Continental owes you $75 back, IMO. I'd start with 800-we occasionally pretend to care and when that doesn't work send a PM to CO Insider. They might claim that because the earlier flight still wasn't delayed until after the original departure time they don't have to, but I think that it is a matter of mincing words at that point.

wrong assumption, as far as I know the only way to get a SBY paid for is by;1- going to a service center, or2-going to a check-in counter, or3-going to a kiosk dont know if it can be done OnLine

The only way CO will end this nonsense is if 1- people dont go SBY and CO sees they arent making enough $$$ out of it to justify the headaches of keeping it, or 2- they end up having to constantly refund it since it was under a condition when it shouldnt have been charged,again too many headaches for keeping it.

But if enough people dont mind spending the $$$ and CO sees a very nice Revenue stream coming in, not only will they keep it look for the amount to be increased over time.

Had the chance to test the new procedures again last night. This time my originally scheduled flight to PIT at 8:05pm was on-time. and I was originating in EWR, not connecting. When I arrived at the airport, I found the thre previous flight, 2888, was delayed from 6pm to 7pm. Now since my booked flight was on-time, I have no issue with the fee and gladly tried to pay it.

Tried.

My first stop was terminal A check-in at 5:45 pm. The agent at the counter was unable to put me on the standby list, saying the flight was already under gate control. She did give me a gate pass to get to the gate and try there (I had a terminal C BP). I checked the pda site and there were 6 people on the standby list for a full flight, but being a Platinum I wanted to give it a shot to see if I would get bumped to the top (I always have been on this route -- not too many Plats in PIT).

I went to the gate, and the GA gave me the "Go to the service center, it's $50" speech. So clearly, this is now procedure.

I went to the PC, where the PC agent said "can't do it, flight is under gate control". He called to the gate, where the GA flat out refused to put me on the list, saying the flight was oversold. The PC agent tried his best, but had no luck with the GA. The PC agent did tell me that the flight was only oversold by 1, and there was one seat still unassigned. He suggested I look for a red coat at the service center.

On my way to the service center, I saw a long line waiting for the GA, so I didn't stop at the gate. At the center, there was no red coat to be found, but the agent there was even less helpful. She gave me some song and dance about "There are two lists, the oversold list and the standby list" and that the GA will be offering compensation and has there is no chance of getting on yada yada...I'm not helping you. I tried my best to explain all I wanted to do was get on the standby list JIC someone doesn't make it, but she wouldn't budge, telling me everyone was already at the airport. I know she could see that there would be no misconnects but apparently she was also clairvoyant about people who checked in online the night before and made it in successfully from Manhattan at rush hour.

I returned to the gate, somewhat resigned to the fact that there was no way I was getting on this list without lighting up the GA, which I wasn't about to do. Ultimately, no compensation had to be offered, and no one cleared the standby list either as exactly 50 people showed up (The last one running to the gate right as the GA was about to give the seat to someone hovering, presumably #1 on the standby list). Since no one cleared, I let the matter drop and trundled off to my original flight, but I was pretty frustrated that I was never given a shot to begin with.

So, after twice in two days getting the run-around while trying to standby for an earlier flight, I have come to the conclusion that if one wants on the list, one has to get on it at least a half hour before the originally scheduled departure. After that, even if the flight is delayed and everyone is sitting around, it's going to be a real fight at best, at least as far as EWR is concerned.

Thank you for sharing these two reports, PSU Mudder.

For an airline that has always had focus on excellent customer service, these two stories makes the outlook for many business travelers very dark this winter... I bet (hope) CO will revise this very strange and illogical procedure because it's obviously not working... I'm sure they have plenty of reactions from elites already.

Get the money elsewhere or exempt elites!

I would say its working perfectly and that if anyone is thinking of actually going SBY that they better get to the Airport before the flight becomes GA controled.

A true business traveler will be on a flex tkt so they should be able to switch flights at will. If you mean biz people flying on non-refundables well thats not exactly COs take on what a biz traveler is

All in all I feel that this new way will help get the flights out on time, free up the GAs as they wont have to deal with the SBYs persee, when they should be getting the flights out.

Do I like it Nope, does it affect Me yep, still its workable for all. Just dont expect to arrive the very last min at the airport and be able to jump on to any flight even if you are willing to pay the $25-50 fee. I dont forsee ever paying the $25, so Ive made it a pt to book exactly which flights I want to fly on and can live with.

Now if I wanted to fly in the morn but the evening flights were alot less, then I wouldnt mind paying the $25 as I still will be ahead of the game.But I wont book any longer anything I cant live with, if need be I'll purchase a tkt on another carrier that has the times that work for me, taking into consideration if I will have to pay for checked bags etc

Being able to arrive at the airport at the last minute and jump on an earlier flight to your destination is a useful service. Continental has chosen to charge $25 or $50 for this service, and some people are willing to pay this much for it. What useful purpose is served to either CO or the customers by making this transaction more difficult?

I am flying TLV-EWR on a reward ticket booked through Alaska Airlines. I am confirmed on flight 85 at 11:40AM, but really want to get on the flight the night before at 11:50PM.

The flight is within 12 hours of the original, but NOT technically same-day. I have two questions:

1 - If I request a change to the earlier flight, must there be specific reward availability to get confirmed? http://www.continental.com/web/en-US...romoCode=A1631 mentions nothing about the specific class, yet a CSR rep I spoke with believed it must be the same ticket glass

2 - Is it possible the GA will allow me to standby even though it is 2 separate days (by 10 minutes).?

You only need to be within 12 hours of the new departure time to make your request, so long as the new flight is within 24 hours of your original departure time. So from that perspective the answer to #2 is a resounding yes.

As for #1, I believe that the rule is that the specific fare class must be available; that is what the rule was prior to this change and I do not think they changed that aspect of it. Normally CO will open up all the revenue fare buckets to facilitate such a change. I have no idea how it plays out with a reward reservation.

The issue here is that there is a difference between requesting a change under the new system and going standby. Standby is only permitted same-day regardless of fare class whereas the new policy is as long as the flight is within 24 hours of the original. So if, they'll let me go standby even though it's 10 minutes before midnight I should be OK. However, if they don't then I'm subject to the new change policy which seems to require the same fare class be available.

So I just made use of the new policy to do something I wouldn't have been able to do before, and have to say I'm really pleased:

Yesterday afternoon, I was checking in for my flight to fly ewr-sfo today (Saturday) on an afternoon flight. I had original scheduled for saturday because I didn't know what my friday schedule would be, but now I was done with work and really just wanted to fly as soon as possible.

On doing OLCI, there was an option for "other flight options." Clicked it, and the option to fly Friday evening for $25 came up. Switched the flight, paid the $25 online, got upgraded a few minutes later, and had a nice ewr-sfo flight in F a day before I was scheduled to, all for only $25! ^

I'm flying LIM->IAH->LGA. If there's availability on the LIM->EWR direct flight, would I be able to use the same day stand-by option or would that not be possible because the original flight arrives in LGA and the new flight would arrive in EWR (I know some airlines treat airports in NYC as interchangable for these types of policies)?

Ehhhh... Was just told that's impossible. I just got off the phone with ELITE-CO trying to make a change: Had a 6AM flight, but the meeting got moved so I wanted to go the night before. She said that it had to be within 12 hours of your return flight and since it was not the same day, my original bookingclass had to be available...

Maybe I should call again?

I didn't do this by calling, but when I checked in online -- no human contact involved. I believe if you were not calling within 24 hours of your original flight, you wouldn't be offered the standby. If you were within 24 hours of your original flight, perhaps you should try it on the online checkin or just call back.

Yes, but according to the CO agent, your original booking class needs to be available to switch flights that are not on the same day as your original flight. If not, you need to upgrade the fare in addition to the 25/50 USD fee

I think the agent was wrong here. I was on an M fare when I did this, and switched to a flight leaving just over 3 hours from when I checked in. In addition, two or three other day-early flights were offered as possibilities to change to for $25, ranging from one that departed an hour from when I was checking in to the one I chose. Very unlikely that all of these had M availability at that point, though of course you never know. (Maybe I took advantage of a website glitch? But the official published policy says nothing about fare class AFAIK).