My friend did the OLCI, bought up to E+ $44 ORD-SFO and then got done with business a few hours early and went standby on an earlier flight.

There were no E+ seats available. Is it possible for him to get the $44 back? In the grand scheme of things it wasn't that big a deal to him compared to getting home 3 hours earlier, but if this was a Y-C upgrade, we'd get the upgrade instrument back, but in this case GA said when you go stand-by you waive your up-bought E+ seat (okay) but didn't know if he can get the $ back.

Thoughts?

my logic says: your friend paid for an E+ seat.... and didn't get it. I say try to get $$ back. If no success with UA, a CC protest seems in order (as a LAST resort).

IIRC, the E+ buy-up language is clear that the upgrade is non-refundable and only for the specific flight listed. If you don't take that flight, I think it's your loss.

I BELIEVE that Alliance is correct. It stinks, but what was bought was a non-refundable thing for a specific flight. The deviation frrom that flight was at the request of the consumer, not the merchant. Most major airlines standby policy is very liberal (even the confirmend for a fee.) One could buy the cheap flight with tons of open seats and standby (in most cases) for a flight where the "cheap buckets" are sold out, and the aitline doesn't charge the fare difference. This is just one instance where the consumers right to go earlier after buying a "premium product" ends up costing him. There are many many more instances when a free standby or a confirmed for a fee benefits the customer in ways that WN doesn't allow by way of it's "No standby...must buy up to new fare" policy.

Sorry for the loss, but glad that hours were saved...opportunity cost.