coswellnc

Before everyone rolls their eyes, let me first say that this question has nothing to do with the 6 hour rule or changing/eliminating connection cities to move up to an earlier flight.

I'm scheduled on a 5:50pm flight from TYS to CLT and connect to a flight home leaving at 1035p that gets me home around 11:40p. My meeting ends early and I can make the 4:04p departure out of TYS to CLT and catch an early connection home that gets me home at 6:58pm. I call the CP desk and check the load for the two flights i want to MoveUp on and find out that the 4:04p out of TYS to CLT is booked to capacity but not oversold and as a CP, I figure I'll have a good chance if someone no shows. The earlier flight I want from CLT to home is wide open. So I head to the airport and request to be placed on Standby for the TYS to CLT leg. If cleared I'll work on getting the CLT to home leg confirmed when I get to CLT.

At TYS I'm told that they can no longer put anyone on standby. MoveUp is only possible if confirmed seats are available on both legs. If I was just going to CLT they could put me on standby but because I'm connecting its a no go. They reference the rule change that occurred in July as their reason. Huh??? I don't remember that as being one of the changes. So I call the CP desk to confirm. They say they have never heard of that but nothing they can do. They cannot override the airport. Suggest I talk to the Station Manager at TYS. I do and hear the same story from her.

Did I miss a rule change or is the station at TYS making their own rules? I've MovedUp at other airports plenty of times this year but always had confirmed seats. I've never had to request standby on the first leg so I never had this situation. Certainly one would think that the CP desk would know the rules as good as anyone.

Comments...

BoeingBoy

If they can't confirm you a seat (and the flight is apparently sold out) you can stand by for the earlier flight for free.

The only real difference between MoveUp and stand by, since you're an elite, is getting a confirmed seat. Both have to be done at the airport - you can't get a MoveUp or put on a stand by list before arriving at the airport on day of departure. So when you get to the airport, ask at the ticket counter about MoveUp and if that's unavailable get the gate agent to put you on the stand by list.

Jim

coswellnc

My thoughts exactly Jim. That is why I posted this question. I could not get the folks at TYS to budge and they would NOT put me on the standby list. They sited this rule change as their reasoning. They said there is no such thing anymore. If they cannot confirm you in a seat then MoveUp/Standby is a no go.

Curiously she mentioned that the company is trying to do away with "Revenue Standby" which is a term that probably means more to you than me as you worked for them and know all the inside lingo. I'm baffled completely by the entire situation.

kudzu

If there were such a rule change, it was not communicated via website/email.

Never heard of it, and I follow US closely too.

I'd suggest emailing CP desk asking for clarification of such a "new rule".

Either TYS knows something we don't (and you've talked with the station manager), or they're full of it

tt120

Did they even try to put you standby or just say "we can't do it". If they didn't even try I would be furious for no effort. It's the lack of effort that would be most disheartening.

If " it can't be done" then the system wouldn't let them do it -no matter what. Or they might have learned something new.

BoeingBoy

kudzu and tt120,

I got the impression that OP was talking about a flight after today, so based my answer on that. The original post was made well after both the scheduled and sought flights left TYS.

As far as I know the last change to MoveUp was the 6 hour limit. Standby is still available at the gate as far as I know.

Jim

coswellnc

The flight date was today 2/22. The reason why the post was so late was I found myself stewing about the whole situation while in CLT waiting for my connecting flight. Which departed 30 minutes late. Just can't win today

I finally got home 22 minutes late and will chalk up today's disappointments to just a bad situation. Normally I get great service as a CP. today was just not my day.

awaflyboy

Working gates, I'm not sure why they didn't put you on standby. Did you check bags, perhaps that might be why. I know if you had come up to my gate I should have been able to put you on standby. The only other reason I can think of is if availablity was still open to sell, the system might have made you an oversold pax and I can see why they wouldn't have wanted to do that. I would have suggested to don't check any bags, check in for the later flight and just go up to the gate and ask to be put on s/b. But since I wasn't there, I can't tell you for sure, they may have had info that we're not aware of. Hope this doesn't sour on US too much.

dtremit

Direct from the website:

I suspect the agents at TYS just didn't know how to do what they were being asked to do.

redtop43

Just wanted to see if anyone has thoughts or advice. I think I posted a similar but not identical thread a couple weeks ago.

I am flying BDA-RDU regularly. I often try to fly BDA-PHL-CLT-RDU to get an extra segment to requalify for gold. The BDA-PHL flight arrives at 4:24. There are departures to CLT at 5:20 (connecting at 8:03) and 6:35 (connecting at 10:40). I cannot book the 5:20 because there is a 70-minimum minimum connection time in PHL, apparently because BDA is an international destination - but you clear customs in BDA, so it's really like domestic. Note, I am often checking bags.

First, I assume that I wouldn't be able to change the flght in BDA. When I get to the airport, they know what time the plane will arrive, and it's not like there is ever a traffic jam getting out, so they would know if I'm getting to PHL on time. If we leave for PHL on time I'm going to be 99% to be able to make the 5:20, but I still don't think they even could do it if they wanted to - right?

So the second part of the question, is there likely to be any problem changing to the 5:20 if I'm at the gate in time? Will they put me on the 5:20 even if the 8:03 connection is full, assuming I can stand by for that and take my original 10:40 if needed?

There's a good chance it won't work anyway, because that 5:20 is often full, I think the 8:03 is too, and I may be unlikely to give up a good seat on the 6:35 anyway if I'm likely to just be trading a wait in PHL for one in CLT.

Will the checked bag complicate things? I check a bag about half the time, and I can probably avoid checking a bag on trips I might try to MoveUp on.

Ancillary note, that doesn't affect me at all - they really should extend MoveUp beyond 6 hours in cases where there IS no early flight within 6 hours, like those involving redeyes.

jondysse

In my limited experience, gate agents at PHL and many other places are surly about the MoveUp. They will do MoveUps that don't make sense if you push them, but generally forget about getting someone to help you pre-security. And you really have to lean on the GAs to get them to help you.

For BWI-PHL-SFO recently, I moved up my BWI-PHL so I could hang out in the PHL lounge + BWI-PHL is unreliable. The GA was even a decently nice one but she still gave me a hard time about how dumb it was for me to be doing that because PHL-SFO was likely still going to be at the same time. Basically, they don't like doing the extra work, so expect to meet resistance based on that in most of the places you'll be.

Why not fly a more direct route and then just buy up to get more status?

Camarones

I've never had a problem moving up between segments, but I have never tried to do so having checked a bag. I'll often carry on with the intention of moving up if my first leg arrives on time or early. Note, I've only been through PHL a couple of time and have never tried to move up there. I've done it a lot at CLT and occasionally PHX.

I agree, but I think its probably a revenue-protection thing that led to the 6-hour rule. I think it used to be more flexible. Often times I'll book the red-eye because (at the time I'm booking) it is significantly cheaper than the more reasonable flight times (which for me are just within the 6-hour window). Unless I'm traveling on personal time, I'm not trying to be a total cheapskate... I'm trying to consolidate my travel on US as much as possible but at the same time I have to respect my company's expense policies. I've been known to book the red-eye to save a couple hundred bucks and pretty much expect to move up at the airport, but in those cases I visit the airport early in the morning on day of departure (its only a few minutes from my office) to maximize my chance of any upgrades on the earlier flight. It is still not exactly convenient and I would prefer that if I bother to show up at the airport, to have the option of hopping on any earlier flight that day. As much as I dislike wasting an entire day to travel East, I dislike even more arriving at midnight, or worse at 04:45.

coswellnc

Well I wrote the Chairmans Desk and they confirmed what the TYS Station was doing was procedure. See the response below from the Chairmans Desk.

Dear <<Mr. Coswellnc>>,

Thank you for contacting US Airways.
Under our new Move Up to an Earlier flight policy, when flying standby the origin and destination cities cannot be changed. While a change to the number of connections is not allowed, changing the connection city is.

However the information provided to our agents both in reservations and at the airports state that customers booked on connecting flights may only Move Up from the originating city if both segments are under capacity. Standby (if flight is at or over capacity) is not an option for customers ticketed on connecting flights.

The website states, "We allow you to move up to an earlier flight on the day of departure." This means origin to destination. I have discussed this with management in hopes that additional verbiage can be added to the website to clarify our policy regarding your Move Up option.

We appreciate you choosing US Airways. Our Preferred members are one of our most valued assets.

Sincerely,

<<Customer Service Agent>>
US Airways Dividend Miles

So...they did change the rule, communicate it to the Agents and Airport staff but failed to communicate it to the customer. If you are connecting, you no longer can be placed on standby if the flight you want to standby for is booked to capacity or oversold. Even though I'm CP and would be at the top of the list if the flight had a no-show, I wouldn't even have a shot because I was connecting in CLT.

I guess this makes it easier for non-connecting PAX to stand by and if I was a PAX that flew hub to destination I would be happy but this appears to also make it easier for commuting employees to get from home to base as now they will have a better shot catching a flight without having to worry about those "pesky" paying customers from standing by and taking all the seats.

kudzu

Thanks for writing to CP desk and confirming this new rule.

I don't like it. Standby should be what it means ...

US ought to make a better effort at communicating to all.

jr57

Does anyone know how move up applies to direct flights (i.e. flying A-B-C all as one flight number)? I have a direct flight next week that looks like it will be tough to get an upgrade on as a silver, and I like my chances a little bit better on an earlier flight making a connection in CLT (same as the direct), but not operated as a direct flight. Even without the upgrade, I'd get home a little sooner, so I would still prefer it over the later flight.

So my question is can I move up from a direct to non-direct flight that connects in the same airport as the direct?