LegalTender

Southwest will soon expand same-day standby to WGA and give Business Select buyers free internet.

No ETA given.

A16someday

I hope Southwest realizes this is a desirable benefit for A-List and A-List Preferred status members. Maybe allow them an earlier stand-by request interval, like from 10:00p until Midnight the night before.

lowfareair

Southwest prioritizes standbys based on elite status and fare class. This is a much needed move as now everyone wins (and is why the other big airlines allow free standby) - an A-lister can snag a seat on standby for the sold out 4pm flight because a non-elite on a WGA fare was able to standby successfully on the 1pm flight. Similarly, a non-elite successfully standbys on the 1pm flight and then the 4pm cancels - that's one less person WN needs to accommodate on later flights.

zachary

I don't think this change disadvantages anyone with status.

A List and A+ get same day confirmed flight changes. So they should always be ahead of non-status people looking to standby on WGA fares. The way I read the chart, they are simply allowing standby travel for non-status passengers on WGA fares. You have to sit around at the gate and hope you get on. You do not get same day confirmed flight change without paying the fare difference .

uastarflyer

The long time WN fanbois poo-poohed same day standby when WN didn’t offer it broadly.

I guess now it’s a good thing, something legacies offered long before?

I also read WN is going to scale back offering EBCI and force customers to buy “Anytime” instead (more $$$) if they want to board with the A’s.

Troopers

When does same day standby open prior to the desired flight?

dmbolp

You have to do it at the airport, on the same day of travel (it doesn't open up at T-24), so as early as you can get into the airport and see a SW rep on your day of travel

Edit: Looks like you can now add yourself to a standby list thru the app

Troopers

Ok, thanks....trying to distinguish SDC vs same day standby with the proposed new rules.

Troopers

But the flight is full, so elites can't change to that full flight. Elites would still need to go to airport to get on the same day standby list, no?

zachary

Elites can refresh the website/app starting at midnight and grab a seat if it becomes available until the flight goes under airport control. The fact that WN says they don't typically overbook makes that very possible -- I can't recall ever not been able to change since they introduced same day confirmed changes, but maybe I've been lucky.

But yes, if no seat opens up, the elite would have to go to the airport. That's true today, and it'll be true after this expansion of same day standby. And the elite should be ahead of any non-elite on the airport standby list.

Troopers

That's been my experience as well. I have always been able to get on my preferred flight, even when the flight is full at midnight by refreshing the app.

I'm wondering about this scenario....my preferred mid afternoon flight is full at midnight. Still full at 7am. A non-elite heads to airport in the morning and gets on the standby list for the same mid-afternoon flight. A seat opens up (before I'm able to refresh the app). Does the non-elite get that seat immediately when the seat opens up, which may be hours before the flight?

nsx

Assuming Southwest originally believed that requiring a large buy-up was the more profitable policy, I wonder why that changed. There’s no question that the change free same day standby favors customers and reduces potential badwill from customers who felt that the buy-up to full fare was extortionate.

Edit: This policy should have the effect of reducing the attraction of WGA plus fares. The other new policy of sometimes not selling EBCI increases the attraction of BS and upgraded boarding.

LegalTender

Could be a dress rehearsal for broad BS upgrading.

Differentials now aren't compelling.

zachary

WGA+ is still a good idea if you want to take a later flight than the one you're going to book. I've done this, where I really want to fly on a non-stop, but the earlier connecting flight is much cheaper (obviously, the difference has to be more than $20 to make this even a thought). I buy WGA+ and switch to the non-stop at midnight. This would be a risky move without the confirmed change.

If your preferred flight is earlier than the one you're booking, WGA+ becomes less attractive. Not completely unattractive, just less so. Recently, I had my son on a WGA+ fare and at midnight there was only one seat on the flight he wanted to move to. While I suspect additional seats opened up before departure as they usually do, there is some benefit in having the piece of mind that you are confirmed on the flight you want to take instead of sitting around at the gate hoping.

dmbolp

Welp, looks like you can now add yourself to a standby list thru the app