Originally Posted by
margarita girl
I was under the impression that once you booked on UA metal (even on ac.com), you cannot change to an earlier flight on AC metal. Is this true?
Specifics: I want to fly from ORD to YYZ. The AC metal flights are usually 2-3X the price of the UA metal. Can I book a UA flight, and then stand by for an earlier AC flight? When I flew back from ORD last week, my seatmate told me he regularly changes from UA metal to AC metal. It seems to me that when I've tried to do that, UA will gladly put me on an earlier flight, but always on their own metal. (I will go out of my way to fly AC metal for the bonus miles.)
I also forgot to ask my seatmate if he had to pay a change fee. If this can be done, is there a change fee if booked on ac.com? What about if booked on ua.com, as they usually offer stand by at no cost?
TIA
Yesterday I tested out this scenario for my ORD - YYZ flight. I booked an AC ticket on UA metal since it was only $200 vs. AC's $600 and arrived at the airport much earlier than my scheduled UA flight. I went to the AC counter to inquire about taking an earlier AC flight. The AC agent directed me to Terminal 1 to talk with UA (I didn't quite understand this since I was on a AC ticket). Anyways at the UA counter I asked the agent to put me on standby for the UA codeshare flight I wanted on AC metal. The agent issued me a boarding pass for the AC flight with no seat assigned and did not charge me.
In the end I saved $400 by booking the UA flight and got to take an earlier flight that was much more expensive for no additional fees.