How do you fly standby???

[Disneyfanatic108]

We currently have reservations with NWA out of detroit on Dec. 10 at 12:17pm. they added a new flight at 9:30 am and would like to take that. It costs way to much to change the flight but they said if their were any open seats we could fly standby for $25 a seat. what time should we get to the airport if we have a chance for 2 seats? their are currently 14 1st class available, 4 coach and about 16 choice seats. Granted these numbers may go down, but still looking for information on how to fly standby. Thanks a whole lot.

 

[Karen V]

My experience is that you just show up and tell them you want to fly stand-by on the earlier flight. The first ones that get on the standby list are the first to get the seats, so get there as early as possible. I would check the availability of seats the day before and then gage how early to get there.

 

[bavaria]

their are currently 14 1st class available, 4 coach and about 16 choice seats.

Unless you work for the airline, you have no way of knowing this - that information is proprietary. Are you using the seat map as in indicator? if so, don't. The seat map is not an indicator of passenger loads.

Some sites such as UA's and external sites like seatcounter.com will show you fare buckets and display a maximum of 9 seats per bucket, but nobody outside a small group within any airline knows those figures.

Standby lists are prioritized by status, and then time placed on the list. Those with no status have little chance of clearing standby as loads are so high these days, especially on routes like MCO where capacity has been cut significantly.

Also be aware that if members of your party do clear standby, there is virtually no chance that they will be sitting together. If you are brining your children on this flight, you really do need to be aware and not expect seats together. And as standbys are cleared usually after boarding begins, there will be no chance to switch seats. For that reason I hesitate to suggest flying standby for anyone with children or the need to sit in a certain seat/area of the aircraft.

 

[Disneyfanatic108]

Thanks for the replies. I was using the seat chart on their website. We are travelling without the kids this trip for our 10 yr anniversary. The more I think about it I would have to change the car reservation and it would end up costing about 100 dollars more and we would have to get up earlier. we are staying at four points so we will just sleep in and enjoy the hotel.

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

Passenger loads over the third quarter this year are up slightly from the 2nd quarter on every airline except Southwest. In fact Northwest had the highest mainline load factor of any publically traded airline not in bankruptcy last quarter, but even so, it was about 86.8% - still a few seats for stand-by passengers but not many.

Standby lists are prioritized by status, and then time placed on the list. Those with no status have little chance of clearing standby as loads are so high these days, especially on routes like MCO where capacity has been cut significantly.

 

[prncess674]

You can check in online and choose standby as an option. The difference is only three hours. Only you can determine if it is worth a total of $50 to get to WDW 3 hours earlier. You will have to present at the airport 3 hrs earlier just to see if you clear the standby list. you are flying on a route that has very few no shows, so if the flight is sold out you won't get on. If you are staying at an airport hotel I would risk it, but that is just my opinion. Dont change your car rental to coincide with a flight you *might* make. Most car reservation have a padding built into them.