Originally Posted by canadiancow

That being said, I've certainly made use of the free SDC for Gold on UA, and it is a nice feature. But the last time I used it, I was looking for SFO-SAN. The flight my friend was on was $150. The cheapest flight that day was $100. I booked the $100 and SDC'd to the $150, free of charge. UA lost $50.

Another AC FTer told me he regularly books the latest reasonable Rapidair flight, knowing he will clear standby onto whatever flight he wants, every single time. So if the 4pm is $500 and the 8pm is $200, he's paying $200 for the 4pm.