Standby to different destination?
 

I am flying IAH-EWR but my actual destination is Philadelphia (being picked up at EWR). Can I standby tomorrow for the IAH-PHL flight that leaves an hour earlier than the EWR flight?

I did a search but could not find anything.

Short answer: No (not w/o paying a change fee). PHL and EWR are not coterminals.

You can always ask at the gate.

Wont Work! From someone who lives in PHL I can assure you..You are going to Pay dearly for that change!

Co-terminals have nothing to do with standby.

It would certainly cost more than an Amtrak EWR- PHL (30th St.) ticket. They can be had for $50 (off hours) up to $107 (business class).

You can pray for major screw ups in EWR that impact original flight(actually not that far fetched) and then plead your case as in "wow, lots of cancelled flights inot ewr today and ours too. Gee, if it would help I could go iinto PHL instead since I can get home from their fairly easily." Still not a great chance but probably the only circumstance short of paying.

wrong. i've done standby into co-terminals many, many times on (virtually) all major airlines with no issues. when i lived in minneapolis, northwest (NW) always let me switch between laguardia (LGA) and newark (EWR), though sometimes not kennedy (JFK) if i had a JFK only fare*. american (AA) and continental (CO) have both let me standby for co-terminals, as well.

*-NW offers cheap MSP-JFK fares due to competition from sun country. therefore, NW doesn't let you standby into co-terminals if you have a relatively cheap JFK only fare.

I'd rather not pray for major screw ups at EWR (especially weather related) as that could mean trouble at PHL as well.

I figured I couldn't standby to PHL but thought I'd ask. Just trying to save my cousin some drive time.

CO has a similar policy for MDW-only fares that can't be used out of ORD. CO Insider posted a while back about all the co-terms and such, and unless something goes VERY wrong in EWR tomorrow don't plan on getting the change.

I was once able to change from an EWR-MDW flight onto an earlier EWR-ORD flight but only after asking very nicely and waiting for the PC agent to make phone calls and type for 20 minutes.

I didn't say it can't be done (and I've done it on the return from Chicago - the agents were pretty flexible with me though they charged me a change fee and not the fare difference, which was significant). But they are not generally supposed to.

I have had much luck in changing between WAS(BWI/IAD/DCA) on CO at the Gate & Ticket Counter (2/2 in changes so far).

i've never been turned down by any airline at the gate when asking to fly into a co-terminal (except for the JFK issue i mentioned above). again, i only asked at the gate. it is much harder at the check-in counter.

I'm not questioning what you've done, but technically you are not entitled to it. Which is partly why co-terminals is one of the most misunderstood aspects on FT. The other part that makes them misunderstood is the name -- co-terminal seems to imply some sort of equity between the two airports, which they're not.

So when it's called a "co-terminal," and people have done it before, many people think that it's a right they have, which they don't.

Which is why I usually play the alternate airport thing very carefully. If possible, I try to demonstrate some sort of fault (or airline benefit) when doing it so I get the cooperation from the agent. Because I know they are within their rights to deny any co-terminal change or standby.

In fact, sometimes you can get away with it for reasons unknown to you. A switch between EWR and LGA that should not be allowed, for example, may be allowed if your flight is overbooked (and you don't know it). They would much rather change you for free to an open LGA flight than make you wait for the EWR flight and then bump someone.

Similarly, EWR may not be having delays at the moment, but CO has been advised about weather coming in several hours down the road with restricted ATC flow. An agent can, as a courtesy confirm, you on an earlier flight or alternate airport at no cost. So you ask if you can go to LGA instead, CO knows of the ATC issue coming up in 4 hours, and uses that as a justification to change you for no fee, and you get it.

It's this type of behavior further clouds the co-terminal conception, because the customer now thinks he can just switch over between the two just by asking. When in reality, there was another underlying cause.

Well I know CO interchange DFW/DAL all the time. I have seen it done many times where someone is put into DFW because there was not space on flight to DAL and vice versa (Be it weather, MX, miss connection, etc). This summer was especially bad. I was on standby on DAL flight along with a bunch of people as CO cancelled 5 flights into DAL and the rest were running 5 HOURS behind schedule. The GA said I do not think you will make it to DAL, you can standby on a DFW flight, and their standby list is shorter. I told her what about my car? It’s at DAL. She said call a taxi or have someone pick you at DFW and take you to DAL. I was like ‘ooo’ I didn’t think of that.

Then she said wait there is a flight with 2 seats or something leaving in 20mins or so to DFW. You see I have internet on my phone and already went to weather.com. CO also printed an image from the radar and stuck it on the podium at the DAL gate and there was a massive squall line heading for DFW metroplex just west of Tarrant County (Ft. Worth). I knew with DFW Airport being AA mega hub as soon as that squall line got closer things were going to go the hell in hand basket there, and knew the flight would never get off the ground. Sure enough I was right. I didn’t take that option and waited stand by for a DAL flight. Still 6 flights to go to DAL. I was like I’ll eventually get on one. I had 5 different boarding passes that day and I did make it home.

I have also seen CO agents send people from DAL to DFW to get the EWR. There was weather in IAH and there were people going to EWR from DAL and CO told them they would not make their connections at EWR because they would not make it to IAH in time. They told them we can get you to EWR direct from DFW. I saw them change tickets and everything at DAL. I had to wait in line forever as this was done and many more changes were being made because weather had gone to hell again. DAL-IAH with its 16 flights a day with many flights 30 minutes apart runs like clock work when the weather is good. But when things go astray, that schedule and route goes to sh*t and CO is switch all sorts of people between DFW/DAL.