David10225

Since FLYI has no formal standby policy, but as I understand it, they will put you on an earlier flight if you show up at the airport and seats are available......do you think a reservation agent would give me a rough estimate of seat availability prior to me heading out to the airport? I've got a 7:20 PM IAD MCO flight coming up for my daughter and I might be able to get her out of school earlier and be at IAD by 2PM for a 3:10 departure....but I sure don't want to wait around the airport for 4 extra hours.... Your input is appreciated.

BTW..I'm doing my best to book all my friends and family whenever possible on FLYI...seems like everything I hear is how hard the people there are working to keep things afloat...I sure wish them good fortune..

David

WindDancer

The standby works like this.
if you ask to get on the earlier flight, and there is a seat, you will be moved, if it is full, you can go to the gate that it is boarded from, ask the agent if there is a no show, can I get on.
as soon as the plane is boarded and they are ready to close the doors and all the anoucements have been made trying to find the missing passengers, then, if there are seats they will put you on, you need to be ready to move fast, so stay right around the gate,and it helps if you have no checked luggage.
hope this helps.

flyin_i

if you have checked luggage. forget about it.

wahooflyer

One disadvantage to Independence Air's "standby" policy is that (officially, at least) if you don't show up for your ticketed departure, you won't be allowed to stand by on later same-day flights.

I had a cheapo ticket from IAD to EWR several months ago for a morning flight; when I called and asked if I could use it for an afternoon flight, the agent told me that I'd be a "no show" and my reservation cancelled unless I paid a change fee and a substantial fare difference.

I ended up just eating the cost of that ticket and driving to NYC, out of frustration. As much as I dislike United Express, their standby policy on this route and all domestic flights at least allows same-day standby for earlier and later flights.

BigBeerBelly

The issue is that at FLYI your seat is your seat (NO OVERBOOKING). You paid for it and they are going to guarantee you that there will be a seat available, regardless how much you paid for it or how often you fly. If you no show, then your seat flew with out you. On the other hand, as is often the case, other airlines will sell your seat to several people hoping that you don't show up or take an earlier or later flight. If everyone shows up, there will be many vacations ruined because of overbooking. I think the policy is fair of charging you a small change fee and the difference in fare to fly later. If you snap up $29 fares for the 6am but want to fly on the premium time 5pm, why should they give you the best seats for nothing.


BBB

wahooflyer

Good argument, but what keeps people from doing this on the legacy carriers (which permit same-day later flight standby) is the inherent risk that the flight will be full and they won't be able to make it onboard. Most people don't want to take this risk.

I was willing to take the risk of standing by for a later flight in my case, going IAD-EWR, as I didn't have to be in NYC in a hurry and if worse came to worse and all the later flights were full, I could just drive the 4 1/2 hours rather than fly.

jetsetter

wahooflyer,
Odds are good, if you just went to FlyI at the airport, they would have let you standby for that later flight. In such a case, always good to do online check in so you can go right to the gates, and then standby for your desired flight. Agree their official policy is kind of odd.

flyin_i

i used to work customer service for united and the only time that a passenger could go for a later flight was when they had a full fare ticket. if not, the ticket was useless after the original flight time just like FLYI

magiciansampras

Then the policy has changed since you worked there. You can standby for later flights on UA.

Dynamo

if you really want to rig the system... buy a flight for the last flight out of the night, then call reservations and ask if there are any openings today... ask them how many per flight then goto the airport... they should give you that information...

jetsetter

There may be times when the last flight of the night does not have the least expensive seats. E.g. in many cases, the 6:00 AM flight has the cheap seats . I find it hard to believe though that if a pax appeared at the ATO on the ticketed day of departure that FlyI would not accommodate them on standby. I have even observed many instances say if a pax is standing by on the last big 6 flight of the night and they don't make it on, agents will often confirm them for the next day without charge. This is not official policy but rather a station practice that happens out in the wild wild world .

I have another off topic quick funny story. I was just showing a friend how much less FlyI was on a route. He said he may not want to take them because they use RJ's. I said to the friend like "so you don't like how the RJ is mor cramped," and the friend said that it was not that, but they think that because a bigger jet has more engines they are safer. "I want one with many engines," they said. "Those RJ's have to have smaller engines, since they are small craft," .

Which flavor of RJ does FlyI use? How cramped is it, e.g. is seat pitch/comfort any better than typical big 6 commuter RJ's? I have never flown with FlyI?

wahooflyer

FlyI uses the CRJ-200. Still very uncomfortable to me (I'm 6'2") but some say that the slimline blue seats on board give a bit more legroom than CRJ's on other airlines.

sumo1222

On Sunday 5/8 I bought a ticket for 5/9 IAD-HPN. Was hoping to get the coproate rate and most flights had seats available. Just needed a quickie up and back.

Tried to book online for the lowest fare which was later than I had planned on departing, then planned to stand by for the first flight. Online wouldn't let me book because the turnaround time was less than 60 minutes. Called Flyi and spoke with corporate folks who booked me on the tight turnaround no problem.

Stood by and arrived earlier which gave me plenty of time for my meeting.

I tired this once before MCO-IAD but every seat booked solid so I was stuck wtih my confirmed connecing flights. Lesson learned---don't try this during spring break in FLA.

SkyTeam777

Im assuming if your flight is at 6am, that you cant standby for the last flight of the day the night before. Is the standby policy same day only?

chrisw

Yes. In fact, the free standby policy only applies to earlier flights on the same day as well.