Unable to get on standby list as prem. exec.?
 

I've had an eventful evening. With the impending storm I decided to hightail it to DCA to catch an earlier flight to EWR that was delayed over an hour (as usual). My final destination being PIT. As I am walking to the precheck line I find my mobile BP not loading, says my 4:09 has already departed, yet it's only 3:00. I try to print out my pass at a station, but it says I need to see an agent.

I head to the ticketing area and find the slowest agent in the world who tells me that they put me on some IAD-PIT flight due to the storm. "But I'm at DCA?" I ask. I mention if I hurry I might make the delayed flight to Newark in time to make my connection and home to PIT w/o an hour cab or shuttle ride to DCA. He says that the delayed flight has probably already left. I'm like, I just checked flight aware and 10 minutes ago it was somewhere over Baltimore and that I thought I had a chance. Apparently I'm not really on the IAD flight either, perhaps protected on it. After much convincing I get him to print me out my original boarding pass I expected should just have worked in the first place.

Run to precheck. No precheck. Old style. Slow. I push people's bags onto the belt for them. Run to the early (but delayed) flight, still there. All boarded. I ask the boarding agent, "still seats?", he checks, 10 seconds later, he's like "I got you". Last seat on the plane. Awesome.

Wife texts, "hey, can you get my sister at the airport? She is landing in PIT at 6 from DEN. Your new flight gets to EWR and the same plane turns around and heads to PIT." I say sure, ill see what I can do. Land, get my gate checked bag. Walk up the ramp, turn around and:
Me "still seats?"
Ga "no, flight is checked in full"
Me "okay, put me on standby please"
Ga "ok. There is a charge. <sees my prem. exec.> okay no charge. <lots of typing for 90sec.> sorry I can't get you a seat"
Me "but I'm on standby right?"
Ga "no I can't, I've already closed the flight"
Hmm I think. It's not even boarding yet. I say, ill sit here in case you have a seat. As I wait she boards the plane quickly. Then, much to my surprise she starts calling out names. One name, two, three...! Isn't this standby I think to myself? Who are these people and how did they get on the list? This is why I fly with this airline, this is why I value prem exec, or so I thought.

I think she was just unable to work the system properly because the flight was delayed or because I was already bumped up from an earlier flight and she was under pressure to get the plane turned around. I either case, it was strange. Hence my question to FTs....

Why was I unable to get on the standby list?
-lta

Gate agent was unable/unwilling to struggle with the arcane system management provided

Don't They Know Who You Are?








:D

Sorry, hope you get home before the weather hits the fan.

What is Prem Exec?

+1

Gold? :)

I wish it was still called Premier Executive. United was so much classier back in the old days with their red carpet and fancy statuses.

sorry about your issues but if it were me i definitely would have taken the IAD-PIT option and the cab voucher. not having to deal with EWR is well worth the one hour ride out to Dulles, not to mention the direct flight.

Agree, but seriously though...it hasn't been called that for a long time now. If we hate it or not, lets use the correct terms.

It takes about 5-6 seconds for a competent agent to add somebody to the standby list for a flight. The variable is basically the length of the passenger's name :) There's really no excuse.

I've had several instances where gate agents tell me that they're not going to add me to the standby list and then proceed to clear 5-6 people who were on the list. This really fries me every time. As 1K I would be at or near the top of that list and when a GA flat out tells me "no", it really, really bugs me...

I'm not asking you to guarantee me a seat -- I'm simply asking to be put on the list at the priority level dictated via status/etc. I don't care that the flight is full and my chances of clearing are close to zero, I don't care that there are already 20 people on the list, and I don't care that I'm already booked on a later flight. Just add me to the standby list (please)!!