Originally Posted by
Ken hAAmer
Don't know when it started, and of course it's not written down anywhere so they can make it up as they go along....
...but if you want to go standby on an earlier flight, there's now a $50+tax fee, for both econo and business class awards. Given that you can go confirmed for only $55+tax, what's the point.
These have been the rules for at least a year and half. However, it has not always been consistently implemented, but if you do a search for "aeroplan standby" you will find dozens of discussions (e.g.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=655595). In economy it is not actually standby, it is same day confirmed and it is $50 and is based on Y availability and the flight not being oversold, if you're not an SE this is a better deal than $55 change fee as it is not restricted to Aeroplan availability. For business class you can stand-by for an earlier flight.