This appears tricky so I thought I would ask for the experts advice. Situation: My 17 year old daughter is in NYC attending a summer school program. She is using a buddy pass for the travel. She was the last person on her ATL-LGA flight going up last weekend. This was no big deal because we could wait at Hartsfield for her. I am planning on going to NYC and traveling back with her on the 28th. Here is my problem. How can I assure that she is on my flight or one before mine? We have flexibility on the time we come back. Here are my options as I see it.

1. Waitlist her on the earliest flight possible from LGA. Book my flight later in the day. Check at the gate as to her chances and if good, add my name to the standby list. Keep doing this until she gets on.

2. Attempt to come back late Friday night rather than Saturday. More seats open hopefully?

Any other ideas? If I upgrade to FC for myself, will this impact her getting on? 10kster - given the changes coming up the 19th, are my options more limited or improved?

Would EWR or JFK be a better option?

Thanks for any help y'all can give me.

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sm,atl