Standing by at airport - EUA?
 

Hi all,

I have searched but couldn't seem to find this iteration, so I wanted to know if any of you had been in this position.

I am Gold and booked on Thursday 6/5 EWR-SJU at 6:30 PM on a 738. Traveling to SJU this time/date looks very good for EUA. I now found out I have the whole Thursday free and want to switch to the 8:40 AM flight, a 753 where the EUA looks all but guaranteed (about 20 open FC seats on seatmap).

$65 to change the res on co.com, $50 for "confirmed standby," and I think still free to stand by at airport - correct?

With such a wide-open flight, I wanted to just stand by at the airport. My question is how will the EUA work if I am doing a regular stand-by? Will it still process? I assume it will run when my BP is scanned, but wanted to know if anyone had ever done this before. I would hate to miss it on such a sure-fire routing. Thanks!

I've done this several times before - standby at the airport, and received EUA on earlier flight. In some cases I hadnt been upgraded on the original flight so definitely wasn't complaining!

Just check with the ticket / gate agent to confirm that you're on the list.

You will not be added to the stand by list until you check in. You would not be a passenger on the flight prior to getting a confirmed seat - and thus not processed by EUA. EUA runs at 24 hours then 3 hours before flight time. Standing by after the 3 hour mark - just puts you on the standby list for processing by the gate agent. Others - Silvers, non-Elite Y etc would be likely processed at the 3 hour mark if wide open.

If you have a way to change sooner - then I would. Not sure how you can can change a day ahead for $65?

You will not get a EUA processed by the computers but you are still eligible for the upgrade at the gate when the GA processes the final numbers. Similar to star_world I have been cleared into F on flights where I was taking the free standby option for an earlier flight.

The trick is that the GAs have to process you into Y first, and then put you on the list for the gate upgrade. If the Y seat only opens up for you because of an upgrade then you won't get it. If there are plenty of Y seats they will likely process you into Y somewaht earlier and then process the upgrade list. You can check the PDA site once you're on standby to see your location on the lists and confirm that you've been added appropriately.

It could be a refundable or no change fee ticket, so the $65 is the fare difference. If that is the case, it is their best option.

Thanks all for the responses. The $65 is the fare difference/change fee, etc and may be the safest bet. Still, the flight really is wide open (although I'm a bit concerned about the wholly unnecessary 753 being swapped out). Hmm...decisions, decisions (especially since there are two of us).

Thanks again.

If Y is wide open when you get to the airport, often the ticket agent will process you into Y instead of SBY when you check your bag. At that point you should be on the F standby list for battlefield upgrades. I've also had ticket agents just hand me an F ticket when I've arrived early and asked to go SBY on an earlier flight, but that was back when I'd be on flights that actually had empty F seats at wheels up.

About 4-5 years ago I was next on the list for SBY on a flight, Y was full, F had one empty, and they'd already processed every eligible upgrade of confirmed pax. The two G/As were discussing their options when I pointed out that if they put me on the flight they would have somebody they could upgrade.