Standby question
 

I found a reasonable ($517) last minute ticket for my mom SJC-LGW r/t via houston on CO.

Coming back, would she be able to ask to stand-by to SFO when she arrives at IAH? Would she have to do this before re-checking her luggage? Also, are there any payphones around customs/baggage re-check?

I have an unrelated question: on her outbound, she's on a flight that's arriving at 6 pm from SJC, and her flight to London leaves at 6:45. Will she have to run to make it?

Yonatan

No, yes, no.

MisterNice

SJC is cheaper than SFO. If you come to the gate agent in IAH and say you would like to fly to SFO, not only that they will be happy to waitlist you, they would be more than happy to collect the fare difference.

The old "SFO is always more expensive" saw has gotten less true in more recent times, with Frontier and ATA pumping up service.

In fact, the last couple of flights I've taken forced me to schlep up to SFO (I live 4 minutes from SJC) because of significant price differences.

They are considered co-terminals most of the time, so standby should work, but YMMV with the agent.

Steve

Bingo. And in most cases for international, SFO is cheaper since there's more competition.

Using a generalization for airfares without qualifying it will often make a statement untrue. But what do I know, the people who think "SFO is always more expensive" are probably flying out of Oakland because "Southwest is always the cheapest." :D