Originally Posted by
ThreeJulietTango
Same-Day Standby for $75 is offered to non-status passengers when Same-Day Flight Change is not available. I don't know what the exact criteria is for it to be offered, but I have seen it sold on the self-service kiosk. Agents cannot sell it because they don't have a way to queue the automatic refund if the passenger doesn't make it on the earlier flight.
Hmmm, this must be new. I see it referenced here as being available on aa.com
http://www.aa.com/i18n/utility/sameDayTravel.jsp
We continue to offer the same-day stand by option for an earlier domestic flight for select customers at no charge, and the same-day standby option is available to all customers online at aa.com.
Same-day standby charges are automatically refunded if you are not accommodated on the standby flight.