Alright, here's a question for you folks in the know. Despite all of my traveling, I've never (surprisingly) had this situation come up.

Wed, I'm supposed to be flying back home for the holidays.....non-stop out of Detroit, no big deal. I booked the flight back in August and got a relatively cheap Q fare. Well my plans for this week changed and I'd like to be able to go home Tuesday. I'm booked on the first flight out Wed and I was wondering if it possible to go standby on the last flight out Tuesday afternoon. Its still showing several seats open. Originally I called the 800 number to change it but they were going to have to rebook my entire trip which would cost over $800 now....uh, no thanks. So I asked about standby and they told me same-day only. I asked if I could go on the next most previous flight and the agents reply was, "I don't know"

So I wondering if there is any chance in this happening. I want to know if its worth my time to go to the airport Tues. afternoon to attempt to go standby.

Thanks

Same day standby only. So that means if you're gonna try to rebook the day earlier, it's a $100 change fee. Trust me, I've tried... groveling at the airport a day prior to departure.

Aloha

I had started a new thread on the same topic unaware that this topic was already being discussed here.

My post from that thread is as follows:


My wife and I are going to Dallas to be with family over thanksgiving. I am booked to fly out this Wed (the 26th), while she is flying out tomorrow (tuesday). The reason to book my flight for the later date was a meeting here in NY tomorrow. The meeting is now cancelled and am contamplating getting out on the same flight as my wife. We are both on K fares.
What is the policy on standing by for a flight a day in advance? I do not plan to make new reservations, just go and request the agent at check-in. I don't have a problem paying the $100 cange fees, but to pay the difference in fare would be a bit much (its over a 1,000 bucks now). The question then is that will I be able to get on a flight a day prior with just the change fees or will I need to pay the fare difference as well. Again, I don't plan to change my reservation in advance but just try my luck at the airport.
Thanks much in advance

Rashby posted:

I have done that before and only paid the $100 change fee. I would give NWA a call and see what they tell you. BTW - I tried to move a flight for this week by one day and couldn't becuase there were no seats available! I guess NWA dropped about 30% of thier flight from last year on this holiday week.

Brians51 posted:

If you have a restricted ticket which I am assuming you did get, you will have to pay the difference and the $100 penalty on 99.4% of restricted fare. As standing by the day before is not an option for free.
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Sorry mama I gots to get all the free miles I can.

Brian




[This message has been edited by knit-in (edited Nov 24, 2003).]

There doesn't seem to be a problem on that account in my case though. Both F and Y are wide open on both legs for tomorrow morning's flight.

This is a case where no waivers/no favors might actually hurt the airline. But only if certain conditions are met.

To answer your question the rule states SAME DAY. I would hope though that there was still some discretion with the supervisors.

I could see two scenarios where the airlines win and you win by them making an exception. The first would be if the flight you bought appears to be seriously oversold, the second would be if there is a weather situation approaching one of your airports and NWA puts a "weather waiver" into effect.

If your flight is oversold and you are willing to go a day earlier than the airline benefits by not having to deny boarding to someone, as long as the flight you are looking at has good availability.

If there is weather approaching they generally give a variance of a few days to a week and are very willing to accomodate requests.

If neither of these scenarios are in place, begging is the only thing. Of course with the new security thing, I am not sure standby on another day is an option since you need a boarding pass to get to the gate to see if you can standby. If either of the two scenarios I stated above were in place they would actually confirm you on an earlier flight and you would get a BP.

Of course with on-line check in you could actually check in for your flight and then go to the airport and hope security does not "catch" that the date is wrong. I don't know what there window is for letting someone on the concourse, I always thought the BP had to be for the date you were accessing. I really don't know.

Per NWA res., BPs allow access for same-day flights only.

However, you can get a special Standby pass from the front line agents which can get you into the boarding area. Surely someone in the know will help us out with this.

Aloha

An UPDATE: Went to LGA to drop my wife, ready to travel myself, but also prepared to come home and try my luck again the following day on an earler flight. The lady behind the counter when faced with the request to let me on the flight with my wife, even though I was booked for the next day, asks me in what appeared a not-so-kind a tone,"are you on an unrestricted ticket?". To which my answer was to the contrary. She then tapped away at her keyboard for a few minutes, looks up and says, "yeah, I can do that". I waited for her to tell me how much it would cost, but she said nothing and very soon, I had seats next to my wife, in F, no less, on both segments of the trip! She finally smiles and says "have a good flight". I told her that she was the best and both the wife and I were happily on our way, without any extra charge. No, not even the $100 change fee!!!

I got lucky there I guess!

Granted you were lucky and I think the agent did the best move for both you and the airline. If I was a betting man, I bet she was looking at your morning flight and seeing a way to lower the oversell situation on the morning flight. Even if the flight was not oversold, it still provided goodwill for the airline and the customer which will probably bring them more revenue in the future than the one time change fee. Be sure to take that agent a little gift on your next flight!