Originally Posted by WillTravel
This is an academic question at this point, but I'm curious. Has anyone ever been in either a VDB or an IDB situation and resolved it by getting a flight to a different city than the one you were originally ticketed for?
Yes, some cities are essentially considered "the same". You will have better luck with these (though my experience indicates that the agents will do what they can to accomodate you). I do it with the SoCal cities, ONT, LAX, SNA (can even do standby on a regular res. to one of these alternate cities).
The best thing you can do in the VDB or IDB situation is to be educated. Understand CO's route system, hubs, etc. I have sat in the PC and worked my way through a variety of scenarios using KVS, then had the agent take a look at KVS, then put me on the appropriate stand-by list.