Originally Posted by
brooks_87
Also when you're thinking about change fee/fare difference, it would probably be at least $40 for you to uber between airports so take that into account. If you are worried about not having time to transfer between DCA/IAD you could same day standby for an earlier flight into DCA for $75.
UA doesn't fly YUL-DCA; I don't think UA's same-day standby policies will be useful here. It may be possible to do an SDC to an all-UA operated itinerary, but I believe that's a policy exception, not a guarantee.
I do agree that calling UA and asking for mercy may work. Alternatively, as suggested, if the flight is far enough in the future, UA may change the IAD-SFO schedule enough to trigger a free change.