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.