Stanby Question
 

Fellow FT,

I have a question about NW’s standby rules and am absolutely confused. I have received different responses from reservation agents and maybe you can give me the answer.

I have the following reservation from CMH to LAX in K class with standby allowed on the same day earlier or later.

CMH-DTW 1:30-2:30PM
DTW-MSP 3:15-4:15PM
MSP-LAX 5:00-7:00PM.

My intention is standby on an earlier flight to leaving from CMH (say 6am or 8am) on a nonstop to MSP getting me to MSP in the morning. But for MSP-LAX, I wish to keep the same flight leaving at 5pm. I am doing this so that I have a few hours at Mall of America to do last minute shopping!

I called three reservation sales agents and have gotten the following responses to the above situation.

(1) “You can’t do that because you cannot be at your connection point for more than 4 hours.”
(2) “Yes, sir. It’s do-able.”
(3) “No. By doing so, you are creating a stop-over and they will CHARGE you. What NW means about standby is that you can standby for an earlier CMH-MSP flight but you must also standby on the next available MSP-LAX flight.

Who’s right?

As well,

When I standby at the airport, am I standing-by for a K class seat or standing-by for a coach seat? Does that mean even is there are a few seats available after boarding, I am able to get those?

I am travelling with my mom, on two separate records for the same flights.. If both of us enlist ourselves for standby and only 1 coach seat happens to be there after boarding, is one of us obliged to take it?

Thank You.

I've done the same thing in the past.

You probably will be able to get on the non-stop, but it depends (obviously) on the non-stop having empty seats and the gate agent. Tell the agent its either BOTH of you or neither of you on the non-stop.

You are standing by for a SEAT on the non-stop. You might get real lucky and get a first class seat.

I'd go for it.

Ok.

But If I do get the CMH-MSP, I am laying over for more than 4 hours. As reservation agent #3 said," You will be charged?" Can they do that if they find out?

I've done this myself on a number of occasions, usually at MSP. I have only once had a problem with this. I took an earlier flight ORD-MSP and the agent listed me in a seperate record. By the time it came for me to get my MSP-SEA flight, the computer had cancelled my itinerary for failing to show up for the ORD-MSP flight. Anyway, I spoke to customer service at the airport and showed them my Boarding Pass for the earlier ORD-MSP flight and they put me on the SEA flight with no further problems.

Yup, I agree. The last time I did this (I was supposed to go LAN - DTW - MSP - SLC and went LAN - MSP - SLC instead) I ended up with about six hours in MSP and took the bus over to the MOA.

When you get back from to the airport from MOA just go to the orginally scheduled flight - since you already have a boarding pass (which you should have gotten in CMH) you should have no problem getting on. Just to be safe, though, you might reconfirm your LAX flight right after you get to MSP - before going to MOA.

Yes, make sure you reconfirm the LAX flight after you land at MSP. If you do that you should have no trouble.

Last year I had problems changing flights. I noticed that they didn't allow me to change anything if the fare type is V. If it's something else, they could put me on an earlier flight or even change the routing for me.

For 4 years as an undergrad in Iowa, I did this about monthly: booked a PM flight DSM-MSP and flew standby for an AM one.

When you check in for your original flights, they should print your evening MSP-LAX. Then when you get onto the CMH-MSP nonstop, they'll collect your CMH-DTW and DTW-MSP boarding passes and print one for the nonstop--- but they should let you hang on to your original MSP-LAX. You probably won't even have to talk to an agent in MSP-- just get onto your scheduled flight and you should be fine.

As far as what to do if only 1 seat is open, you shouldn't be obligated to do anything-- and the gate agent should clearly understand if you are a party of 2.

[This message has been edited by Viajero Joven (edited 12-06-2000).]