I have looked through past posts, but I haven’t found anything that quite deals with my upcoming issue.

I’m flying from LAX to SEA soon with my wife and two kids. I’m 1K, they are “statusless”. We are all booked on separate PNRs (long story). As our Seattle schedule has suddenly changed, we would now like to take the flight immediately prior to ours, which departs four hours earlier. Changing the flights now would cost over $1,500. I’m willing to roll the dice and wait until the day of the flight, and if possible, I would like to avoid the $225 in additional same-day change fees (fee is waived for me). There are currently 15-20 seats available on the 60-seat flight, but that could obviously change.

My strategy is the following:

1. Check in online 24 hours for my flight and standby for all four of us for the earlier flight.

2. Call 1K desk three hours before my flight and see if they will give me any idea of the standby situation. If it’s tight, I might just pay the fees then.

3. Go to the airport and check where we are on the waiting list. If we are high on the list and there are a lot of spaces, just wait for our names to be called. If it looks risky, I would consider paying the $75/person at the gate.

I have seen in prior posts that companions have sometimes been upgraded to the Elite member’s waitlist priority. I’m guessing that depends more on the kindness of the agent than being official policy. I imagine that’s also less likely to happen with three companions. I know that if I were a 1P or 2P on the waitlist, I might be annoyed if a 1K’s family jumped ahead of me, unless that’s the actual policy.

Does all this seem right? Am I missing something? Is there anything else I should do or say to maximize our chances of getting on this flight? Splitting up and taking separate flights is not an option.

If we had all been on the same PNR, would my family have been able to go through the Elite Security Line and board via the Red Carpet with me? Can they do it anyway, as long as I’m with them? I’m not trying to bend any rules, just want to know what is generally accepted by UA personnel.

As always, I bow to the incredible experience and generosity of this forum. I hope others will benefit from the answers.