I'm not sure if this is a fluke, but it has happened to me twice already (LAS and BOS).

I went to the airport in order to standby on an earlier flight (direct to IAH in both cases) and when going to the check in counter the agent asked/demanded a $75 same day change fee to add me to the STANDBY list... they claimed it was standard for Silver Elites.

The first time I actually paid it (I really wanted to leave LAS at that point), and called UA to validate this a day later and they refunded me the fee.

Yesterday I just went through security with my standard boarding pass and at the gate the agent added me without any issue to the list, assigned me a seat (and I even got upgraded!).

The concern is that there seems to be a disconnect at the ticket counter on what a Standby vs. Same Day Change is.

Have you seen this before? What is the best way to deal with it when time to be added to the list could be an issue?

Thanks,
Mike