely depends on the fare. If the p.s. fare has "JFK" in the fare basis, it is airport-specific and not eligible for MCT standby. Similarly, if the OP's fare has "LGA" in the fare basis, it would not be eligible. If the fares are not airport-specific, you should be able to standby. Some GAs may misunderstand the standby rules (which also allow standing by for a non-stop when ticketed for a connection).
Same-day confirmed changes explicitly forbid a change of routing (including, e.g., changing from a connection to a non-stop). Standby rules are different.
Is this why I got so much grief from a CSR working the SFO-JFK nonstop when I tried to standby for it? The lobby agent allowed me to standby for it and tagged my bags on the SFO-JFK nonstop, but my ticket was for SFO-IAD-LGA. Then, the CSR working the SFO-JFK chastized both me and the lobby agent for doing this (by calling him on the phone and verbally berrating him for allowing a customer to standby for a p.s. flight, all while in front of me).
I told her that he was the one who offered the option, and she shouldn't be angry at me because it was his suggestion.
In the end she begrudingly "allowed" it, but I think it was mainly because I had bags checked and she didn't want to have to call and send a meter to the ramp agents to go fishing for the bag (plus what flight would she move it to - everything was sold out and by then it was too late to move the bags to the original flight). I was #1 on the standby list and cleared. For the first time I felt like I had to watch the EasyInfo screens like a hawk to make sure she didn't give the seat away to someone who she felt "deserved it" more. I really don't like being placed in that position and being one of "those" customers.
When she handed me my boarding pass, she huffed at me and said "Well, it looks like you made it after all." I could swear she was about to say "But I'll get you my pretty, and your mangy little carryon, too!"
And this is what it is like to be a Premier Executive on United Airlines.
Again, she kept quoting that "this is a premium service flight and we charge a premium on the fares that allow you to fly on it." I can certainly understand that, but I thought United got away from having a blanket rule on all p.s. flights and started allowing people to fly p.s. on standby if their fare allowed it.
When I landed in Kennedy, I asked 4 different CSRs whether United allows standby on nonstop p.s. flights when you are ticketed to LGA. I got 4 very different answers
So what language should you be looking for in the fare rules if you buy SFO-IAD-LGA and want to standby for a SFO-JFK flight?