ARCHIVE: FAQ: Late Arrival Standby ("Flat Tire Rule") application (master thread)
 

I know that AA will let you stand by for a later flight if you miss your flight and call ahead to cancel, but I have never tried this on the last flight of the day.

Will they allow you to do a confirmed stand by purchase or allow you to stand by on the next morning flight or are you just out of luck? I have some late meetings and am worried about missing my flight SNA-DFW. Thanks.

Technically, if you do not get on that flight you would be subject to a change fee and reprice. Much will might depend on kindness of the GA. Personally, I'd not chance it.

First, to clarify, there is no such thing as a "confirmed stand by purchase". There are two options for same-day changes for flights in the U.S., Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Canada and the Caribbean: first, you can pay for a confirmed flight change, as long as E inventory is available on your desired flight and your desired flight leaves in less than 12 hours; second, eligible passengers can stand by for earlier or later flights at no charge. The kicker is that, if you just happen to miss your flight completely, you'd actually be invoking the flat tire rule (FTR), which is different altogether. In such case, you'll typically be placed near the bottom the PALL list for the next flight (even if it's the next day) and be allowed to stand by even if you'd ordinarily be ineligible to do so. This should not require a reprice and change fee (as long as you really did just miss your flight).

Thanks.

I guess I should explain what I was thinking. When you go to the kiosk to check in, it will often ask you if you want to stanby for a early/later flight and give you the option of paying the $50 to confirm. I wasn't sure if it ever gave you the option to confirm on a Next Day flight if you flight was the last flight of the day.

If you are within 12 hours of the new flight, and it has E inventory available (verifiable via EF), you should be able to make the change via reservations (or your elite status desk, if applicable) without even going to the airport:

Source

Does FLAT TIRE rule apply to AA flights originating outside U.S.A.?

If you miss the last flight of the day you'll be re-booked automatically onto the next flight out, which could very well be (a) a redeye or (b) at 6AM the next morning.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but this has happened to me...that said, I prefer not to chance it.

You will be rebooked if you are a connecting PAX and miss ANY flight. If the flight is an originating flight, you will probably have all remaining segments canceled. At least my understanding.

Your understanding is correct!

I had an incident a couple of years ago where we missed check-in time for the late afternoon SFO->DFW flight by about ten minutes and weren't allowed on even though we had checked in on-line because we had bags to check. Fair enough - I should have got there earlier.

However, the check-in agent wanted $250 each to rebook us on the next flight since it didn't leave until 12:15 am which she saw as next-day and therefore not eligible for standby. I called the EXP desk immediately who said that this wasn't the rule at all and not only could I standby for that next flight but my status would put me top of the list. I ended up having to hand my phone to the check-in agent who, after about five minutes of defensive discussion with the EXP desk, agreed to do the standby but made it clear she didn't agree with it and was going to add a note to the locator to say as much.

In the end, we were #1 and #2 of about ten on the standby list and got on the later flight without further issue. Therefore, in this case at least, standby from a missed last flight of the day worked and the comment from the EXP desk along with the fact that we ended up top of the list suggested that the flat tire rule didn't reduce our standby priority in any way.

Was this your outbound or return flight?

Ok, this is how I would expect things work, that you are just standby for the next flight.

Return.

Would missing a flight on the outbound cancel the return? or would you be able to standby on the outbound and "rescue" the return?

FAQ: "Flat Tire Rule" and its application (Late Arrival Standby)
 

Although it is frequently mentioned, I have not been able to find the terms of the actual Flat Tire rule.

Is it only domestic? Do you standby on next flight? and, do you have to claim Flat Tire or does getting to Ticket Counter within 2 hrs of flight time for any reason activate this rule?

Is this rule at the whim of the TA or is it official AA policy?

Thanks

The Flat Tire rule is undocumented, so you won't find the terms anywhere. It does not have to be an actual flat tire. It is used in any situation where you miss your flight, but show up at the counter reasonably soon thereafter. The reason why it is undocumented is obvious. If you wanted to take flight A, but the flight immediately before it, flight B, was much cheaper, everybody would book flight B, miss it, and invoke the rule to get on flight A.

It is actual official AA policy, but because it is undocumented, we can't quote chapter and verse to a recalcitrant agent. If, for any reason, they decide not to cover you under this policy and require you to buy a walk-up ticket, you are SOL. Remember that missing a flight in a PNR cancels all the remaining flight.

It would not be a good idea, IMO, to plan on missing a flight and invoking the Flat Tire rule.

Thanks Gemac

What about flights departing the Carribean?

I am in a situation where I had to buy a walkup ticket and am now arguing with AA about it. There were a number of factors involved, not just 2 hr rule, but I know it helps to have an AA policy when making arguments to AA.

The so called 'flat tire rule' isn't a rule at all but a customer service method that the airline can choose to offer or not.

I would never count on getting it.

Too risky!

Still nope. If you have had to buy a walkup ticket, you are out of luck. The chances of getting AA to return that money are zero. Move on and live life.

Spill the details :)

Seriously, it will help the folks here to provide advice if we know what happened specifically. Not sure which direction the advice will take without knowing just what happened, but it certainly won't hurt.

Cheers.

The whole idea is to give some leeway to someone that shows up past check in time within a reasonable amount of time and as a plausible and good explanation of why (and maybe why they could not call into CS). As noted without details for a specific case its hard for anyone to give a real opinion of whether AA was right or not.

Giving a real opinion without any facts is easy - happens all the time here on FT. Giving an opinion that makes any sense - not so easy.

I'm sure that if OP posts all the details, they will get plenty of opinions as to whether AA was right or not. Trouble is, that won't help OP get his money back. He is already arguing with AA about it, sounds like he isn't making headway (not surprising), and wants to quote their rule to them. As we know, he can't do that, so we have no ammo to give him. We could give him advice as to how to prevent this from happening in the future. If we do so, we will be called mean AApologists.

I don't completely agree. With the details, it may be possible to provide better arguments for the OP to use. I find that a well-constructed stance can often help one to get the desired resolution, even after the fact. In any event, couldn't hurt.

Cheers.

OK BRP, I will spill, but have one more Flat Tire question.

Flying AUA-MIA-DFW-AUS Pax just misses 1st AUA departure. Next AUA departure would not be able to get last DFW-AUS flight of the day, thereby causing overnite in DFW.

Is it still Flat Tire or does moving last seg into next day break this?

Details on AA's "flat tire rule"
 

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/colum...d-flight_N.htm

"American does have a flat-tire rule for customers who call the airline to advise that they won't make their flights, according to representative Tim Smith. This call must come in no more than two hours after the flight's scheduled departure. But that doesn't guarantee them a spot on the next flight out: Passengers travel on a standby basis only."

USA Today: Source

Probably wouldn't break it, but also pretty likely that AA would not spring for the accommodations in DFW.

Cheers.

This definitively helps.

BRP- Why would I ask AA to cover the hotel? That is my problem- not theirs.

I posted my experience in this thread http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...light-day.html about having to use the flat-tire rule to get the first flight of the next day (albeit 12:15 am). It worked, but not without some discontent from the check-in agent.

Also, someone in that same thread raised the issue of whether the rule is the same if you miss the first flight of your itinerary as opposed to, say, the return leg. I don't think that was ever answered. Everyone always states that missing a segment cancels all the remaining ones, but presumably that cannot happen immediately otherwise the flat-tire rule wouldn't work.

The biggest problem we have with arguing with AA is getting a response that matches the issue that we complain about.

So instead you are asking them to cover the cost of a walkup fare because you wanted to get home the same day???

NO

As an Exec Plat, I wouldn't even waste time writing an email. Just call and get CS on the line.

Mike

AA isn't "covering the cost" of a walkup fare in this situation any more than when they let you standby. Though maybe that's some creative accounting they should consider ("gave pax free standby seat on earlier flight out of JFK; $3000 loss.")

The biggest problem we have is getting a response from you that matches the issue that we raised - that we can't really help you without more details. :D

This board has already given me the answer to my question in the 1st few responses. I thank everyone for those.

At this time I will not spill more details, but of course, everyone is free to speculate.

Again, thanks for the replies.

Is the "flat tire rule" just a weakened conditional form of same day standby given to non-elites? Wouldn't an EXP usually be better off just asking to standby on the flights they wanted/needed?

Also, has anyone missed a flight, done standby on the next one and been able to keep a connecting flight, even if the later standby flight arrives after MCT?

I'm just considering what would happen if I overslept and missed one of my 6 am flights. The flight at 6:55 is scheduled to arrive at ORD 25 minutes before my connecting flight, which is possible mainline to mainline, but not MCT.

And you are free to make your best argument without the benefit of the collective wisdom of the FT AA forum. It seems you have three choices here:
1. Put it behind you and get on with life.
2. Get the help of others to make the best possible argument.
3. Rely on your own wisdom to make the best argument you can without any help from others.

In my opinion, I have listed these in the order of desirability. It seems you are choosing #3. Good luck.

Speaking from experience, when you miss a flight, it does immediately cancel all remaining segments as my entire ticket was canceled when I woke up 2.5 hours after my flight was supposed to depart. They can still see the ticket in their system though (showing the cancelled segments) and that's why the flat tire rule works. In my case, I missed the first flight of a round trip journey. They had to do some finagling to get me to my destination that day. And when I checked in for my return, there were still issues with the ticket due how it was reinstated (fixed easily by the agent thank goodness). But I didn't have to pay anything except for a flight on WN to get to the connecting airport because flights out of my local airport were overbooked for 3 days.

In my experience, the FTR is only generally available in cases where standby is available as well as an option.

I have missed a few international flights, and in every case, I've had to pay at minimum a change fee to get on the next flight. If the flights were more full, I would have expected to pay a change fee plus prevailing fare for the new inventory.

I am wondering whether this is the situation the OP found him/herself in.

But the wisdom I have gained over the years is if flying internationally, make sure you make your flight. :)

I'm confused. Ok normally posters will outline an incident of what happened, AA's response, and ask opinions of FT and/or was proper policy followed by AA personnel. If you want opinion, it might not always be to your liking.

But without a detailed account of what happened I'm at a loss as to what is really being asked. Does AA have a flat tire rule, yes, was it applied fairly and to proper policy, who knows in this case.