I flew YKM-SEA, arriving at gate 6:25am, with connection flight to PHX not until 11:15am.

So, went to the gate of an earlier 7:10am PHX flight to see if I could go standby, since there were 121 of 126 seats booked at that time.

I'm a 15+ year, continuous MVP and was aware of (and expected to pay) the $25 standby fee -

http://www.alaskaair.com/content/tra...t-changes.aspx

I was told by the gate agent I couldn't fly standby because "so many people were taking advantage of Standby...". I never was able to understand what was meant by that.

The PHX flight gate agent said to go to the customer service desk, maybe they could help. At the service desk, I was told that it was less than 30 minutes before the flight, that the service desk can not rebook during that time period. I was told to go back to the gate. The agent at the gate said I still could not fly standby.

Hating to totally give up until the plane pushed away, I stood just a couple feet from that gate agent, while other passengers and standbys boarded.

Then an airport employee tapped me on the shoulder and asked to see my passport. I thought he was going to question me about hassling Alaska employees, even though I was very nice to them, but disappointed.

He was not a security employee, but an Alaska customer service employee. He apologized to me for the way I was treated and would give me miles for my troubles and get me on the plane (in an aisle seat), which he did.

I boarded about 10 minutes before departure, noticing there where still at least five empty seats on the plane - without paying the $25.

So, is the standby policy (for non F, etc) still $25? Any idea what the gate agent meant by passengers "taking advantage of Standby"?

Why would the plane depart with empty seats, with the ability to take more passengers (seems like there would be a possibility of making more revenue, by filling my seat on the later plane)?