Originally Posted by FlyMeHomeAA
I am flying from SJC to DFW next week but it's booked as a connection through LAX. If a flight is available direct from SJC to DFW, can I stand by for it or perhaps a connecting flight through another city that leaves earlier? One last option, can I stand by for a flight that goes through LAX but leaves earlier?
IME in most cases you can do any of the above.
There are a few fares which (for whatever reason) do not allow direct routing. If you have one of those fares, then they're not supposed to let you standby for the direct flight. I've run into that situation exactly one time. I had a fare MSY-DFW-MIA. I wanted to standby for the direct flight. My fare was not good on the direct flight.
There's also a dealie where certain fares are valid for certain times of day. For example, you might buy some kind of off-peak fare which is good anytime except 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. In that case, they're not supposed to let you standby for a flight during the peak hours. I've never run into this situation on AA, but have experienced it on DL.