thegingerman

Unfortunately, I don't remember for sure where I saw it (thought it was the website, but you said it's not.) It's probably in the S* Profile if you can find that on this board.

UNITED959

At which point in the OLCI process does the $25 option appear?

I just booked an 8p ORD-SNA for tomorrow, with the hopes of getting on the 5p. (The 8p was about $230 cheaper.)

I did the OLCI, clicked on standby and selected the 5p flight -- the screen simply said I'd be placed on the WL and my name would be called at the gate. No advisory about collecting $25.

My guess is that the 5p is too full to be accepting paid standbys. Therefore, I did not check in -- periodically tomorrow, I will keep an eye on it to see if such an option appears.

Anybody else experience this?

JC5280

Thats an international itin to Aruba.

BillKach

If you go back to OLCI on the day of your flight, you'll see the $25 change option right next to the standby option. It doesnt show up the day before because you are not yet eligible for the 4 hour change.

UNITED959

This is what I was looking for, thanks.

Just checked again, still no $25 option...it could be early. Given today's news, though, I may just bail on flying as I'm not in the mood to put up with a heightened security airport!

MFLetou

I just read through this entire thread, and I'm still unclear---

I'm booked on a DCA-ORD-SEA Thursday morning. Would I be able to change that to the 8:30 IAD-SEA flight that morning?

I'm unclear on the "routing" issue. I seems that I can switch to IAD, but do I have to switch to IAD-ORD-SEA?

MFLetou

If you are on a 7 am flight out of DCA and you want to be on a 8:40 am out of IAD, aren't you unprotected? Do I have to wait until 4:40 am to call? I wouldn't make my 7 am DCA flight (or have trouble anyway) if I wait that long...I can't call at 3 am? (when I was originally scheduled to depart)...

I'm worried about this.

robb

Correct. You have no choice but to head to the airport for your original flight and call on the way to standby for the 8:40.

The alternative is to pay the $100. I had the same problem once.

itsme

Someone will correct me if I am wrong, but I believe one can come out ahead if they are booked on a later flight (e.g., red-eye leaving at very end of the day) and would like to switch to an earlier flight the same day, either by (i)standing-by without any guarantees (but no risk either) for that earlier flight, or (ii) if the earlier flight can be locked in 4 hours or closer to the scheduled departure time, paying $25 to lock it in. When one is booked on an earlier flight but wants to go on a later one, they can let UA know that is what they are going to try, but they have cannot guarantee themselves a seat on more than 4 hours later than they were originally scheduled to depart, if indeed they can do that.

My question - how much of a risk is there in missing the red-eye and looking to get out the next AM? Reasonably safe bet or not so safe a bet?

dmodemd

I have done that... I had no problem standing by for an AM flight connecting to a redeye much later. I did this SEA-SFO-IAD allowing me the day to hang out with friends in the bay area. I didnt even need to do a confirmed, sometimes the AM flights on a Sunday are so wide open you just get handed a BP no problem. Your later reservation wll stand even though you are now violating the fare rules and creating a stopover.

HOWEVER: If you on-line check-in for the second flight, your check-in will get cancelled when you successfully take the earlier flight. You need to re-check-in. I almost lost my seat cuz of that, so beware!

robb

I just want to m ake sure that any new readers of this thread are aware that, on your return flight, it is still possible to confirm a change for $100, regardless of how far in advance you want to do it. On your outbound flight, this is more troublesome because you'll be refared to the walk-up fare, but it is still an option on the return.

neo_781

I just confirmed for an earlier flight, paid my $25 and then UA.com asked me to volunteer my seat for a later flight ... I said yes, what happens now?

robb

You don't get your $25 back. You got what you paid for, a confirmed seat on that flight.

Then you sold it back to them for VDB compensation, that's worth more than $25 and a good trade.

Buy Low - Sell High.

HenryE1005

My wife and I flew from Denver to SJC on 9/5. We were scheduled to fly at approx. 8:30pm, but preferred to fly out earlier. When I called on 9/4 the agent advised that it wasn't likely that seats would be available.

I was able to confirm a 2:45pm flight for both of us at $25 each. We were booked in T at purchase, but changed to "U" when the confirmed standby was processed. Earlier posts indicate that either your original booking class or H class must be available for the standby upgrade to be offerred. When I checked for available booking classes on United.com I found that neither were available before I requested the change.

Also, I was offered an upgrade to first class (both at departure and return) for $130 each. This is more than it would cost to purchase e-500s (2 @ $50).

itsme

Is H a fare they normally sell or is it a special one for internal purposes? If I understand what was posted early in this thread: so long as the plane is not overbooked (capacity -1), they will sell confirmed standby, putting the passenger in at same fare class as originally booked if that is available (e.g., V into V), if not available than put into H. Sounds like H is some sort of catch-all for these purposes.

So, they just have to have one, perhaps two, unreserved seats in the cabin, and one can have it as confirmed standby, regardless of what the availability is according to fare buckets. Then when you call to see if can have confirmed standby, not necessary to inquire if they have seats in your original fare class (e.g., V), nor any H seats, since they will "create" an H seat for you if plane isn't fully booked. Right?

(Previous poster said their confirmed standby went into U. But no reason for us to care whether H, U, or whatever, so long as we get a seat, right? It's "internal" to UA without consequence to us.)