So if I have a 7:30 AM flight tomorrow morning, I could call at 10PM tonight to get on the 10AM flight tomorrow? For a fee of course. Is that right?

I should've read the FAQ before posting.

Can I change my flight to the day before or the day after?

Yes, but only when you make the change within 24 hours before your original scheduled departure, and your new itinerary departs within 12 hours of the request.

Can I change to a later flight with this policy?

Yes, but to do so you must make the change prior to your originally scheduled departure in order to maintain the value of your ticket.

The FAQ on this is a bit confusing. The wording on continental.com is:

But this doesn't make much sense. It appears to be saying that if your flight departs at say 3pm tomorrow, and you are looking to make a change at 3pm today, you can't switch to a flight that departs at 1pm tomorrow (because it's 22 hours after you're making the request).

Why not just have it so that within 24 hours of your original flight, you can stand by for any flight that leaves within 12 hours (forward or backward) of your original flight?

It stinks that our discount, which looks amazing to anyone who is not gold or plat, is what the original confirmed standby price was! Did it say only cash?

What if the stand-by is beneficial to CO?

For example...

Headed DEN-IAH at 2pm. If my DEN flight is going to be delayed but there is an earlier flight available, wouldn't they want to put me on it, even if I don't have a connection?

You'd think, but they are almost certainly going to blame the delay on weather or ATC anyways so it doesn't cost them anything other than consumer goodwill to make you stay on your delayed flight. But they seem to be keen on giving up that goodwill, so that's the way the cookie crumbles. :td:

2 questions
 

1. If my ticketed flight is delayed to the point that the next flight will depart earlier, will stand-by for the next flight fall under "standing by involuntarily due to a flight irregularity" and therefore free? I may not have a connection but would like to arrive as close as possible to my originally scheduled itinerary.

2. The FAQ states "if you miss your flight, you will be permitted to stand by for any alternative flight up to two hours after your original flight for no charge, provided there is one." With the planned cutbacks, many routes will have flights separated by more than 2 hours. If I miss my flight, will I have to pay the fee to stand-by for the next flight if it is scheduled to leave >2 hours later than my ticketed flight?

Is it safe to assume from the FAQs that WorldPerks Platinum and Gold elites are not eligible for the 50% standby fee reduction extended to our OnePass brother and sister elites?
:td: to CO for abandoning fee-less standby travel. I can't envision any scenario where allowing a passenger to standby and claim a seat that would have otherwise gone out empty on an earlier flight is anything other than a win for the airline given that it frees up a seat on a later flight that may eventually get sold.

Wirelessly posted (Treo 650: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 98; PalmSource/Palm-D060; Blazer/4.5) 16;320x320)

Does DL still exempt their top level elites from the SDC fee? Either way it seems CO expects the fee train to continue to grow.

This is going to make onward connections from EWR a huge pain arriving on an international flight. I usually book the "safe" flight then stand-by if I clear security for the earlier flight.

Now it appears the best thing to do is book the risky flight connection and take advantage of the 2 hour fee-free window if I miss that flight.

AFAIK they still do.

No need to invoke the 2 hour rule unless you are booking multiple PNRs connecting through EWR, which is a huge risk. If you're already en route then you are protected as a free standby even if you are more than two hours late. If you are elite then you'll move towards the top of the standby list so that should help, especially since it will be non-voluntary standby.

Worse. You'll have to pay $150 change fee plus the fare difference (which could easily be $500-1000 I would guess). At least that's how I read the policy.

As written, this policy is really capricious since so much depends on when the next flight is. I had thought they used to say that if you showed up within 2 hours of your scheduled flight, you would be accomodated on the next flight even if it is 6 hours later.

Charge for Same Day Standby
 

:td: Penny wise and dollar foolish.! If a seat is empty, and someone with a paid ticket for a later flight is already at the airport, he/she should be allowed to board at no additional charge at the end of the boarding process, as always. In addition to having already paid, that customer is already inconvenienced with respect to time and uncertainty, and if he is not boarded and is a President's Club member, he will just consume more food and booze. Most important for CO however is the fact that if that customer leaves early, there will be a seat available for a later walk up who will have to pay the highest possible fare. Keep the standby off that flight and there will be no place for the walk up. I see no advantage to CO, but regard the fee as a removal of one of those features that have made CO the airline of first choice for many of us and that may end up losing more in sales than in gaining revenue. :(

You know, folks, we have been very fortunate to have Scott as our liaison and advocate lo these many months (or is it now years?).

Scott, please know that most of us are very appreciative of what you do here, and these types of comments are not the norm.

To the posters who for some reason need to make crude and inappropriate remarks, shame on you. We can debate these changes in a civil manner, and perhaps by doing so Continental will listen to us and who knows, maybe roll them back. If these comments are the best that we can do, then I think we have a problem.

I don't exactly like the new policy, but I'd be willing to bet that CO knows exactly how much they make in a year selling last minute seats that open up as a result of people flying free same-day standby.

I never said anything bad about CO Insider. I do not believe that this idea was his, though if it is I'd get over it. I still like him personally and look forward to sharing another drink or three with him next time we happen to be in the same city.
Show me one post from someone who thinks this is a good idea. The comments that the change is bad for customers are absolutely the norm.
I can still think that the plan is very bad for the customer and not without some uncertainty in terms of its benefit to the airline. If I wanted to make crude and inappropriate comments I'm quite sure that the FlyerTalk filter would catch the vast majority of the more "choice" comments.

The fact is that this change is NOT good for passengers. It makes things much worse for us, actually. And CO has gone beyond other carriers in choosing to not waive the charge for top tier elites, making this change even worse. When the SDC was introduced some people were happy and some didn't care. And some figured they'd just continue to operate the way they always did - flying as normal standby passengers. That option has been removed and there doesn't seem to be any real upside for us as passengers. So we're annoyed by the change and pointing out that it is bad for us. Considering the number of people who accuse this board of being a bunch of CO proselytizers, I'd think that some anti-CO venom being displayed would be welcome.

I haven't attacked anyone personally in my posts; I'd appreciate if you'd consider doing the same.