Originally Posted by
ContinentalFan
Yes.
If you read the firmest statement made by United on a BE fare, changes aren’t allowed. My experience is that most agents won’t put you on the standby list. The only time there’s an exception is if my (later) flight is oversold.
As there are no N fare buckets in the standby flight, you’ll end up having the fare coded as a K or something like that. PQPs get messed up (you usually get more) and the flight earns a PQF. I can see why United doesn’t want agents doing it, which is perfectly understandable.
It’s also stated that you can’t change seats (you can) and that the fare isn’t CPU eligible: it can be in rare circumstances.
I discovered that if I have an international, BE fare with a domestic connection, I’m always on the (CPU) upgrade list. I’m unceremoniously dumped off that list once I check in. However, if a CPU sweep is made before check-in, I have been upgraded. It’s rare: I’m flying hub-to-hub, so competition is tough; I’m also on a low fare, and am competing against the GS pool and other 1ks; however, it has happened twice.
This is spot on. I tried to standby on a BE fare back in September for a flight to LGA but ran into a bizarre issue on the United app where I was given a standby boarding pass but didn't show up on the standby list on the app. Ultimately when I got to the airport the gate agent was unable to add me to the standby list despite a bunch of people (including non-rev flyers) getting on after initial boarding was complete. I talked with United Customer Service at the airport and was told that Basic Economy couldn't fly standby, which at the time was directly contradicted by the website.
Fast forward to this weekend and I tried again to standby on a BE fare, this time to LAS. The gate agent (after some difficulty) printed me a new boarding pass after boarding was complete. As mentioned above, since there are no N fare buckets on a standby flight, I ended up having the fare coded as a T fare and was credited a PQF.
TL;DR you can certainly try to standby as Basic Economy - it's not explicitly prohibited anywhere on the United website. But your mileage will significantly vary