flying standby?

[KathyR]

We are flying out of INDY late Sept on a Saturday, and we have a 3:15 PM flight. As it is, we are arriving to MCO at 10:30 PM. We are a family of 4 (2 kids ages 6 and 4), and we are flying TWA.

I was wondering about trying to standby for an earlier flight (I think I am using the correct term .) How would I go about doing that? Is there a smarter way to do this? Whom do I ask at the airport?

The airport is 2 hours away from us, and our current flight has a 3 hour layover. We are lookiing at a really long day as it is So, I am concerned about making the day even longer for the little ones, but on the flipside, I would love to have more time to settle in the first night (get sleep for an early morning .) The kids really want to explore ASMo, and since we are only there for 1 night before checking into OKW, there won't be a whole lot of time for them to do that on our current schedule.

I guess I am a gambling woman, so I would be willing to take a chance. I just wanted to know the specifics.

Thanks in advance for any experiences or advice you all have

 

[ducklite]

First, call TWA and find out what flights leave earlier in the day. Then ask how full they are. Be honest and tell them what you are thinking about doing, they will tell you if the flights are very full or oversold.

Then get to the airport 2 hours before the flight you want to go standby on. Standbys are generally given preference based on when they got on the list (High level FF's are given first preference). Tell them you want to go standby on the earlier flight, then wait. They will seat the other pax first and then call standby pax. Keep in mind that they might not get you all seated together.

Anne

 

[Lewisc]

If the flight is fairly well booked you won't get seats together and given the ages of your kids I suspect that would be a problem.
Call the day before but if the flight is substantially booked don't bother.

 

[KathyR]

thank you for the info.
I have one more question. When they get you on a flight, what happens at the next leg? Can they get you on the next flight at the first airport? Or, do you have to go through the same thing again at the connection? There are no nonstop flights on TWA/American from IND.

I would hope that we could get 2 sets of 2 seats together, or even 2 aisle seats near each other. I can always decline. Right?

 

[ducklite]

It depends, but usually they won't reticket you the entire way through (unless the second leg is pretty empty), so you might end up at your connection and have to wait anyhow.

As far as getting seats together, sorry, but I had to laugh at the thought of walking on and getting two aisle seats on standby. The chances of that happening are almost zilch. At any rate, they will do what they can, but you are not guaranteed anything. A lot depends on how booked the flight is. If it's almost full, my money ist aht at best you'll get two sets of window/center seats. It's also very possible you'll get four center seats no where near each other. But my guess is that if your kids are young (say 5 and under) they will move people around as much as possible to accomodate you. But they don't have to, and people do have the right to refuse to move. I'll switch window to aisle or vice versa on a short haul if it helps put people together (I prefer aisle). I don't switch to center though...unless George Clooney will be sitting next to me

Anne

 

[KathyR]

ducklite-

Glad I gave you a laugh.

I don't really care if we got seats on the aisle or center/window. In fact, I would prefer center/window. That is what I always book anyway. Our current reserved seats are 2 sets of center/window seats, so I can sit with one child by a window and my husband can sit by the other one by thier own window. That way my kids have something to look at other than just the inside of the airplane.

What I was saying was, if there were 2 aisle seats directly across from each other (say in an a, b c, d, e and f set up on a plane seats c and d in the same row for example)or at a diagnal to each other (same set up as before seats c and d in dif rows either right before or after), my kids would be fine. I am sorry you misunderstood what I was trying to say. Hopefully this explaination was better.

Obviously since, as I had stated above, my children are 6 and 4, I would want the two sets of seats right next to each other in ANY set up. I was just trying to say that I AM flexible. Not that I am expecting a miracle!

Thank you for your response.

 

[ducklite]

Kathy-

I didn't misunderstand you. I guess you don't understand how "premium" aisle seats are. They are almost always the first ones taken, and a lot fo aisle seats are reserved for very frequent fliers. I would be nothing short of miraculous to get them like you are saying, let alone 4 aisle seats, unless the plane is 3/4 empty.

Anne