cepheid

You're assuming the seat would be "about to be wasted." The OP is a 1K, although it's not listed in his profile, and therefore would be at the top of the standby list. He might therefore bump off someone who is legitimately on that list, which IMHO wouldn't be "right" given that the OP should technically not be allowed to go standby the night before. Of course, that's only an issue if there are more standby pax than open seats, but it could happen.

Also, it seems like the OP would be leaving sometime mid-day or evening, not at 6am, which means UA wouldn't have 24 hours to sell the seat, but more like 12 hours. Furthermore, unless the flight is fully booked (as in, oversold to the point of not even being bookable), it's unlikely they need another open seat to try and sell.

So, yes, UA actually may not have that much incentive to let the OP go the day before without trying to get the contractually-agreed-to change fee. That doesn't mean it can't happen, but I wouldn't count on it.

(Of course, the OP's flight was yesterday, so this is now a purely hypothetical discussion.)

euslaner

It all depends upon the agent. Don't even think of trying this on LH or Qantas. LH won't let you change at all. A couple of years ago my wife, my son, and I were in Gladstone, a tiny airport, flying to Brisbane. We arrived at the airport very early (since we stayed in town on Sunday with the town shut down tight). Three Qantas flights came and went to Brisbane as we sat in the airport (with only a tiny concession stand), each over half empty. The Qantas CSRs were adamant that we wait until our flight was boarding since we had special discounted fares. It wouldn't have harmed them to let us on early, but they took special pleasure in making sure we had to wait.

ktown

yes, have you ever met an airline before?

TA

much as I bet they would like to, airlines cannot individually negotiate the price of a flight with passengers, charging more to those who can afford it/need it, and discounting it for others (there is a name for this type of pricing discrimination, not in the negative connotation, but I forget what it is, like car dealers do).

The thing is that sometimes, flying earlier than scheduled is of tremendous value to people, just as sometimes flying later is. Therefore, allowing you to fly on an earlier day (I know it's somewhat arbitrary considering they let you standby for earlier on the same day), might be costing them money or making them money -- but they do not know which. So I guess they have to just have some rule at least that you have to fly on your scheduled day, and see what market it makes.

They have the ability to negotiate individually sometimes, like in oversold situations, but this is really on the spot, not planned far in advance.

gladstoneyoung

Would love to hear how the inital situation has worked out.

Euslaner, sorry to hear about your experiences at GLT. They are generally very accommodating. It does take some experience to rework the reservations/check-in system so maybe you struck a newbie. I once turned up at BNE for the last flight of the day to GLT. Unfortunately I got the times mixed up and arrived at the actual check-in desk at departure time. The aircraft had already closed its doors etc so no luck. The check-in agent was not particularly helpful apart from checking that i was too late. He referred me tot he ticketing agents who readily transferred me to the next morning's flight. Maybe the genuine surprise and the tears impacted them. And AVIS let me keep the car overnight for no additional charge.

asya999

A few years ago I did this exact sort of thing on a holiday weekend.

My flight back from IAD to SFO was booked for Monday night (which was a holiday) and I showed up at the airport Sunday night. I really can't remember if I was intending to change the day, or thought I booked Sunday or thought they'd let me go standby but basically they said "Sorry, it's $100 to change it to today".

When I got on the flight I realized there were fewer than 20 people on the entire plane. And they were ready to send me back to MD (after my ride already left! Not that they knew that) if I didn't pay the $100!

zrs70

I don't think FT should endorse people playing dumb. We expect honesty and integrity from the airline. I think we should expect the same of ourselves (as a community).

If the OP wants to play dumb, it should not come with our blessing!

If it were me, I would go to the airport and explain the truth. You want to get home early (to be with family, to watch the football games, to play tiddly-winks, whatever!) I think the agent can usually see through playing dumb.

John26

You can request free same day standby 24 hours prior to your ticketed flight. But same day means same day as you are tickted (not same day you check in).

Good luck getting on the DM list. A trained CSR will not only know that you are not allowed to be added to the DM list for a flight on a different date than what you were ticketed for, but will also know to charge you the $100 change fee plus refare your ticket and collect the additional difference in fares if your original booking class is sold out for the flight you desire.

If you want to see it play out and have the time to spend doing so, that is your choice. Personally I don't advise you to do this because it will most likely be an excercise in futility.

Maybe you just wanted to see what will happen?

blue_dolphin

I've tried to do this, both as 1K and 1P, and was given no option but to pay the change fee.

Still cheaper than another night's hotel room and meals plus taxi fare back and forth (assuming you do the asking at the airport).

Edited to add that in both cases, I was attempting to stand-by for a flight less than 12 hours earlier than my ticketed flight, but alas, not on the same date.

cblaisd

Well put. And even if on occasion our airline does not behave with integrity, you and I still have the choice of whether we do or not.

Thanks, zrs70, for a thoughtful post.

Mike Jacoubowsky

Absolutely agree. Besides, holding others to standards higher than those we exhibit ourselves may gain you certain advantages, but it doesn't make the world a better place.

Perhaps somebody will tell me what it is, about that person you're dealing with, that makes it OK to lie to them. That person. Not an airline, but a real live person, for whom we have an opportunity to display the best or the worst of humanity towards. Give that person an honest story, and how knows, they just may go out of their way to help you. But tell him or her a lie and you're not only discrediting yourself, but you're also making it that much less likely that agent is going to be looking forward to the next person he or she faces.

I'm actually surprised this thread went so long before somebody pointed out that lying to get ahead isn't good form on FT.

LGA_UAL

I don't believe it is even physically possible for an agent to put someone on standby for a different day. I believe the computer defaults only to the same day to inhibit doing what the OP wants to do.

zrs70

Once upon A time, FT prided itself on high standards. Now it seems like we are lowering ourselves.

hsxagent

Actually it is all about pushing a ticket. It can be done... Again, this is a quick fix to the problem and most ticket agents would/should get audited for doing something like this.

Let's say you have a ticket for travel tomorrow, but say wanted to leave today. The agent could reserve a seat on the flight you need. Then the agent could push the ticket through by forcing the reservation to take by using your ticket number from the later flight.

The same can be done in reverse, the only thing really needed is an active ticket with at least one segment not used.

It is a quick and dirty way to do it. But it can be done!

BenjaminNYC

They certainly should. Otherwise, why would anyone ever buy a more expensive flexible ticket? This concept seems very difficult for people here to grasp.