Quick Continental Standby Question
 

I'm flying from CHS -> EWR this Saturday, scheduled to return on CO 3065 leaving EWR at 9:45 a.m. Monday morning. I was hoping to be able to fly back on Sunday night instead. They have a flight leaving EWR at 8:05 p.m. Sunday, but since this is more than 12 hours before my original flight time, I assume that they wouldn't let me fly standby ($50) on it, but would instead charge me for a flight change ($150).

I'd be willing to pay the extra $50 for an earlier flight, but no more. I assume that I am SOL on this, but I just wanted to make sure I'm reading their policies correctly.

You are, unfortunately. However, it should never stop you from trying. You never know when you may get a nice agent.

This is somewhat complicated. But I believe the way it is, is that you can call for the $50 change at the 24 hour mark from your original flight, but no sooner than 12 hours before the departure of the new flight. So if you call - 12 hours before the Sunday night flight - which is likely in the 24 hour window - you might be OK.

This is confusing. Others please chime in. I think you should be able to call for change at 9:45am on Sunday am - which is 24 hours before, and within 12 hours of the Sunday PM flight.

You might be luck. The policy is that you can fly on any flight within 24 hours of your original flight (which the 8:05pm the night before is) and you can confirm that flight within 12 hours of ITS departure time, meaning starting at 8:05am on Sunday morning. If you are going for a flight 23 hours prior to yours you can actually call 12 hours prior to that, or T-35H from your original flight, as I understand it.

The main exception to this is that the weekend eSaver tix specifically exclude standby, or so I've been led to believe. I haven't read the full fare rules on those in some time now. But based on your Saturday/Monday schedule I'm guessing that's what you're going for, so maybe not so much luck for you.

Here is the posted announcement of the 24 hour policy:

http://www.continental.com/web/en-US....aspx?i=PRNEWS

I believe the OP has to wait until 9:45 am on Sunday to call, which is 24 hours before the original flight. 8:05pm that evening is then within the 12 hour window.

Phone call with Continental rep reveals they are as confused about the policy as I am.
The consensus opinion was that I can call 24 hours before my flight (9:45 a.m. Sunday) and try to get a confirmed spot on a flight within 12 hours of my call.
He did, however, mention that the flight would need to have a seat available with the same fare code as my original seat. Is this normal with Standbys? the policy doesn't mention this.

In any case, I think I'll check seat availability on Saturday night and go to the airport Sunday morning to see if they'll let me on the 9:45 flight for $50.

Thanks for the advice.