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Previous posts have been archived and can be read here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 13, 2017, 7:39 pm
#406
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 51
Can I standby for a non-stop flight earlier in the day to avoid my original flight which has a connection?
Want to purchase A-->B-->C ticket because it is cheaper than the morning non-stop A-->C flight. Plenty of space on A--C flight so not concerned with getting on the flight.
Can I standby on the nonstop A--C flight?
Want to purchase A-->B-->C ticket because it is cheaper than the morning non-stop A-->C flight. Plenty of space on A--C flight so not concerned with getting on the flight.
Can I standby on the nonstop A--C flight?
For $75 on flights between the 50 United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) you may standby on an earlier flight as long as the alternate flight:
Has the same origin and destination
Is for the same calendar day of departure
Is marketed and operated by American Airlines or American Eagle
You cannot change your itinerary to a city with multiple airports or to a different connecting city.
Has the same origin and destination
Is for the same calendar day of departure
Is marketed and operated by American Airlines or American Eagle
You cannot change your itinerary to a city with multiple airports or to a different connecting city.
Feb 13, 2017, 8:55 pm
#407
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Live: IWI; Work: DCA/Everywhere; Play: LAS/SJU/MLE
Programs: AA EXP, DL PM, Hyatt Glob, Marriott Ambassador/LTP, Nat'l Exec Elite, LEYE Gold
Posts: 6,675
No.
https://www.aa.com/i18n/plan-travel/...day-travel.jsp
https://www.aa.com/i18n/plan-travel/...day-travel.jsp
Same-day standby terms and conditions
- Same-day standby is only available on flights operated and marketed by American Airlines or American Eagle.
- Same-day standby is non-refundable and non-transferable.
- Same-day standby is offered on select routes and is subject to availability.
- Changes to origin and destination airports are not permitted.
- Changes to the number of flight segments in the itinerary are not allowed.
- Changes from a through flight to connecting or nonstop flights are not allowed.
- Changes to another city with multiple airports are not allowed.
- Changes to different connecting cities are not allowed.
- AAdvantage regular members and non-members may only use same-day standby if same-day flight change is not available.
- AAdvantage regular members and non-members using same-day standby may only stand by for an earlier flight.
- AAdvantage elite members may use same-day standby for earlier or later flights.
Feb 13, 2017, 9:15 pm
#408
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 51
Feb 13, 2017, 11:34 pm
#409
Join Date: Apr 2015
Programs: AA Gold, Enterprise PLT, Marriott Gold
Posts: 604
To be fair, I don't know why someone would think going nonstop to the final destination instead of connecting is ok if it says that connection cities cannot be changed as you shared.
So at the least I feel it should make someone seek more information if they thought about it logically.
Just my two cents on it.
Feb 14, 2017, 1:54 am
#410
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Live: IWI; Work: DCA/Everywhere; Play: LAS/SJU/MLE
Programs: AA EXP, DL PM, Hyatt Glob, Marriott Ambassador/LTP, Nat'l Exec Elite, LEYE Gold
Posts: 6,675
You cannot change your itinerary to a city with multiple airports or to a different connecting city.
As for the second part, they mean "you cannot change the connecting city in your itinerary to a different one," rather than changing your "itinerary" to a "different connecting city," which is a mismatch.
For all the legalism that airlines like to invoke, you'd think they'd do better at writing these things.
Feb 14, 2017, 9:15 am
#411
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 51
- Has the same origin and destination
- Is for the same calendar day of departure
- Is marketed and operated by American Airlines or American Eagle
- You cannot change your itinerary to a city with multiple airports or to a different connecting city.
And then states a slew of additional terms in the "Terms and Conditions" link at the bottom of the page without actually referencing that there are additional terms and conditions in the main body of the page. "Please refer to Terms and Conditions for full details" is pretty common legalese I would expect to see from an industry that loves to lay everything out in specific legal terms. To me, that is what I find misleading because based on these 4 conditions alone, it would seem logical that you would be able to change from a connecting flight to a direct flight because you are not changing to a different connecting city, you are completely eliminating the connecting city.
Feb 14, 2017, 9:52 am
#412
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 47
I got a Priority Verification card for a 12:30am standby flight out of LAX. Original flight was at 6:00am. Priority Verification card wasn't marked PreCheck but my mobile boarding pass for the 6am flight was. I went through the security checkpoint at 9:30pm and used the 6am boarding pass for the PreCheck. No problems. I don't know how far in advance I could have used that boarding pass.
Feb 14, 2017, 10:03 am
#413
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 47
The SDS terms don't appear to prohibit it, but based on the discussions in these forums, I don't know if I got lucky or if this is normal.
Feb 14, 2017, 9:16 pm
#414
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: BNA and FLL
Programs: National Executive Elite, IHG Diamond Elite, Hilton Gold, SW A List, Marriott Gold
Posts: 964
Made a huge rookie mistake today. Was rushing to the gate to try and get on standby as boarding was finishing (plenty of seats still available). I just assumed first class would be full (LAX-ORD). I took the only aisle seat left in the back over a middle exit row towards the front.
As I boarded, I was one of the last people, I noticed 2 F seats still empty. I got back to my seat in the back and pulled up the seat map on expert flyer and sure enough those 2 F seats were showing as open.
Was there anything I could have done at that point to get moved up to F using stickers? We were so close to door closing that I didn't think getting off the plane to go talk to the gate agent would have been possible.
As I boarded, I was one of the last people, I noticed 2 F seats still empty. I got back to my seat in the back and pulled up the seat map on expert flyer and sure enough those 2 F seats were showing as open.
Was there anything I could have done at that point to get moved up to F using stickers? We were so close to door closing that I didn't think getting off the plane to go talk to the gate agent would have been possible.
Feb 14, 2017, 9:31 pm
#415
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: DCA/IAD/WAS
Programs: MAR AMB, WOH Explorist, AA EXP, UA 2P
Posts: 2,138
Made a huge rookie mistake today. Was rushing to the gate to try and get on standby as boarding was finishing (plenty of seats still available). I just assumed first class would be full (LAX-ORD). I took the only aisle seat left in the back over a middle exit row towards the front.
As I boarded, I was one of the last people, I noticed 2 F seats still empty. I got back to my seat in the back and pulled up the seat map on expert flyer and sure enough those 2 F seats were showing as open.
Was there anything I could have done at that point to get moved up to F using stickers? We were so close to door closing that I didn't think getting off the plane to go talk to the gate agent would have been possible.
As I boarded, I was one of the last people, I noticed 2 F seats still empty. I got back to my seat in the back and pulled up the seat map on expert flyer and sure enough those 2 F seats were showing as open.
Was there anything I could have done at that point to get moved up to F using stickers? We were so close to door closing that I didn't think getting off the plane to go talk to the gate agent would have been possible.
Feb 14, 2017, 11:47 pm
#416
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Live: IWI; Work: DCA/Everywhere; Play: LAS/SJU/MLE
Programs: AA EXP, DL PM, Hyatt Glob, Marriott Ambassador/LTP, Nat'l Exec Elite, LEYE Gold
Posts: 6,675
If you've got the seat map pulled up and you know that the upgrade list has already cleared and that there are likely open seats up front when the gate hands you your BP, try asking "anything happen to be available up front?" nicely -- you may even find that no stickers are deducted on occasion.
Feb 15, 2017, 5:30 pm
#417
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: BNA and FLL
Programs: National Executive Elite, IHG Diamond Elite, Hilton Gold, SW A List, Marriott Gold
Posts: 964
Thanks. I just stupidly assumed F would be full on such a busy route. And I was in a rush to board and so didn't even bother to ask about F space.
Feb 17, 2017, 1:49 am
#418
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 64
Same Day Standby for Economy Mile SAAver
Has anyone tried doing same day standby for an award ticket? I tried calling AA and they've all told me I'm not able to do same day standby for Economy Mile SAAver, even though I'm Platinum status on AA. Trying to fly from LAX to SFO but only one flight for 7.5k miles is available and it's at 6:30am. Trying to do standby for a later flight in the day.
Feb 17, 2017, 4:02 am
#419
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: San Antonio
Programs: DL DM, Former AA EXP now AY Plat, AC 75K, NW Plat, Former CO Gold, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 27,052
Has anyone tried doing same day standby for an award ticket? I tried calling AA and they've all told me I'm not able to do same day standby for Economy Mile SAAver, even though I'm Platinum status on AA. Trying to fly from LAX to SFO but only one flight for 7.5k miles is available and it's at 6:30am. Trying to do standby for a later flight in the day.
Feb 18, 2017, 6:18 am
#420
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: PHL
Programs: AA - Plat, HHonors - Diamond, IHG - Plat, Marriott - Gold, National - Exec, Amtrak - Select, NEXUS
Posts: 1,075
I used SDSB back in October on a coach sAAver award ticket DFW-PHL. Was added to the SB list in the AC, went to the gate and was cleared ~60 minutes before departure, and even managed to grab 23F on the (LUS) A321. Had time to go back to the club for another half-hour and board at T-20 at the end of boarding.