Just make sure you're early enough to get on the standby list before they start clearing it. I'd hate to not get a seat just because they already cleared all the peons.

And even though the gate agents are less diligent about the stupid fees, I have had them collected by them as well, so you can't expect to keep the $25.

I hate the $25 thing... one reason why I always look for the UA codeshares. I've noticed too that a lot of times a US flight is cheaper on the UA codeshare and vice versa. Bonkers.