When I missed a WN flight by a few minutes, I was given the choice of paying for a confirmed seat on a later flight or flying standby for free.

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Many US carriers allow free standby so long as you still want to travel on the same day, whenever a customer desires this to happen. Most US carriers also have a flat tire rule similar to WN, where if you arrive late to the airport within a reasonable amount of time, your ticket is still valid. The biggest difference between WN and most US carriers, IMO, is WN does not allow the customer to opt to standby for free on earlier or later flights, at the customers wish.

As a customer of primarily AA and UA, if I don't know what time I need to go from A to B, I can purchase the cheapest flight of the day then show up when I want to travel and standby for free. As a WN customer I would need to pay the fare difference between what I paid and full fare.

Many here will point out how WN has a better policy, for the profitability of the airline. IMO, when choosing what airline to fly, you should not choose the carrrier that makes the most profit but rather the airline that costs you the least to meet your travel needs.

(For those who fly very frequently, a benefit of my UA and AA status is they often will confirm me on my desired flight, when I ask to standby, if they have enough space.)

IMO, WN is the best airline for the shareholder and the infrequent flyer, not the very frequent flyer (with the exception of routes where WN alone has frequent full sized jet service).

The flip side of this coin is lack of change fees on WN when you need to change your dates of travel, on WN you only pay the fare difference. If you need time of day flexibility, WN will charge you $ when other airlines are free. If you need date change flexibility, WN will charge you but generally less money than other airlines would.