hindukid

Whole family is flying to Cabo for my wedding. Fiance and I are connecting In IAH to 1020am flight. My brother has not yet bought tickets, but he and his wife will likely start at LGA and connect on that same 1020 flight. My parents are starting in IAH and are on the flight 3 hrs later. They bought tickets before everybody else.

So if they would like to get on that flight, I assume they can pay $25 each for same day standby. If they show up at the airport is there any chance of getting their bags checked and then standing by for free. I suppose one could pay the $25 and check both bags but then you are risking one person being left for $25.

My connection is tight, but my brothers will be longer. Can he leave secured area get my parents bags and check them under his name halfway through his journey?

I am sure they could live with carry on only for themselves, but I was planning on them taking a bunch of wedding stuff for me. Maybe I can work around it though. On the other hand though its only 50 bucks.

sbm12

It is possible to do standby with checked luggage. It is possible to do the SDC $25 "standby" with checked luggage. You just need to tell the counter agents when your are submitting the bags to them. That being said, it is $50 to get your parents on the flights with the rest of the family for your wedding. Pay it, take the SDC and enjoy the flight together.

And congrats on the wedding

Scott6067

You can check in bags mid flight, I have done it numerous times. Also I would agree with SBM12 that you should just pay the fee unless you know for sure there is a large number of empty seats on the flight. Better to be safe than sorry.

El_Chilango

In a similar vein (as I don't want to open another similar thread): I'll be flying MEX-EWR-MAD, with one bag checked all the way to MAD, but I'm thinking of buying another bag in NYC during my layover at EWR. Do you think I will be able to check this new bag in EWR for the EWR-MAD leg?

I seem to remember having trouble checking a bag for one segment of a two-flight connection once, but i can't remember if i was trying to check a bag for only the first segment or only the second segment.

sbm12

Checking a bag only for the first segment (aka short-checking) will cause you no end of trouble. The airlines don't do it because they don't want you operating as a courier and/or using hidden city ticketing to defeat their fare systems. Checking for only the second segment is unusual, but should be possible to do without too much trouble.

allergictocoach

I have never had trouble checking a bag for the second segment of a trip. There are any number reasons that a pax could want/need to do this. The bag still has to go through the same security checks so not much risk for the airline - so long as it's checked in on time, you should be fine.

El_Chilango

Thanks so much for the info. I just hope my flight into EWR is not delayed, as I have to go into NYC to buy my bag.