EWR-ORD Unusual Loads Today ?
 

My daughter is flying SRQ-EWR-ORD today (4/4). When she checked in last night she got a TOD offer to upgrade from T to P on the EWR-ORD leg for $99 which she (or should I say I) grabbed. She is *S. I checked the seat map today and all seats are grayed out on the EWR-ORD leg, presumably assigned. The stand by list for this flight lists 10 names. I looked at the loads on all of the afternoon flights and found this:

UA 3350 7 Standbys
04/04/16 2:35 PM ORD
04/04/16 4:15 PM E70
F1 C1 A1 D1 Z1 P1 Y0 B0 M0 E0 U0 H0 Q0 V0 W0 S0 T0 L0 K0 G0 N0

UA 1062 6 standbys
04/04/16 3:05 PM ORD
04/04/16 4:45 PM 739
F0 C0 A0 D0 Z0 P0 Y0 B0 M0 E0 U0 H0 Q0 V0 W0 S0 T0 L0 K0 G0 N0

UA 308 10 standbys
04/04/16 4:42 PM ORD
04/04/16 6:25 PM 319
F0 C0 A0 D0 Z0 P0 Y0 B0 M0 E0 U0 H0 Q0 V0 W0 S0 T0 L0 K0 G0 N0

Is this an unusually heavy load factor or just a regular Monday NewYork-Chicago business flight pattern ?

My daughter was not offered any VDB for her Flight. Any chance she will here an "announcement" of overbooking on Flt 308 ?

That first flight alone now has 34 on standby. But 26 on the upgrade list, so some of those standby are most likely non-revs.

Still, that's a lot. Looks like an easy VDB day. Not much chance of IDB for her, since F is not overbooked.

VDB strategy when seated in FC
 

AACHARYA, thanks for your speedy reply. What is the best strategy for someone sitting in FC to participate in a VDB ? Does $500 + FC on replacement flight sound reasonable ? If FC isn't available on next flights, how do you value the lost upgrade ? Your reply and insight are appreciated. PS, the standby list is now 15 on flight 308

Now the stand by list shows 48. Why all the stand bys ?

Just ask the gate at each flight.

Did any flights cancel? That could instantly put a few dozen on the standby list.

I know a lot of flights were cancelled yesterday because of the weather (I'm going to assume some today as well). Anyone who's flight was cancelled to ORD or to EWR with a connection to ORD needs a seat.

Passenger have little visability
 

I have often said that we passengers do not have the same visibility when it comes to load, seats and stand by lists as the airline staff. So my daughter asked the GA at about 1 hour before departure if her flight was oversold and if they needed volunteers. United.com showed all seats "grayed out" (which I have always thought meant they were assigned) and the standby list had 48 names and none "cleared". The gate agent told my daughter that they were not oversold and did not need any volunteers. Sometime afterwards, the gate agent announced that the flight was oversold and they would provide a $150 TC for passengers willing to take a later flight (no details as to when). My daughter said that several passengers inquired if the TC value was negotiable, but the Gate Agent said $150 was the max. My daughter was unwilling to give up a FC seat for $150 even if the next flight was only 100 minutes later.

As I have no clue how many of the 48 standbys were actually revenue passengers, I cannot say if the $150 offer was a sound business decision. But if I was a fare paying passenger that missed a connection and a rolling 48 passenger standby list was following me all day and all United was offering folks was $150 to vacate a seat for me I would be P@$$ed !

NYC ATC was causing delays. In commuter markets with frequent service, standby lists are traditionally long as people try to shave off 30 min of journey time if they arrive to airport early. Throw in ATC delays and every passenger on every flight (exaggeration) is trying to improve their dptr time by getting on an earlier flight. Compound that with misconnected passengers whose planes arrived to EWR late due to ATC, and they too, are trying to get on a flight earlier than the one they got rebooked on. It's the nature of the beast on high frequency routes and where ATC is causing both inbound and outbound delays. Nothing unique for the ORD/NYC markets.

staff

On Sunday at LAX I noticed a lot of flights with long standby lists. I think it's likely to be spring break traffic. On my flight a lot of uniformed crew boarded and filled up all the remaining seats and the FA next to me said she was coming home from a training.

It's my understanding that United (most airlines?) don't offer VDB in order to clear a standby list - regardless of the reason the pax is on it. Standby is just that - you're not just waiting for a seat, you're waiting to actually get booked on the flight in the first place. Airlines offer VDB when they oversold the flight and it doesn't get right sized through cancellations and miscconnects, the key different being the pax being accommodated are already booked on the flight, just without seat assignments.

There were dozens of non-revs attempting to travel that route, that day. They would all show up on the standby list below any revenue standbys. No way (that I know of) to tell who's a revenue standby vs. non-revenue standby from the standby list that is available on the monitors, UA App, and web site.

There's also an issue with the way the computer handles non-rev listings that sometimes results in the standby listings being rolled-over to later flights that the non-rev is not trying to get on. This can result in a large number of entries on the standby list, again below all the revenue standbys, that don't really exists.

A crewmember going to/from training, or deadheading to/from an out-of-base assignment, will not show up on the standby list. They'll have positive-space bookings and will be at the bottom of the upgrade list, if applicable.

Generally true but some passengers at the top of the standby list can be people who hold a confirmed reservation on the flight but lack a seat assignment in an oversold situation. I believe that the volunteers go on the standby list as well, right below those who are confirmed without a seat. (This is getting well beyond my area of expertise, though)

The standby list makes a lot more sense on the agent's screen where you can see all the priority codes that go along with each passenger.

one way is if you see the same name towards the bottom of the standby list but also on the upgrade list, this is likely (but not for certain) a non-rev listed in f


correct but crew commuting (eg: based in sfo, chooses to live in pdx) to or from work is not positive space, they are non-rev standbys. i think there's some language that they get positive space if they try a certain number of times and cannot get on.

Most non-revs won't be listed in F as riding in F comes with an extra service charge (not that we'd ever get an upgrade on a CPU-eligible flight). If you see someone on both lists they're more likely positive space than non-rev.


Nope. No such language.

The only way that can happen is if scheduling can't cover a flight and they have to positive-space someone in from wherever they might be to cover it but then it becomes a deadhead, not a commute. Usually, if you miss your commutes you lose the trip and the pay associated with it.