ATL to EWR, tried to do a SDC from a flight tomorrow first thing to one today. When I arrived at the gate and asked to be added to the standby list, was told the 12:52 CO4108 was oversold and that they are no longer adding people to the standby list.

I politely asked again, saying that I understand I may not make it on the flight but that I wanted to be added to the list. Being a Plat in a non-hub airport, I felt it was worth a shot. The next flight was 3:41, and then 5:34 after that, which would be getting in too late to meet family for dinner.

The GA reluctantly added me to the list saying she was asking for volunteers and there was no point to adding me to the list.

After I was added, I checked and ended up being #1 on the list, even with an ATC delay of 30-45 minutes which made it more likely people running late would make the flight, I cleared standby as well as 2 others.

The 2 others, infrequent travelers and elderly, incidentally were very upset I jumped the line saying they had been waiting since 8am (I tried to explain that lots of factors determine the order including fare, to which the reply was "we PAID for these tickets"... they also paid $150 change fees which didn't help their moods).

Anyway, is this standard procedure to refuse to add people to the *standby* list? Good thing I insisted... otherwise would still be in ATL waiting for a flight.