RogerD408

Same day is the same calendar day for flights. There is some flexibility when talking about Admiral's Club access. Now, if a flight is pretty open and you ask the GA nicely, you may be able to board an earlier flight, but there are no rules to allow it.

ThreeJulietTango

With the exception of flights departing between 8 PM and midnight being able to SDFC to flights departing between midnight and 2 AM on the following calendar day, and vice versa.

The policy is explicitly clear on this; ask an airport agent to look it up and confirm it.

JonNYC

^

lightbulbs

Where does one tell them to look? I had two EXP phone agents look and an airport agent look and they all came back and said the policy is same calendar day even after I told them about the night before exception.

flyboyNYC

Is it still true that E inventory shows availability for SDFC? EF shows E 4, but both aa.com and the agent on the EXP line said that no SDFC is available. Am I missing something?

platbrownguy

Just a data point from an AA PLT.

Was scheduled BWI-DFW on 12/22, 6:10 p.m. Missed bag-drop deadline by a few minutes, went to agent at priority desk. All flights were F0Y0 (and of course E0) but possible routings to get out that night were BWI-CLT-DFW, BWI-ORD-DFW, and BWI-PHX-DFW, in order of departure time from BWI. CLT was the least promising (oversold etc.), so I asked to be listed standby on BWI-ORD.

Agent tapped some keys and said "sorry it has to be a nonstop for a nonstop, do you want to stand by on the first nonstop in the morning?" I ask her if there's anything she can do, etc., she calls a guy over from a nearby desk, he says "well it can be connecting as long as it's a valid routing, but you can't overshoot the hub so PHX is out--but ORD is fine." So he taps a couple of keys and we're listed on BWI-ORD.

Unfortunately BWI-ORD is oversold, they ask for one volunteer and get one but he waits to see if he'll make it, there's one checked-in passenger who doesn't make it, volunteer gets back on flight, and we don't clear (we were #1 and #2 of many).

I then ask to be listed on the BWI-PHX flight. She says that would be fine (but cautions us that PHX-DFW, a 1 a.m. redeye, is oversold and we risk overnighting in PHX), but then says that BWI-PHX is so oversold that there's no chance of making it, it's running late so there isn't much risk of pax missing their flight, and that the agents there aren't letting anyone else stand by on the flight (this I found odd--presumably *someone* has at least a slight chance of making it if enough pax decide to stay in BWI rather than go to PHX and miss a connection).

The agent then looks at other flights. She says nothing is confirmable "for the $75 per person same day flight change fee" (her words, unprompted by me) from BWI the next day (indeed everything was E0 and most things were F0Y0, the rest being F1Y0 or F0Y1). I ask about DCA, IAD, she says no, I ask about PHL and she says "yes, I can confirm you on the 3:35 p.m. flight and then you can stand by on the 5:00 a.m. -- want to do that?" I say yes, she takes my Amex, charges $75 x 2, and prints us boarding passes for AA2316 from PHL the next day. We promptly drive to PHL, do a park-and-fly at the airport Sheraton, sleep a few hours, and easily clear the 5 a.m. flight (6 or 7 cleared).

tl;dr -- No irrops, missed my flight, airport agent offered SDFC for flights the next day for $75 and processed SDFC from BWI-DFW to PHL-DFW flight without doing anything to suggest she was circumventing a rule. As always, YMMV.

vinnmann

Flying on a sAAver award MCO-MIA-LHR-AMS in domestic first and international business. First 2 flights are AA metal. I have a 50 min connection in MIA which seems tight, but doable if everything is on time. My MIA-LHR flight is #38 meaning if I miss it, I will be stuck in MIA for the night. According to the rules, SDFC is complimentary. If domestic SDFC premium cabin changes can only be made into the same bucket (Z in my case), what is the point, or can they go to some other first bucket? I can change to any flight MCO-MIA with Z availability at any time with no fee. I have also heard conflicting reports of whether an initial domestic segment can be SDFC if it is followed by an international segment. If Z does not become available and no SDCF is possible, can I still standby for an earlier flight? Fortunately, my wife is on an earlier flight with a 2 hour MIA connection (if we check bags, they will go with her). Anyone have a suggestion on how to get on the earlier flight with her? I would be happy flying in coach just to get to MIA with ample time. Maybe I should drive to MIA to make sure I have time. 1 hour flight and the 2 hour connection I want = 3 hour drive.

On the return, I have a 6 hour connection in JFK. When collecting luggage from customs, I am not going to immediately re-check it, but rather exit and go to the ticket counter to see if I can SDFC to an earlier flight. With JFK-MCO being my last leg, I am assuming the SDFC international segment concerns will be unfounded.

nrr

In another thread (before AA and US merged their systems), US for reservation purposes would list a 2 am flight on (say) 12/24 as departing on 12/23, was discussed; I think AA's system, counting 00:00 to 23:59 as ONE day, won out. There still seems to be ambiguity as to what agents count as one day (even with the 8 pm to 2 am rule).
A few years ago (long before the AA-US merger was contemplated), I was booked: LAS-ORD-LGA, departing LAS at 11:55 PM on 07/04/xx arriving on 07/05/xx in LGA--but (learned after I booked), I needed to arrive in LGA on 07/04/xx. I went ("normal") standby on the 12:05 AM, LAS-DFW on 07/04/xx [legal], when I went to the DFW AC, I inquired about standby for a DFW-LGA flt: "your supposed to be flying TOMORROW (07/05/xx)--but there is a FC seat being held on the next DFW-LGA...run fast...", was the agents response.^
In any event, using the "idiotic" [IMHO] AM, PM system in use in the USA, as opposed to the 24 hour [00:00-23:59 day] in use "elsewhere" is

Geauxtigers

"Change itinerary at the beginning to include illegal layovers (> 4 hours): ??"

Wanted to give an update for this part in the wiki and say it is possible. Booked on milesaaver PHL-CLT-BTR 6:30pm, went standby for 10:07am-12:13pm PHL-CLT flight and cleared (along with 20 other standbys). The connection generated is greater than four hours as CLT-BTR is at 4:40pm. Could have been the weather, but agent seemed more than happy to put me on the earlier flight

Should add that agent would not let me standby for PHL-DFW-BTR, despite lots of open availability DFW-BTR

steveholt

Never really fly AA, so total idiot question: booked on BOS-JFK at 6 AM tomorrow. Offered a same-day standby option for BOS-JFK at 10:30 AM on the 32B. 32B's economy seats are all listed as elite seats, so vast majority of them aren't selected, but not sure whether that's because there's a fee to select them at checkin for non-elites. Did a search for six paid tickets and was told that there are 7 seats available, but also not sure if that means 7 or 7+. Pretty important for me to be in NYC by 1:30. Am I being too nervous about standing by on the 10:30?

ThreeJulietTango

Keyword SDFC for airport agents.

Yes, for economy SDFC. Were you in a premium cabin?

Airport agent was incorrect. I don't even know how she reissued the ticket for that.

JonNYC

ThreeJulietTango, you've been heroic in your efforts to bring some clarity to this very convoluted topic (and others.)
Speaking for many here, I'm sure, THANKS for your posts!

RogerD408

Yes, there are a few here (excuse me for pointing fingers) that would make travel a whole lot more enjoyable if only their knowledge and helpfulness could be cloned out to the rest of the AAgents.

yerffej201

Is there any way to predict E class availability opening up? Looking at LAX SFO for the next few days there are a bunch of flights that are O7 and E0.