Non-AA employees in AA uniforms the bane of airport operations. BDL story.
 

In a nutshell:
Non-AA airport agents can be clueless on AA's basic rules. For standby, a non-AA airport ticket agent thought it was required to have the same connecting city, despite origin and destination cities not changing.

Try over and over again to find a proper AA employee and things will improve for you.
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The Desk Agent

Had a BDL-DFW-LAX itinerary with a 6pm-ish departure. I was available to depart at around 3pm so the night before I called the premium line and asked if I could SDC or standby for an earlier BDL-ORD-LAX itinerary. The premium agent said she could only SDC me for a 7am departure (no way!) and that I can only try to standby at the airport for the BDL-ORD flights. Okay.

At the airport, the desk agent said very tersely, "If you want to standby, your connecting city must be the same. You can only standby for another Dallas flight and that left three hours ago." She added, "You can possibly standby over the phone."

I tried to explain that as long as the origin and destination cities are the same, passenger can standby regardless of what the connecting city is. Additionally this can only be done at the airport. She had none of it.

By the way, I noticed she was training a new agent.

I then called the premium line and the PA said, "Of course you can standby for an earlier flight! As long as there's no change with or origin and destination pairs, it makes no difference where you connect through." She had no idea what the desk agent was talking about. She said there was space available on the desired flights but I can only standby at the airport.

With the PA sill on the line, I walked back to the desk agent and explained what the PA just told me. Without argument she begrudgingly started trying to standby me for the earlier BDL-ORD-LAX flights. She took 20 minutes. Seriously She had no idea how to do it and kept on making phone calls to ask for advice.

Yes, she was training a new agent.

After that 20 minutes (I'm really sorry to all of those in line that day waiting for that agent - there were only 2 agents working) she finally SDCed me for the ORD itinerary - she ultimately couldn't figure out how standby works. It was a middle seat and according to AA.com, there were many non-middle seats available but I knew better than to ask her to find me a better seat. I thanked her and left for the AC.

Another premium line agent said she couldn't change seats for me but I could do it at the airport.

The AC Agents

At the AC, when I entered I asked if the agent could try to change a seat for me. He said he wouldn't try because I was traveling on AA and he only had access to the US system. I found it amusing that he said this sitting in front of the large "American Airlines"-written glass backdrop (no US signage anywhere). I shrugged and sat down.

I frequently stuck my head out the AC doors to see if an agent arrived at the gate so I could try to change seats with them. One of the times I did this a different AC agent asked if she could help me. When I explained I wanted to change seats and how the first AC agent couldn't because he only had access to the US system, she whispered, "Some people are lazy." This wonderful AC agent then made a quick phone call and got me great MCE seats on both my flights.

After telling her of my attempted-standby experience at the desk, she explained that most of the agents at BDL, including the desk agent (and trainer!) I encountered, are non-AA. She was one of the only 4 there. She said, "they get them from the street."

Conclusion

It seemed the only way I could accomplish something that should've been routine was talking to multiple airport and phone agents until I finally found someone who knew what they were doing. I understand how it saves AA money to subcontract airport staff out, but if they're going to do this they should properly train that staff the same way they train their own.

I had a few frustrating SDCFC last week-- both times the EXP agents told me I was on the upgrade list on the new flight, but both times I wasn't moved over to the airport list. I'm having doubts I was even on the upgrade list to begin with. Kind of frustrating.

Have a weird situation currently that I'm wondering if anyone else has seen before. Originally scheduled on AA2386 dfw to msy and saw the comp upgrade didn't go through. Requested standby online for the noon flight late last night since i need to get back earlier today. Got an email around 7am that the comp upgrade went through for the noon flight (four people on upgrade list currently), not my original flight. I have a boarding pass and everything looks okay, was even able to check in.

Is this a usual occurence? Seems like I somehow got confirmed on an earlier flight in first through standby without paying.

changing P fares and SDFC
 

Booked a flight ord-DFW-las later this summer in P class. Now the departure just after my ord-dfw leg is on the 787. If like to try it out, but was wondering how often the same day changes on AA have P class open for changes. I'm new to AA.

On the new airplane I would guess that F would fill up, if only for the novelty of flying in F on it... my guess (and that's all it is, a guess!) is that it would be doubtful that there would be any discount F (A/P) available on that aircraft within 24 hours of departure. That said, you never know! MIA-LAX on the 3-class 777 had SDC available in A tonight... score!:D

The best solution is to call.

As AA ticketing policy and fleet haven't merged with US' yet, we've moved this into the proper forum. /Moderator

phone vs. airport availability
 

Was booked AAA-BBB-CCC-DDD. Broken fare at BBB. Called twice for a CFC to AAA-CCC-DDD, but was correctly told that the broken fare did not allow it. Day of departure an agent at the check-in counter, however, gladly made the CFC for me.

Question: Is the airport allowed to ignore fare rules for CFC, or did I just get a generous agent?

Telephone agents have to follow a different set of rules than Airport agents. You may have benefitted from SDC instead of CFC since you were at the airport. There have been several reports of GAs getting confused as to the rules and what is doable or not. Sounds like you found one interested in solving the problem instead of finding a way to say no. Congrats.

Keep in mind, the actual SDFC as reservation process is economy only with -E- being the indicator if it's available on a given flight.

That said, to sort of "mirror" SDFC, there are instructions in place to allow for UP-type premium cabin fares to do similar via a reissue, with waived fee.

So, you may possibly find some AAgent confusion/reluctance, but is doable, inventory allowing, of course.

Jon, any chance you could clarify? I have had no luck trying this. Is there a specific magic word I should ask for to jog an agent's memory about this reissue technique?

And what about non-UP type fares? Like I fares on transcons?

Surely, the language goes as follows:

Thanks, Jon! The last time I tried to do this on an I fare, the EXP desk agent said that she couldn't do it because there was no E inventory. Sigh.

What this rule doesn't say, though, is what inventory is required. To SDFC an I ticket, does it require I inventory? Similarly, P for P tickets? Or is there a less restrictive rule, similar to the E rule for coach?

I have to _assume_ same inventory must be available simply as nothing else is mentioned, but agree it's a bit hard to tell from the language.

I would also assume that the same premium class inventory would have to be available, but another question is whether there also needs to be availability in the underlying coach fare. E.g., does an itinerary booked with the fare basis code SA07ZNI1/WAUP need P and S or just P? (Or something else)

But even beyond that, the fare rules seem to make clear that SDFC is certainly allowed on premium class fares, at no charge. Here's some language from the above-mentioned fare (on LGA-ORD). Nothing specific about fare class availability, thought.
(And maybe worth mentioning that the fare rules also allow same-day standby for free on these fares.)

What happens if someone is booked in first on a 2-class flight and wants to SFDC to a 3-class flight? I would assume they would go in business, but what inventory needs to be available if it's even possible?