Tomorrow I'm flying LGA-CLE-SEA-ANC-SEA-IAH-LGA. Is it possible to switch, without paying a lot of money (e.g., confirmed standby would be okay), to leave from and return to EWR? If so, how and when would I do this. There are EWR-CLE and IAH-EWR flights available that have plenty of room. Thanks.

The $$ depends I suppose on your fare class, but if your flying with a non-refundable discounted cheap fare I think it's gonna cost you the $100 (+ any price difference in the actual fares) to make the flight switch whether you switch the leg from landing in LGA to EWR or any other airport. The ffact that "they're really close to each other and in the same city area" I don't think will affect the process at all.

Call continental and ask .......

((ps ---if I'm wrong I'm sure someone smarter will post very soon))

I don't believe EWR is included in the LGA/JFK city pair.

It's not.

Although CO tries so hard to pawn EWR (Newark, NEW JERSEY) as a New York airport, EWR is not a co-terminal of JFK/LGA on CO. I believe it is on several other large airlines, but not on CO

To change from LGA to EWR would require a whole new re-price of your ticket. Since you haven't flown the outbound portion of your ticket yet, they will sell you a ticket at today's rates and then credit your existing airfare (minus $100 change fee). So if the new ticket were $1,200 and you paid $250 for your existing ticket - you're looking at an add collect of $1,050.

Good luck and happy flying.

PS - it never hurts to call and ask, but the "book" says they will do the above.

-RM

wrong. i've gone stand-by to LGA/JFK to/from EWR and vice versa in the past and the gate agents haven't even batted an eye.

My buddy and I did this run from JFK a month ago. He was easily able to switch to the IAH-EWR flight on standby for the final segment (and got it bumped up to Y as an added bonus). Just ask in the PC (or at a gate) and they should do it for you pretty quickly. I wouldn't expect it to work for the initial LGA-CLE segment.

Thanks for the info. I'm worried about the storm that's suppose to hit on Sunday, which makes having the option to go to LGA, EWR or JFK a big plus.

Yay and good for you. EWR and LGA/JFK are not co-terminals on Continental Airlines.

Hence why I suggested that the OP call CO and see what they can do. I certainly don't recommend the OP go to EWR and say "get me to ANC - though I was booked from LGA". The agents there can technically say: 1) no; 2) here's your new ticket price and how would you like to pay for that?; 3) here are your boarding passes.

Since #3 is the least likely by the book, it's not recommended.

Oh, and I've also successfully done stand-by to LGA/JFK when I was booked to EWR with no problems --- but that's while I'm already at the airport (IAH) where CO can accommodate me on just about any flight to NYC. It's quite different if I were to show up at Austin and say "get me to EWR". Just like LGA and EWR, AUS and IAH aren't co-terminals either.

-RM

Maybe the co-terminal thing depends on the route....like the change fee is different if they are competing with B6 on the route, etc.

- HF

CoTerm and standby permission are not tied together. They often parallel each other, but they aren't the same thing. So it doesn't matter if they are CoTerm or not for the sake of the standby. The agents can (and often will) do it in IAH, but I would not expect it to work by calling it in.

Also, to the OP, I can't imagine that it will help you all that much with the impending storm in that as soon as the first flight cancels many others will fill what few seats are left to all three airports. I wouldn't expect to see lots of open seats if there are any cancellations during the day.

Good luck!

I have tried to switch at the gate in IAH to travel to EWR instead of LGA (had bought tickets to LGA because they were cheaper)..the gate agent sent me to the service center for an "add/collect"..this "add/collect" was going to cost me about $200 to switch to EWR..needless to say I didnt get to switch the flight..@:-)

I always find JFK, LGA and PHL cheaper than EWR on CO for flights to the West Coast, in 2000 I was taking a trip to Seattle and was originally scheduled to fly;

LGA-IAH-SEA-IAH-LGA.

A last minute Wedding invitation forced me to change my schedule, I could not switch my flight to EWR without paying significantly more. I ended up switching to PHL, great flights. I flew on CO flight # 1776

He's not wrong. He's stating what the official rules are. Your successful standby experiences don't change the rules. I would *not* risk it.

I've only been able to switch between LGA and EWR in irregular ops situations.

I think it's important for everyone to distinguish between their experiences in three situations:
1. Before you get to the airport.
2. At the airport in a standby situation that is not an irregular op.
3. Irregular ops.

I think almost everything is up for grabs in an irregular op - both due to weather and due to a non-weather related delay.

Just for info, I've had problems trying to deal with an irregular op over the phone. At the time (and I think it's the same now), there are somethings that phone agents are just not empowered to do that they *can* do at the airport.

I'm sitting in the SEA President's Club now on the way to ANC. I'm going to try and switch the return to EWR when I get to ANC. If that doesn't work, I'll try again back in SEA and finally, as a last resort, in IAH. I'll post the results.