Originally Posted by
jsguyrus
The shuttle flights get a ton of stand bys and walk ups and the list really can change moment by moment. I have done this many, many times and its always a crap shoot. In this case you were trying to make an earlier flight, arrived almost at door close time, and it looks like they were already processing stand-bys. Just because they didn't drop everything to process you does not make it a "horrendous experience". You didn't get on an earlier flight so I assume you made it home on the flight you had booked, what's the big deal?
The "Big Deal" (in the abstract) is that agent should have said "I'm sorry, it it too close to departure time and I am unable to add anyone to the standby list. Thank you for your loyalty to Alaska Airlines, and I hope you enjoy your regularly scheduled flight, which will be departing from gate X at Whenever O'Clock."