standby
 

Curious to know how the standby list is formed. Was stuck in TPA yesterday the day after Daytona, plus with east coast flights screwed up because of the snow and a big group of stand-by passengers wanting to get from tampa to... anyhere, MEM, DTW, MSP. everything was oversold. I was on a rock bottom ticket that I somehow managed to scrape off of orbitz less than 7 days advance, and still managed to get a seat on the first flight out (they only called up 4 names and there were maybe a dozen waiting). I was surprised. I have about 25k miles flown/booked with them in the previous and next month or so... does that have anything to do w/ it? I would have imagined anyone w/ a higher fare would have gotten a seat ahead of me... Just wondering if anyone knows the process. Thanks.

Welcome to the boards Ryan, I am sure there is an official policy, but I think stand by is generally first come first served. If the airline "protects" someone. Say you were on an earlier flight that was canceled and the agent "protected" you on a later flight, than you would have a confirmed seat. I have not done much standby, but when I have it has strictly been down the list. If you are #3 and there are 3 seats left you get on, only 2 seats left and you wait for a later flight.

There are exceptions, like Crew that need to get back to work and things like that. But I think once all those are accomodated it would go back to first come first served.