So reading the responses to Scott's announcement, I have some comments and pipe dream suggestions:

1) With the 12 hour window and the 1/2 price for gold/plat, I certainly feel better about it... not 100%, but better.

2) How about, if the new flight pushes back prior to the original departure time, you charge the fee. If it pushes back at or after the original departure time (e.g. you switch from the 8:10 to the 6:05 but end up pushing back at 8:15), no fee is charged.

3) Your price structure and window offers a unique opportunity to make the fee time sensitive: How about a $4 ($2 for plat/gold) charge for every hour or part thereof for time change. Flying 12 hours later: $48; Flying 2 hours early: $4.

If CO did this it would cost them more to implement it then they will make on it, having to have people simply checking every flight to see who gets $$ back and who doesnt

Understatement of the day. :td: on this new policy

Fee for Weather Related Cancellation
 

Yesterday I ended up having two flights cancelled on AA from NYC to MIA. Spent the night in NY at my expense, etc...

AA put me on an early morning CO flight to FLL from EWR. I was speaking to the gate agent about the new stand-by policy and was told the following.

"If your flight is cancelled due to a weather related event, you will have to pay the new standby fee in order to be accomodated on a later CO departure. If you decide to not pay the standby fee, you will not be allowed to fly and may receive a refund of the unflown portion of your ticket."

Has anyone else been given this information?

TW

That is complete and utter BS. If your flight is cancelled due to WX we can put on the involuntary standby list for a later flight free of charge. Some agents give me a headache with the misinformation they give out.

Some of these changes won’t be popular to those of you on restricted tickets


What I find interesting is how companies take policies which are working well and still generating revenue and alter them on the presumption that more revenue is going to be created. What occurs first is general anger at the alteration, followed by general confusion as to what is the now the new correct policy for allowing standbys without charge. This is followed by multiple suggestions for alterations/exceptions and contradictions on the policy. Finally people start to implement policies to circumvent the change. So, elites who were willing to pay $25 before to make a change now refuse to do so based on principle or anger. Eventually, the company makes no more money than before but has complicated a smooth running procedure and has ticked off customers in the end.

There are lots of things CO does well. There are some things they do poorly. This change falls into the latter category.

Hi Everyone,

As I posted last week, we'll be making some changes to our policy for same-day flight changes. These changes are now posted on continental.com, and will go into effect on June 19th. Here are the key points of the new policy:

1. 12-Hour Window.You’ll be able to confirm same-day flight changes within 24 hours of your original scheduled departure. Within this 24-hour “same-day” window, you’ll be able to change to any flight up to 12 hours before its departure for the discounted fee. Previously, we only allowed you to choose from flights departing within 3 hours.
   
   
2. New Fee Structure. The discounted change fee will be $50, or $25 for OnePass Platinum and Gold Elite members. This fee will apply to all itineraries wholly operated by Continental, including Continental Express, Continental Connection and Continental Micronesia. If you’re on an unrestricted ticket, same-day changes will be free of charge if seats are available. The fees are the same as were announced back in April, but the 50% discount for OnePass Platinum and Gold members is new.
   
   
3. Ability to handle via Online Check-in. Starting June 24th, the ability to request same-day flight changes will be available when checking in at continental.com. Later this year, we’re also planning to add this capability to our mobile check-in via pda.continental.com.
   
   
4. New Rules for Voluntary Standby. If there are no seats available to be confirmed you can still stand by, but the same fee will apply. In these cases, you’ll only be charged if you clear on an earlier flight. Previously, the same-day change fee didn’t apply to voluntary standby. When standing by due to involuntary circumstances (i.e. irregular operations), the fee does not apply.

If you have any questions that aren’t already addressed in our online FAQ, please post them here. While this change isn't meant to be one of our 6 in 6, this is an important and necessary change for us to make. We at least hope you’ll agree that the expanded 12-hour window and the ability to handle these changes online will be beneficial.

I saw the title of the thead and I was like... oh well, another 'stand by' thread with questions that come up every other month.

So I kept reading and reading and after a few posts I ended up very frustrated... reading about this new policy, which really really sucks. One of the reasons I gave my business to CO when I decided to move on from AA was the stand-by policy (I hated DL because of the fee back then!!!). I'm usually standing by on earlier flights since EWR ops are always a mess. That was a nice thing to have with CO.

Like many of you said, I may have to start thinking about next year's flying plans. Should I go back to AA? :(

Another frustrated CO flyer...

I think I know the answer but I'll ask anyway. Will will be able to fly standby on flights after our designated flight. Since I'm paying for the privilege of flying standby why not allow it for 12 hours afterwards.

I only have two things to say:

(1) I almost never stand-by for an earlier flight.
(2) This policy stinks.

Sure, but the removal of free standby sucks. Period.

I'm particularly surprised that you can document some real financial benefits to this program that will out-weigh the annoyance to customers. I know in talking with the folks at JetBlue they indicated that they couldn't prove that having no fee for the 2nd checked bag would drive any real revenue to them. In that same vein it would seem that you'd need evidence that allowing free standby was costing real money, or that charging for standby will generate more revenue than ill-will amongst customers.

It should be seen as a win-win for the airline and the customer, and instead you chose to nick us for fifty bucks. I think that I'll take my $50 out in PC consumption instead going forward.

They're aligning the standby policy with DL. This must be a sign CO is staying with Skyteam! ;)

Anyways, I didn't see anywhere in CO Insider's post that says you can't switch to a later flight, as long as it's same day. In fact, it'll be a lot easier now to do so, without risking stranded.

For example, original flight 12pm. Before, if you want to do a confirmed same day change to a 5pm flight, you risk stranded and not flying. But now, you can get it confirmed starting at 5am that day.

I'm not sure about that hence my question above. CO Insider's post seems to emphasize "you’ll be able to change to any flight up to 12 hours before its departure for the discounted fee."

My interpretation is that it's 12 hours before the flight you want to change to. Not your original flight. Just like right now, you can change up to 3 hours before the departure of the flight you want to change to.

For those of us fairly flexible plans for returns on business trips this is a little frustrating.

I have a flight early next month returning from L.A. and I was going to buy the ticket for the latest that I could leave, now I'm going to buy the one that is less flexible.

What if people do not standby? Doesn't CO get some benefit to people taking earlier flights? They can then use the empty seats to help passengers who are late or have missed connections.

I am also a little peeved that the discount only applies to Plats and Golds. I know there are more Silvers but the same policy should apply IMO.