Nov 8, 2015, 3:40 pm
Last edit by: Prospero
American Airlines Same Day Standby Policy and Discussion
(Not to be confused with SDFC / Same Day Flight Change - see links below)
Standby has its own rules and peculiarities: (As of 14 Jan 2016)
Same-day standby
Standby for a fee (waived for AA Elites)
For $75 on domestic flights, you may standby on an earlier flight under the following conditions:
*Standby between NYC-LON is offered for $150.
AAdvantage elite members may use the standby option for earlier or later flights.
Though it appeared those with checked bags were being denied SDS, JonNYC clarified that AA affirmed AA Elites are allowed to SDS if they have checked bags. Link.
Complimentary standby
Get complimentary same-day standby with:
Complimentary same-day standby is also available for:
Link
The following passengers may standby at no charge based on availability:
Link
Q. What happens to my upgrade if I stand by for another flight?
Your upgrade and position will be lost. You can not be added to the upgrade list on your desired flight until you have cleared from standby. At that point, it may be too late to request your upgrade, given upgrade requests are normally processed prior to the standby list.
See "Airport Upgrade and Standby List" / Order, PALL List and issues (FT)
Previous posts have been archived and can be read here
Standby is not the same thing as SDFC / Same Day Confirmed Flight Change:
See "Domestic" Same Day Confirmed Flight Change / SDFC / CFC / "Standby" or
International Same Day Flight Change / SDFC / SDC / CDC
(Not to be confused with SDFC / Same Day Flight Change - see links below)
Standby has its own rules and peculiarities: (As of 14 Jan 2016)
Same-day standby
Standby for a fee (waived for AA Elites)
For $75 on domestic flights, you may standby on an earlier flight under the following conditions:
- Standby is not allowed for international flights*.
- Has the same origin and destination
- Is for the same calendar day of departure
- Is marketed and operated by American Airlines or American Eagle
- Changes to another multi-city airport or to different connecting cities are not allowed
- You can standby for your originally purchased cabin (not upgraded cabin)
- Standby means upgrades on the original flights are lost (you can not be on an upgrade list until your standby has cleared)
- Standby pax may be required to gate check carry-on baggage
- Standby is prioritized - see "PALL List" link below
*Standby between NYC-LON is offered for $150.
AAdvantage elite members may use the standby option for earlier or later flights.
Though it appeared those with checked bags were being denied SDS, JonNYC clarified that AA affirmed AA Elites are allowed to SDS if they have checked bags. Link.
Complimentary standby
Get complimentary same-day standby with:
- Unrestricted Economy Class (Y fare), Business or First Class tickets
- American Airlines AAdvantage Executive Platinum, Platinum, Platinum Pro or Gold status and companions in same record
- oneworld® Emerald, Sapphire or Ruby status and companions in same record
- AirPass membership
- First and Business Class MileSAAver award tickets
- AAnytime award tickets
- Choice Plus fares
Complimentary same-day standby is also available for:
- Active U.S. military personnel traveling on orders or personal travel
- Active U.S. military dependents traveling on orders
Link
The following passengers may standby at no charge based on availability:
- Customers who purchase unrestricted Economy Class fares (Y class of service)
- Customers who purchase Business or First Class tickets
- Active U.S. military personnel traveling on orders or personal travel
- Active U.S. military dependents traveling on orders
- American Airlines AAdvantage® Executive Platinum, Platinum Pro, Platinum or Gold members
- oneworld® alliance Emerald, Sapphire or Ruby members
- Customers flying on the same reservation as an American Airlines AAdvantage Executive Platinum, Platinum or Gold member or oneworld alliance Emerald, Sapphire or Ruby member regardless of frequent flyer status or fare type
- AAirpass® members
- First and Business Class MileSAAver® Awards
- First, Business and Economy Class AAnytime® Awards
- Customers who purchase a Choice Plus fare
Link
Q. What happens to my upgrade if I stand by for another flight?
Your upgrade and position will be lost. You can not be added to the upgrade list on your desired flight until you have cleared from standby. At that point, it may be too late to request your upgrade, given upgrade requests are normally processed prior to the standby list.
See "Airport Upgrade and Standby List" / Order, PALL List and issues (FT)
Previous posts have been archived and can be read here
Standby is not the same thing as SDFC / Same Day Confirmed Flight Change:
See "Domestic" Same Day Confirmed Flight Change / SDFC / CFC / "Standby" or
International Same Day Flight Change / SDFC / SDC / CDC
Same Day Standby / SDS (not SDFC) Rules & Discussion (master thread)
Feb 15, 2019, 8:06 am
#691
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: New York
Programs: AA EXP, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 260
If you have an overnight connection, it's not possible to stand by for a connection the previous day, correct?
e.g. Current flight as ticketed:
Day 1: MIA -> DFW, arriving at 5PM
Day 2: DFW -> ORD, departing at 8:00AM
Could I stand by for any DFW -> ORD flights that are on Day 1 and skip having to get a hotel for the night?
e.g. Current flight as ticketed:
Day 1: MIA -> DFW, arriving at 5PM
Day 2: DFW -> ORD, departing at 8:00AM
Could I stand by for any DFW -> ORD flights that are on Day 1 and skip having to get a hotel for the night?
Feb 15, 2019, 10:49 am
#692
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: NYC/PHX
Programs: IATA, Sabre, AvgeekAgent
Posts: 1,958
If you have an overnight connection, it's not possible to stand by for a connection the previous day, correct?
e.g. Current flight as ticketed:
Day 1: MIA -> DFW, arriving at 5PM
Day 2: DFW -> ORD, departing at 8:00AM
Could I stand by for any DFW -> ORD flights that are on Day 1 and skip having to get a hotel for the night?
e.g. Current flight as ticketed:
Day 1: MIA -> DFW, arriving at 5PM
Day 2: DFW -> ORD, departing at 8:00AM
Could I stand by for any DFW -> ORD flights that are on Day 1 and skip having to get a hotel for the night?
Feb 16, 2019, 8:07 am
#693
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: New York
Programs: AA EXP, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 260
Curious how this was ticketed as a connection vs a stopover (i.e., each leg separately fared)--is this an award ticket? If your fare is priced MIA-ORD, you should be fine. If it's a MIA-DFW fare and a DFW-ORD priced separately (even on the same ticket), it could be interpreted that the overnight was booked intentionally and is actually a stopover on a multi-leg itinerary. In this case, you may have luck at the airport, but technically, you'd be attempting to change the date of the DFW-ORD segment.
Feb 16, 2019, 10:05 am
#694
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: NYC/PHX
Programs: IATA, Sabre, AvgeekAgent
Posts: 1,958
This would be a single ticket. As an example, looking at https://www.google.com/flights#flt=G...;sd:1;t:f;tt:o - the connections with forced overnights are all cheaper than the flights that get in on the same day.
A multi-leg journey with fare breaks can be a issued as single ticket. The critical point is whether the passenger paid for transportation from MIA to ORD, or MIA to DFW to ORD. If the latter, AA can require the DFW-ORD to be flown on the date it was ticketed for.
Feb 25, 2019, 8:25 pm
#696
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: PHL
Posts: 28
I am booked on a MileSAAver J award PHL-ORD this weekend on AA metal (connecting to QR J to ORD-DOH-COK). I want to standby on an earlier PHL-ORD flight on the same day, as there is a storm forecasted for the afternoon and I am afraid that I will miss the connection in ORD. The new flight is way earlier in the day (5AM, painful I know) and looks wide open. Will I be able to do this (and will I be charged a fee)? I had read in another FT thread that domestic standby on international itineraries is not allowed by AA. Is this still true?
I have read some conflicting information online stating that there needs to be Saver award space in order to standby (there is currently not), but my understanding is that this applies to Same Day Confirmed Flight Change, and not Same Day Standby -- is this correct?
I have read some conflicting information online stating that there needs to be Saver award space in order to standby (there is currently not), but my understanding is that this applies to Same Day Confirmed Flight Change, and not Same Day Standby -- is this correct?
Last edited by ezhang; Feb 25, 2019 at 8:44 pm
Mar 11, 2019, 6:26 pm
#697
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 44
Has anybody ever had luck getting a free standby on a Economy MileSAAver award ticket? I don't see it on the list of tickets eligible for free standby, but wondering if it would work if I'm in person at the gate. I don't have any status - thanks!
Mar 11, 2019, 6:30 pm
#698
Join Date: Nov 2018
Posts: 1,285
All AAdvantage award tickets are eligible for free confirmed same day confirmed flight change. That said, unlike on paid tickets, you aren’t looking for “E” fare availability. Instead, there has to be award availability on the new flight for you to get a confirmed flight change.
While the SDFC option will show up online and in the app, unfortunately this isn’t a process that can be done online. You’re going to have to call AA to change your flight.
Mar 12, 2019, 7:49 am
#699
Join Date: May 2011
Location: NYC (LGA, JFK), CT
Programs: Delta Platinum, American Gold, JetBlue Mosaic 4, Marriott Platinum, Hyatt Explorist, Hilton Diamond,
Posts: 4,888
Scroll down to award tickets section: https://thepointsguy.com/guide/aa-sa...ge-how-to/amp/
All AAdvantage award tickets are eligible for free confirmed same day confirmed flight change. That said, unlike on paid tickets, you aren’t looking for “E” fare availability. Instead, there has to be award availability on the new flight for you to get a confirmed flight change.
While the SDFC option will show up online and in the app, unfortunately this isn’t a process that can be done online. You’re going to have to call AA to change your flight.
Mar 12, 2019, 11:50 am
#700
Join Date: Aug 2017
Programs: AA PLT, IHG Spire
Posts: 550
See: https://www.aa.com/i18n/plan-travel/...day-travel.jsp
Apr 13, 2019, 9:05 am
#703
Join Date: Dec 2018
Posts: 12
1 on the standby list today (on 2 flights) skipped TWICE because they let AA employees ahead of me Why aren't AA employees put at the top of the list automatically if this is their policy?
Last edited by Raymond Lattanzio; Apr 13, 2019 at 9:17 am