My experience is that the outstation check in staff, if they aren’t EI, simply don’t know they can do this or have even been instructed by emerald not to allow it, even through standby is a feature of every fare type other than saver

I put in a call to the Concierge line, and to their credit, one time they contacted the airport team involved and told them how to do it. Next time I was there the agent told me they’d been trained and it was actually in the manual all along. They still REALLY don’t like doing it though, and always refuse repeatedly unless you insist, as it seems very error prone and they worry about blowing up the reservation.

In effect, they sell a fare benefit at a price premium up front and then provide no way to use it at most airports. I’ve been refused point blank as it they are “not allowed to move people between flights ever”” several times and the response from the EI team after complaining has always (other than the time above) been of the “I’m sorry you feel that way, standby seats are not always available etc” type even though the flights were half empty and issue was refusal to do it rather than availability

all that said, my understanding is that the place to ask is the check in desk or an EI lounge and not the departure gate. Even in Dublin, I’ve seen gate staff turn away people asking to join a flight after boarding has commenced (unless concierge or platinum - another unpublished benefit maybe). This seems entirely reasonable to me given the need for the agent to focus on getting the plane away and not fielding queries like these