Standby routing change?
 

I am on an FNT-MSP-SFO evening flight this Friday. If I do standby for late afternoon, the routing is through DTW. Will NW allow this change? A friend told me no, but thought I should ask the experts. :)

Why not? The fare is really for FNT-SFO. The connection is required and NW does not really care if you travel via DTW or MSP. Go ahead and try to switch. The worst that could happen is that they will say no. One issue though is because of Friday evening lots of flights are quite booked and you may find it difficult to get on.

If the space is wide open for both segments, it is Yes. If the space is available on the first segment to DTW, but not available from DTW to SFO, then I guess the answer is NO. Usually when I do standby and change connection point, the second segment is confirmed. They do not want to run the risk let standby for second flight and run the risk for letting you stay there overnight.

I had a EWR-MEM-MLI booked a couple weeks ago and wanted to standby on an earlier EWR-DTW-MLI routing. The EWR folks were extremely reluctant to do the reroute, but I convinced them to let me try. It wasn't exactly clear to me whether their reluctance stemmed solely from the sketchy availability on DTW-MLI, or whether they were actually bending rules to let me reroute. I didn't ask too many questions. ;)

In my case I got extremely lucky. Not only did I snag the last seat on DTW-MLI (thanks to someone else's misfortune in missing their connection, according to the GA at DTW), but my original EWR-MEM flight ended up getting cancelled due to weather, so I wouldn't have made it to MLI that night at all had I stuck with my original flight!

My advice:

1) Be nice to the agents (that should be a given, but reminders never hurt)

2) Keep in mind that it's a gamble: though seats might be available on the connecting flight when you first check in, other pax can sneak ahead of you with higher stanby waitlist priority (e.g., if you choose to go standby, and somebody else simply misses a connection, they'll be higher on the standby list even if you checked in before them).

3) Keep your BPs to make sure you get WP credit. When tickets are getting reissued, WP numbers sometimes get knocked out of the reservation.

Good luck!

and sometimes you end up rebooked in Y/F fare with 150% EQM! :D

PS: To reaffirm the above advice: be nice! It counts to smile :)

aloha

Thanks for the advice. When the friend kept insisting I could not do this, I was pretty skeptical. Still not sure if I will do standby, but nice to know I can if I want. Already looked this morning and got my upgrade. Guaranteed FC on a four hour flight where I will try to sleep is hard to say no to. :)

Permitted But Often Declined
 

Most fare rules which allow standby will also allow a routing change. The problem is that when the routing changes, the agent entry to place a passenger on standby becomes challenging.

When the routing does not change it is a few simple keystrokes (alternate flight entry) and the original e-ticket remains "attached" as well.

When the routing changes, in many cases the alternate flight entry cannot be used as an error (does not match etkt) appears. Trouble begins to brew. There are ways around this; but, very few are in the know.

The problems begin at this point. Most agents convert your e-ticket to "paper" and build a standby segment which will be seperated from your original PNR aka without your WP#.

It takes some dillengence on both parts to make this work; but, it is permitted. The key is to be sure that the agent has also "listed" you on a flight from DTW to your final destination and has given you that coupon as well. Be sure to check the PNR (confirmation number) and if it appears different, be sure that you ask to have your FF# entered into the standby listing as well.

The good thing is that most agents will just rebook you if your fare bucket is available i.e. V T K etc in your original reservation and drive your boarding passes. Things only get tricky when you need to "StandBy" for the flight.

I need to reroute a return flight on AA .....
 

My question is , should I wait on standby? my husband would have a different flight. I would just as well pay the fee and not gamble right? :confused: It is a Y N fare

This is exactly what happened with me. The BPs for the routed flights have totally different PNR codes from my original itinerary (as well as different codes from each other) and no WP number.

One other tip: If they're reissuing the ticket as a paper ticket, be sure to GET the paper ticket. When I got my EWR-DTW BP, they almost forgot to give me the paper ticket for DTW-MLI (which was actually for MEM-MLI). If I'd shown up in DTW without the paper ticket, I don't know if they'd have let me on the flight to MLI at all.

I did this once in IAH. My original flight was IAH-DTW-BWI; I asked the agent for the possibility of standby IAH-MSP-BWI and he just printed out the boarding pass within seconds.

Another time was at Fort Lauderdale. My original flight was EWR-FLL-IAH-DEN. After getting out of the plane at FLL, I went to gate agent to standby FLL-EWR-DEN. She asked me why and I told her that I don't want to stay at FLL for 4 hours before connection to IAH. She seemed to understand my feeling and hit the keyboard for a few minutes and gave me FLL-EWR first class bp and EWR-DEN coach one. Unfortunately, the staff forgot to load food for the FLL-EWR flights which made it funny for me to see quite a few first class pax keep drinking during the whole flight.

The most recent time was in DEN. My original flight was DEN-IAH-DCA. I told the agent that I wanted to experience CO's Boeing 764 since I have never been on it. The super nice agent smiled and hit the keyboard a few minutes and handed me first class BP for DEN-IAH, IAH-EWR(BF) and coach BP for EWR-DCA.

The only unsuccessful one was in COS where I want to standby on flight DTW-DCA instead of the original DTW-IAD; but the agent kept saying that it was not allowed.

Do you think it matters if you're on an award ticket? I have SEA-MSP-EWR-BWI coming up. I grabbed the routing when I saw it available as a standard OP award, but the last two segments are on CO RJs and when I get to MSP I thought I'd try to stand by for an MSP-BWI direct on NW mainline metal. Unless you think that's pointless. :p

Sorry to hear you're in FNT!
Oh, wait a minute, so am I!!!!
After 10 days here I finally get to go home.

I'm checking in for my FNT-DTW-MCO flights now and can see stand-by options, which DO include other routings (in this case via MSP).
What I'd LOVE to see, but am sure I never will, is a lost of codeshare options!
Noting would be better than confirming a "direct" routing and then re-routing myself for some mileage gain. Say, via IAH? LAX? :p