I never missed a single flight in 4 years of non-reving but I was a D1/D2. As others stated, your friend can look at the flight loads and select the best flights. My recommendation is to try for the first flight of the day and be prepared to roll from flight to flight if you're traveling to/from a busy city pairing.

To me, standby isn't worth the risk of getting stuck somewhere but if you don't mind rolling, best of luck.

Does AA still consider passes to be taxable income on the employee?