dd

i was wondering what sq's standby policy is? i would like to leave on an earlier flight from nrt-sin and don't want to go to the airport many hours early only to find out that they don't allow standby... the ticket was purchased from a consolidator and is in y class if that makes any difference. sq said i could not change the outbound as it was a fixed ticket, although the return could be changed...

any insight?

thanks.

Guy Betsy

Well, are you on the outbound or the return?

dd

outbound, otherwise i could change it and wouldn't need to standby...

Kiwi Flyer

I have on occassion been able to take early flights just by turning up near close of check-in for that earlier flight. This includes NRT-SIN.

stargold

It is my general understanding that, with the exception of intra-European flights and, to a lesser extent, intra-US flights (which the airlines do not allow earlier standby, to preserve the "value" of fully flexible tickets - as in, if they allowed earlier standby to even cheap tickets, airlines think less people will buy the flexible tickets and go for the cheapest), most airlines adopt a slightly different set of rules depending on before/after you turn up at the airport.

By that, I mean that if your ticket is non-changeable, you would normally get the "no" answer from the reservations agent. But come the day of the flight, if you turn up at the airport early, they quite often overlook the ticket restrictions if the earlier flight has plenty of availability. Especially so if the later flights are booked more heavily. In a way, it also makes sense for them to "fill the plane as people come", so to speak, so that on the later flights they can accept more standby pax and improve the load factor.

But since you're talking about airline bending published rules, nothing is really concrete and depends on a host of factors, not the least the mood of the person you ask. So I guess the answer would be, "It is possible, even likely, but your mileage may vary".

dd

actually, i was asking what the policy is for standby. with ua, you can standby for another flight on the same day as the original flight even on a ticket that can not be changed (i have done this many many times, both domestically and internationally). with aa, they don't seem to allow international standby, but domestic is allowed. i was wondering what sq's policy was... do they have an official standby policy? i know you can sometimes get around published rules by showing up at the airport, but i wanted to know about actual rules. anyway, i guess the point is moot now as i have already taken the outbound flight (i did not try to standby for the earlier flight), but it would be nice to know for a later date...

Kiwi Flyer

I think stargold is right that it is NOT policy to allow standby but check in agents will allow anyway if the circumstances are right & you've asked nicely, etc.

The most recent time for me (NRT-SIN mentioned previous post) I got the last seat (well turned out to be 2nd last due to a no show) and think I just was lucky with timing - arriving just when they are closing check-in for the flight.