For most people, standby is usually for an earlier flight as they are done with meeting early or just wanted to go home earlier. The earlier the flight the less likely that there are misconnects or other problems. It is just like seeing the doctor. You wait the least if you have the first appointment. It is also more likely that there are open seats in the earlier flight. In addition, earlier flights are usually cheaper. By letting people standby for earlier, United is creating a larger buffer for later flights. I always see it as a win-win situation. When $ is involved, most leisure travelers will stick with their original flight negating possible buffer/reserve.
Other airlines doing it is NOT a reason for UA to change. Why can't it be a special features of United?
Once again, why are changes revealed on a Friday night but not Monday morning?
Originally Posted by
UpInTheSky
Customers who book reservations and change their plans tie up inventory, and in some cases it is too late to be resold (although in other cases, UA is better off because it can be resold at a higher fare). One could argue that change fees could have a sliding scale based on when the change is made, but a counterargument is that is too complicated for customers.
In general, a change fee allows UA to offer competitive fares to those with firm travel plans, while generating additional revenue (to sustain those low fares) from customers who need the flexibility to change their plans.
Obviously WN sees things a bit differently, but some types of changes (such as switching return dates, or even same day standby) can be cheaper on UA than on WN.
Again these are my personal opinions/guesses and not the official policy/opinion of UA.