AA Future Timed Standby
 

I have an AA flight booked for this afternoon at 1PM, I want to change it to the evening 7PM, but there are no confirmed flights available only on standby. I was wondering, if I go on Standby for the 7PM flight, do I need to be at the airport at 1PM? What if I don’t get on the 7PM flight, would they put me on the next flight available?

Try to get on standby by changing your reservation through the AA app or call in. Have your itinerary number on hand.

Yes you would continue to standby until you got on a flight but being bumped from a flight is rare.

OP is not speaking of being "bumped." He is asking about the consequences of failing to show up for his ticketed flight and then not making it off standby for the later flight. The simple answer is that if you standby and do not make it onto that 7:00 PM flight, you will keep rolling over on standby until a seat opens up on some flight. Depending on routing, that might be tomorrow.

I strongly advise against standing by for a later flight or your are entirely flexible. Particularly on a Sunday evening at a time when air traffic is returning at warp speed. The lack of positive space with no status puts you in a tough spot.

Take a look at outright changes -- which might include different routings. Perhaps there is something to be had. With no change fees, always possible that the fare difference is smallish.

Thanks! This is exactly, what I was looking for. So I can miss my 1PM, hope that I get a seat on the 7PM flight. If I don’t, it will keep rolling over to the next available flight.

Just to confirm, I don’t need to show up for my 1PM flight right? It says my seat in the original flight has still be saved.

Are you elite? If not, you can't standby for a later flight. If you are still a AS 75K, then you can show up at the airport later during the day. Ideally you want to add yourself to the standby list via the app/website starting at 24 hours prior to the desired flight.

https://www.aa.com/i18n/plan-travel/...day-travel.jsp

Thanks. Yep, I’m a 75K so I was given the option for a later standby flight.

You're simply playing standby roulette. If there is a flight at 7PM (or later) they will put you on it. If not, you might not get out until the next day. Technically you cannot change routing on either standby or same-day confirmed, and without knowing where you're going it's not possible to say if there would even be a connection that late in the day, but the odds aren't good. At some point if there is no nonstop the GA may take pity and put you on a connection, but there's no guarantee if or when this will happen.

I wouldn’t roll the dice on this unless you know for sure the later flights are empty, or you’re willing to pay up for a ticketed change the next day, Very risky on a busy Sunday.

Rook the dice, with the cheap fares they have been selling, the level of no shows is amazingly high this days. All my flights have had the "voucher offer" before departing, and all of them have ended up accommodating ALL stand bys and even some left with seats open.

If you no show for your ticketed flight and take no other action, your ticket may be cancelled and will retain whatever value it retains under its fare rules. That might be $0. It is possible that you can get your ticket reinstated at the airport, but not guaranteed and it will mean standing around while that happens.

Again a roulette issue which comes back to your risk tolerance.

No need to worry about ticket no value. I've stand by for later same day AA flight over the years. No issues with ticket having no value due to "no-show" the original flight. Airport agent will have to find your PNR but will just work with that PNR in getting you on the standby list.

But you do raise a valid point that one should call AA to confirm whether no-showing the original flight will cause any subsequent flight (eg return) to cancel out immediately after original flight is closed. All my later same day standbys have always been one-segment bookings so no experience with doing this when there are additional flights are in the future.