kennycrudup

Tried this today @LAX, companion has zero status, was told "they put an end to that about 2 months ago". Tried a "Human HUACA" at another kiosk, was told the same thing.

Has anyone tried this lately? Is it truly dead by rule, or just the"discretion" working against me this time? I've never tried it before today, so have no prior experience with it.

NoStressHere

This thread is two years old.

But - not sure what scenario your are talking about. Just an alister getting a seat or a-list with companion. And is the flight full, etc.

kennycrudup

Best search result that came up.
Thought I was pretty clear. I'm A-L+, companion has nothing. I was trying to get a SB to an earlier flight that had seats (I could have bought 4,WGAs on the app if I'd wanted to). Both CS agents told me that "as of a couple of months ago", companions are no longer allowed to SB for free even if their A-L(+) host is eligible and I'd have to buy a ticket at price for them.

nsx

Very bad news if true. Essentially we lose the standby privilege if traveling with a companion.

I haven't tried it in 2019 that I can recall, but it worked in 2018 the couple of times I tried. Back then I could standby for a co-terminal destination which is no longer allowed unless the reserved flight is delayed.

NoStressHere

So,what about this scenario?

A-lister is on standby.
Then gets confirmed.
Assuming all standbys have cleared, and there are seats left, could the a-lister just log in and add companion?

synergistic

I would think so, though I'm not sure how adding a companion at the last minute works. In my experience, if there are enough seats left to allow for this scenario to go smoothly, the agent I requested standby from just automatically cleared me, and gave both of us actual boarding passes. If they're not sure there will be enough seats, I'm not cleared until after seats are no longer for sale online. The agent then cleared my companion - I'm not clear on what would have been possible if I'd left the companion off the booking until after I'd been cleared. I'd be nervous that the closing would come after the deadline to add a companion online.


Edit : responded to that last without scrolling up to see possible recent changes. That would be a shame, but I think it would work fine in the early clear situation.

kennycrudup

What I can see being a problem there is the PNR is the same after a change, so the companion is already attached, but ineligible? Maybe a call to the A+ line?

dlaue

It’s true. According to gate agent the policy changed about a month ago. For the A list plus the companion to take a standby flight, the A lister must pay full walk up fare. No notice given. I’m angry.

dmbolp

The policy has always said the companion must have status

nsx

The official policy was always no free standby for the companion. Most gate agents used to give companions a break, as a matter of common sense and proper treatment of loyal customers. The change is that gate agents have been told "no waivers, no favors" on the official policy.

jmw

Before the policy change, I've been the victim of couples with the same surname being higher up on the standby list. I do not believe all of the couples had A-list status. At a minimum, I had to board last in a middle seat instead of A61. At worst, I sat watching the plane take off with my luggage and without me. So I fully support the "no waivers, no favors" policy and glad the overly generous previous policy is gone. I agree there is a reasonable middle ground that could be achieved, but the previous policy did not bump the companion behind all of the A-listers.

nsx

I recall one instance in 2017 when I was bumped to the bottom of the standby list due to having a companion. We were the last to board the flight. That policy would be fine by me.

PAX62

But the Companion policy has also been that if you are booked on a flight regardless of how and a seat is open on that flight your companion is eligible to fly...so in theory if you are cleared on standby AND other seats are open with no other standby list, your companion SHOULD be eligible to also be rebooked.

I agree that a non status companion should not get any standby priority over a status passenger but it seems the two programs are now at odds.

nsx

This policy just bit me to the tune of 6k points for an upgrade to get on a 70% empty plane with my companion. Thankfully the walk-up fares today are half what they were two years ago. I should have remembered this thread and just stayed with my original travel plans. This is a mistake you only make once.

Southwest has been so kind to me over the years that I don't much mind overpaying once in a while. Airlines need our support these days, and Southwest has earned mine many times over.

Still, I believe this policy is un-Southwest. It is also at cross purposes with the recent change to sequential boarding numbers for Companions. Someone at Southwest should reconsider.

synergistic

I had also managed to completely forget this - my only trip between those early reports and the plague was a trip to Hawaii with no room to even attempt to standby. I'm really disappointed to be reminded, that's quite a benefit lost. I'll still get the 15 for A-List, because the sequential boarding is still valuable, and I'm kinda stuck with the travel funds anyhow. Next year, 25? Harder to say.

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