I know same day changes/standby not allowed for Basic fares but what about for a-list and a-list preferred? I cannot seem to find the clear answer anywhere. I fly 100+ legs a year on my own dime and extensively use same day changes with wanna get away fares. Hoping I still can with basic!

My guesses: Nobody will get a break on same day confirmed change, elite free standby for an earlier flight is possible.

OTOH, with the pathetic frequency intra-CA, there aren't many same day change or standby opportunities..

AA and UA still allow same-day travel changes on BE fares at no cost for elites. DL does not allow them at all. My guess is they will allow it as 2 out of the 3 main legacies still allow it.

Per this thread, no SDC for elites

SW Basic Fare

Given the policies of competitors for their elites, I expect a partial relaxation of the announced policy. Otherwise I will rely on flat tire standby as needed..

As one FTer wrote in his or her signature, "This game is a lot less fun than it used to be".

Worth noting that at least for BUR-SFO there has been a *lot* of mileage ticket avail for 5K miles each way on UA a few days out. I assume this is in response to F9.
Nice product at that price! I plan to move all my CC spend back over to UA. to make more miles.

As with a lot of other, soon to be, refugees from Southwest I really wish someone would properly focus on the intra California commuter market. F9 is cheap and reliable but poor density. Anything involving SFO is iffy in the Winter months.

There is a real logical problem with not allowing SDC for elites with basic fares. If that�s true and you want SDC then you have to buy WGA+. But everyone who buys WGA+ gets SDC regardless of elite status. So effectively the elite benefit is completely nullified in this scenario.

I don't really see it as logical problem as DL neither allows SDC/SDS, nor Preferred seating access for elites on BE fares (both are elite benefits). It comes down to policy and how painful do you want to make your BE fares so that elites will avoid them vs. possibly alienating them too much that they jump ship. DL BE fares weren't nearly as restrictive as they are now when they were initially introduced. I suspect DL saw few elites were buying them and that they didn't see much of a risk in changes. I would guess bigger issue for DL is competing for non-elites now that DL BE fares earn no redeemable miles at all (assuming few elites were still buying them, the no status earning dollars is probably not so much of a big deal).

Well you missed my point. First, does everyone who buys a non-basic fare on DL get SDC like everyone who buys a WGA+ fare? No. My point is if SDC isn�t an option on Basic, then there effectively is no longer a SDC elite benefit. That�s all.

My crystal ball says no way in hell will they allow A listers to SDC on basic fares.

If you are just buying Basic fares, they don't want you as an elite... it is pretty simple.

Not unlike other airlines.

I've had some time to think about how to deal with the new restrictions on Basic. I've concluded that the Southwest or Elliott accountant that came up with this did a really good job to minmax against the customers just like we used to minmax the airlines 10+ years ago. This is payback for letting us change $29 tickets for free systemwide due to schedule changes a few years ago.

The biggest problem is actually the 6 month expiration of credits. I remember the old days when I would refuse to mix new funds with credits expiring in less than a month and let the funds expire. I always refare to get the credits when fares drop, but the refare credits are going to be hard to use with the short 6 month expiration policy on Basic. Don't forget all airlines keep their fares jacked up almost all the time. The true fare sales on Southwest are very infrequent especially if it's not a Tuesday or Wednesday flight. So the ability to cancel Basic for credits isn't as good as I originally thought it was going to be. There is a significant spoilage factor here. When you try desperately to spend the Basic credits before expiration, most likely it will be on a jacked up fare because there is no time left to wait for a sale and still meet the 21 day advance purchase requirement. The spoilage factor is effectively going to wipe out the fare difference between Basic and WGA+. Another way to think of this is to value the credits from a refare or cancellation. The shorter the time remaining, the lesser the value of the credit if you were to sell it to someone else in a theoretical marketplace. The funds from Basic cancellations and refare is like a "free" close-in call option and taking a 50+% loss because the underlying stock didn't go up enough before expiration. The house always wins.

On WGA+, the 4x delta in points earning (8x for ALP) and sometimes the SDC can be used to partially cushion the blow of paying extra. The free SDC provides a quality of life bonus to choose your preferred schedule despite the reduced frequency of intra-CA flights.

True, the 6 months will be a PITA. If I accumulate any significant amount I will convert them to WGA+ and transfer them to family members who somehow never seem to plan ahead.

Is that actually going to extend the expiration date on Basic credits? I'm assuming once funds are tainted with Basic, they are tainted forever even if booked to WGA+. In the past, new funds mixed with old funds get the crappiest expiration date.

Yes. Perfect for the family members who wants to fly next week.