I think "no free stndby" is more of a revenue generator thing. No person travelling for business is going to roll the dice and hope that they clear the standby list for the flight they actually want if the reason they are doing so is to save their company more money by buying a ticket for a different flight that is cheaper. On the other hand, I have done so for personal travel many times in the past (and when airline load factors hovered around 70%) because it was MY MONEY that I was saving, and my elite staus usaually got me cleared onto those flights. But I knew it was also not a guarantee. I also knew when the worst times to standby were as well.