CO standby rule
 

At LGA, I was on standby, and I was the second name called, the first person wasn't even Elite, I didn't get to see what seat he got, but does Time at the airport beat Elite Priority?

Al

Maybe they called the stand-by passengers in alphabetical order.

I have been told repeatedly that time of Check-In is the only criteria for clearing standy-by.

While Elite status is a major factor when on stand-by for F/C, it does not have any bearing on the stand-by list to actually get on a flight.

Thands for clearing the confusion. I was told by two agents two different things, when is by checking time, another stated that Elite matters alot. What else is new?
By the way, LGA's CO reps suck.

Al

afang, Not that I really care... but how do you know the first person, called, wasn't elite? No obvious tattoo or anything?


[This message has been edited by cigarman (edited 12-21-2000).]

I don't think status matters at all. I was on a CO flight a couple of weeks ago that was running rather late. There was a later flight that was going to leave earlier and I wanted to fly standby on it. Despite having a paid first class ticket and being elite, I was told that I would have to go at the end of the standby list of 30 or so people, including a bunch of people with NW tickets.

I think CO's standby policy needs some work. Why should a paid first class ticket have to be at the end of all of the coach standbys?

This is indeed a problem with CO. United puts premier status as the main determinate of who gets put on the top of the standby list. Many times last year I was out on the plane first and only because of the United premier status that I held. An airline should put standby passengers on the plane in order of their Elite status( except in cases of sickness or emergencies)

My guess is that those people were being reaccommodated from an earlier flight that had had a problem (a Northwest flight having problems in winter? who'd'a thunk it?). People who have already had their plans zapped once are often given priority to minimize the disruption.

That is not the experience of a friend who is CO Platinum. He's told me on two different occasions this year that his name was immediately moved to the top of the standby list in CO's system. Both times he had a confirmed reservation on a later flight and both times he was the first to be called for standby when there were many others who were already on the list, some of whom did not clear.

It has been my experience as well that Elite status is a major factor in standby list priority, for boarding and obviously for upgrades. Given that CO allows Golds and Platinums to book a seat on a "full" flight ("Guaranteed Reservations"), one would assume that they also take status into account for standby priority. The Presidents Club representatives at SFO have told me several times that my Platinum status would put me near the top of the list, and I have never missed out, as a Gold or a Platinum.
-Adam

While we agree that Platinums get priority for standby, there's no correlation between that and a confirmed reservation on a sold out flight. "Platinum and Gold members can receive a confirmed reservation -- even when a flight is sold out -- when purchasing an unrestricted Y class ticket at least 48 hours prior to departure." You can't just walk up and buy a seat on a sold out flight.

I looked very closely at his Boarding Pass, there was no Elite word on it at all...

Al

I was put to the top of the list in June with a simple call to my friend in operations.

May have been a NW Elite then? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Sheryl,

MANY times I have tried to take an earlier flight EWR-BOS.

MANY times I have been not made those flights because I have not cleared stand-by.

CG: Hi, I would like to take this flight to BOS.

Agent: OK, Mr. G, I will place you on the standy-by list.

CG: I'm Platinum. I go to the top of the list, right?

Agent: No Mr. G, Elite status only matters when standing-by for a F/C upgrade seat. Not when you are standing-by for a seat on a flight.

I stand by my statement. In my book, first hand knowledge is better than anecdotal knowledge anytime.