Originally Posted by
Long Zhiren
I'm not sure if it's possible to get listed for standby on multiple flights, especially with the advance check-in.
My understanding is that you can only be on standby for one flight at a time. If you do not clear standby for a given flight, your request should roll over to the next available flight.
I have had occasions where I asked a GA to take me off the list for a particular flight and put me on the next (or even a subsequent to that) flight's list, when, for example, I know I'm not going to clear, or that I'll end up in an E- middle on a transcon if I do clear. I think there should be some slight advantage to doing that in that one tiebreaker on the DM list is time added to the list, and by adding earlier (rather than waiting for the rollover to the next flight when they close out that one), I could potentially be a few slots higher on the list.
Originally Posted by
Long Zhiren
I used to just actively meander gate to gate to check on availability (especially when multiple flights are delayed and/or cancelled). It wasn't a matter of hanging out in airports but going gate to gate very quickly as boarding sequences went. At a place like ORD, it could mean quite a bit of walking, and a fairly decent workout. But now these lists are electronically updated.
I still do this. Basically, if there are multiple flights going out in close sequence, I like to check on the status at each gate--even though I am only on one standby list at a time. If I'm 18th with 18 seats left on one flight, but the other has only 5 on the list, I'll ask the one GA to remove me and then go to the other and get added. And in irrops situations, this is really a key, as a lot of people are just waiting in line at the CSR desks and thus I may have a leg up on them (and I can be checking flights to nearby alternate destinations, too--e.g. another WAS area airport, or even RIC, if it's not looking good on that ORD-IAD flight...).
Originally Posted by
Long Zhiren
I have not noticed if status helps much. I no longer have UA status, but even being plutonium elite in *A or CO doesn't help too much with UA standby. On CO, I routinely go standby and get upgrades automatically, not so on UA.
UA status helps immensely in standby situations. I have in the past had times where as a 1K, I was the only person to clear standby, and times as a 1P where I barely made the cut or just missed it. Status is in fact the #1 factor within a given standby priority (e.g. BP5A) in sorting the list, followed by fare and then time added to the list.
I don't know if *A status factors in at all on UA, though I can say that when flying other *A airlines as a *G pax, I typically cleared standby fairly easily.