Island Air: Failed Same Day Standby...
 

I am wondering if you had similar experiences with stand-by to earlier flights on Island Air... This weekend I think I faced a lazy agent in LIH. I don't really fly inter-island much, so I'm unsure whether this is usual [or maybe I did something wrong?].

Anyway, I arrived from a mainland connection to LIH and I had to fly LIH-HNL. I would usually pick HA, but most LIH-HNL flights were sold-out in Economy (tons of UH kids returning to school, apparently).

Island Air was the only flight available in Economy at 7:45pm [the flight at 1:50pm was sold out, but I was put in the wait-list for that flight, per reservation agents]. I bought an Economy UNRESTRICTED fare, which according to island air website: "Unrestricted fares are valid for standby travel at no additional cost."

My mainland flight arrived very early (12:50pm), so I tried to standby for the flight at 1:50pm. I went straight to the gate, but no one was there. I waited for the gate agent, who showed up 20 minutes before departure. As soon as she showed up, I told her I was in the wait list for the flight, which she replied Island Air does not have wait list (lied by reservations?). Then, I asked her to put me on the stand by list. She immediately said: "Flight is full, so you won't clear." I insisted saying maybe someone will not show up, and she responded: "Sorry, flight is checked in full, no point to add you to the list." This sounded fishy to me. Five minutes later, she was calling on the microphone passengers who DID NOT show up on time. They never arrived, so I insisted she accommodate me. She said she did not have access to a computer to verify my ticket [she was boarding just by collecting boarding passes]. I asked to immediately talk to her supervisor, and she said SHE IS THE SUPERVISOR!

She told me: "wait here, I'll be back." She went to the plane and a few minutes later I see the plane taking off and she never came back [presumably took a different entrance to the terminal].

I was upset with the lack of customer service. I went to the HA desk and told them what happened. HA stuff opened availability on a flight that was looking sold out on the website. So, luckily only lost a few more hours in LIH and a few more dollars in HA.

Just heads up for those looking to stand by on Island Air...