I've encountered this a few times: get to airport early, find that another, earlier flight to my destination has been delayed and hasn't left yet. The earlier flight seems like it will leave before mine. Space available (equivalent seat) to switch. Should I move to the earlier flight?
Once I switched and lost- the crew on the “earlier” flight timed out and it was cancelled (after my original flight left). Another time I got lucky and switched to what turned out to be the last flight out that night.
Now I'm sitting in PHX waiting for a ground stop to be lifted at ORD. I switched, but the original one is boarding and the “earlier” one hasnt started boarding. Neither has left the gate.
anyone have any rules of thumb for this?