Originally Posted by fireworksboy
Reasoning is that right up to the last minute passenger B may be willing to cough up the dough to get the guaranteed seat you are waiting to get for free.
While I'm all for CO sellng every seat it can sell, I think (correct me if I am wrong) the OP's issue is that, even once the $25 confirmed standby option was available on the phone, the kiosk was still free. I actually did just that as recently as a couple of weeks ago. The only other possibility I can think of is that when there are less than X seats left on a flight, the kiosk gives you the $25 confirmed option. Greater than X seats left, you can change for free, since it "knows" there is no way all those seats will sell. Maybe someone with a little more knowledge of the system can offer a better explanation. Of course, CO could have just started to charge at the kiosk too. :-)