Air China Standby?
 

Anyone know if Air China is fairly lax on standby for an earlier flight? I am flying on the 8pm flight from HKG to PEK on an award ticket booked through CO. If I change it they'll charge me $75 or something like that. So I'm just wondering if I can check in earlier that day (or day before at airport express) and they'll get me on an earlier flight for free?

I don't think CA does standby unless the flight is overbooked in Y, and they need someone to change to a different flight. I tried asking previously for HKG-PEK and they said no because I was travelling on a restricted Economy fare. For awards, I think the chance is even less.

Similar thread - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/other...r-airport.html

As far as i known, standby is free of charge for domestic flights. I did it successfully several times for an earlier flight. *A status decides priority.

Just a note to the OP, although both HKG and PEK are considered 'Greater China', HKG flights are not domestic.

I'm *G also and 60% of the time, "stand by" only works if you pay up to the fare class available on the new flight (similar to WN). This isn't an issue if the value of your ticket is greater or equal to the cheapest remaining fares on the target flight.

ThAnx for the comments. Sounds like I probably cant standby for free. I am *silver on united but I doubt thAt'll do anything. I may try to go to the airport express sta the night before and see if they can switch my flight but we shall see. I guess I will update u after but not flying until dec 17

I'd try calling CA rather than going to the Airport Express station. In my experience the Airport Express ticket desk staff stick 100% to the rules and don't even try to deviate. The airport staff tend to have a lot more power/flexibility, with the call center falling somewhere between these two extremes.

Yes, the airport staff have a great deal of leeway, and the right person could certainly hook up the OP. Identifying the right person can be hit or miss though. I know one such individual in BJ, but don't have a similar contact in HK.

Check your status.

Checked in at airport express station in HKG.

Agent said ticket didn't allow a standby and any changes needed to be done through CO since it was an award tiicket I booked through them. But he tried it seems.

So I took my original 8PM flight which didn't leave until 1030-11pm. And arrived at a nice 2am and 2:45am by the time I got my bags off the belt. Slept in the terminal check-in area till 5am. Awesome, haha.

But in actuality the sleeping / check-in area was a lot better than I was expecting.

My experience is that status does not help much when it comes to standby. In fact they do not really have a way to do standby, but rather just changing to the earlier flight you want. So what really matters is whether the ticket allows changes.

It's been a while, but I have a distinct memory of changing to an earlier flight that was full and receiving a boarding card with the words "stand by" on it.