I flew home today on one of the $34 STL-SAN fares, so I'm not going to make a big deal out of the situation which happened to me tonight, but I thought I'd ask if this was typical or not.

My routing today was SAN-LAX-ORD-STL. I was scheduled to leave at 1:30pm, but since I couldn't sleep I figured I'd try to get home earlier.

I standby for the 9:35am SAN-LAX flight with no problem.

I standby for the 11:21am LAX-ORD flight with no problem -- actually the agent was exceedingly nice since I am PLT.

I get to Chicago and ask to be put on standby for the 7:35pm ORD-STL flight. ExpertFlyer shows 5 seats available in F, 0 in Y. Turns out flight is oversold by 3 in coach, and those passengers are cleared into F.

About 45 minutes prior to departure, I am #1 on the standby list and my name is called by the gate agent. I step up and she says that she called me prematurely but then asks if I would be willing to upgrade to get on the flight. My response was that I would if that meant my getting on the flight. She replied "It might be the only way you get on."

After the flight boards, she starts to call standbys. I am called first and she asks if I still want to upgrade. I say, "not if I don't have to pay for it." So, she hands me a Y boarding pass. She then calls two non-status passengers (yes, I know... I had spoken with them earlier) and gives them the remaining F seats.

Is this typical? Is this fair?

Greg