If you go standby before scheduled flight, what happens to luggage?

[Jillpie]

A proposed situation of ours this coming April: we're on the 5:00 pm JetBlue flight to MCO. The 2:20 flight is what we want, but it was much more expensive, so the plan is to call that morning to check availability and if there are seats on the earlier flight, we'll show up for standby on that one. But which flight does your luggage end up on, since standby is such a last minute decision?

It's not really important we get on the earlier one, as we're just staying at the Hyatt for a cruise the next morning, it's just preferred to fly during the day. But it is vital that we're not searching for our luggage if it doesn't show up with us on the standby flight, and not knowing where it is.

 

[OKW Lover]

If you fly standby, your bags should go on the flight that you get on.

 

[safetymom]

You shouldn't check your bags until you find out if you clear standby.

 

[kaytieeldr]

A proposed situation of ours this coming April: we're on the 5:00 pm JetBlue flight to MCO. The 2:20 flight is what we want, but it was much more expensive,

Not the question you asked, but - what day are you flying? I don't see any 5 PM flights, and many days in April, the immediate preceding flight to the 5:20 nonstop is a 2:35 departure that connects at JFK.

 

[DebbieB]

They typically tag it standby. One time I was standby on an American flight in Dallas and didn't get on, they even bumped a couple people who had comfirmed reservations due to weight & balance (regional jet). But my luggage was put on that flight! It was sitting in a corner when I got to Pittsburgh baggage claim.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

Acording to the JetBlue website, it looks like at least one person must be at the airport for your group to request standby. It can only be the flight prior to the one you booked. My guess is that when you check luggage, it will be routed on the earlier flight if it looks wide open, and your original flight, if the earlier flight is not slam dunk.

I have done same day confirmed on AA over the phone. When we got to the airport, my luggage was checked onto my new confirmed flight. -- Suzanne

 

[Jillpie]

You shouldn't check your bags until you find out if you clear standby.

The problem with that is you don't clear standby until the very last minute at the gate. Too late. We would check our luggage when we walk into the terminal at the front desk.

 

[Jillpie]

Not the question you asked, but - what day are you flying? I don't see any 5 PM flights, and many days in April, the immediate preceding flight to the 5:20 nonstop is a 2:35 departure that connects at JFK.

I was generalizing when I said 5:00, I meant 5:20. We are confirmed on that one.

 

[Jillpie]

They typically tag it standby. One time I was standby on an American flight in Dallas and didn't get on, they even bumped a couple people who had comfirmed reservations due to weight & balance (regional jet). But my luggage was put on that flight! It was sitting in a corner when I got to Pittsburgh baggage claim.

Ok thanks!

 

[Jillpie]

Acording to the JetBlue website, it looks like at least one person must be at the airport for your group to request standby. It can only be the flight prior to the one you booked. My guess is that when you check luggage, it will be routed on the earlier flight if it looks wide open, and your original flight, if the earlier flight is not slam dunk.

I have done same day confirmed on AA over the phone. When we got to the airport, my luggage was checked onto my new confirmed flight. -- Suzanne

Thank you.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I was generalizing when I said 5:00, I meant 5:20. We are confirmed on that one.

Okay. No-charge standby on jetBlue is on the immediately preceding flight only (based on the OP's intention; missed-flight standby is different). The flight from Boston to Orlando on most of the few random days I checked is the 2:35 departure that connects in New York - not the 2:20 nonstop.

Now, granted, jetBlue may very well make schedule changes in the seven months plus before these flights - but while you're trying to figure out what might happen to your luggage, I'm trying to figure out for you if you should even expect to be able to stand by for the flight you want.

 

[LadyBeBop]

If you're trying to get somewhere on standby, the luggage goes, even if you don't.

Several years ago, my daughter and (thankfully now ex-)boyfriend was flying standby from NYC to Cincinnati on a Friday night, the last leg of a European trip (all standby, no-rev...they were working for the airlines at the time). They did make it on the flight they wanted to make. However, weather cancelled that flight. And since everyone on that flight needed to get home, the no-revs were out of luck. They ended up getting on a Greyhound bus at midnight that night to get home the next day (ex-boyfriend had to be at a wedding the following evening). We ended up picking the two up at the Columbus Greyhound station, instead of the Cincinnati station, because with the 45 minute layover in Columbus, they wouldn't make it back in time for the wedding.

But before we started on the 200 mile round trip to/from Columbus, we had to go to the airport to pick up their luggage. Which was waiting for them since Friday night. The flight they wanted to take was cancelled. The luggage made it on the next flight...even though there was no way DD and ex would make that one.

 

[Jillpie]

Okay. No-charge standby on jetBlue is on the immediately preceding flight only (based on the OP's intention; missed-flight standby is different). The flight from Boston to Orlando on most of the few random days I checked is the 2:35 departure that connects in New York - not the 2:20 nonstop.

Now, granted, jetBlue may very well make schedule changes in the seven months plus before these flights - but while you're trying to figure out what might happen to your luggage, I'm trying to figure out for you if you should even expect to be able to stand by for the flight you want.

The 2:20 out of BOS is non stop next April. I'll call JB that morning to check availability and hope for the best to get on the earlier flight.

 

[kaytieeldr]

The 2:20 out of BOS is non stop next April. I'll call JB that morning to check availability and hope for the best to get on the earlier flight.

The 2:20 is nonstop, I agree. But currently it's not the flight immediately preceding the 5:20 flight. Based on jetBlue's no charge standby rules, the only flight for which you can stand by at no additional cost is the 2:35 departure. I was wrong, though. It connects in Newark.

 

[Jillpie]

The 2:20 is nonstop, I agree. But currently it's not the flight immediately preceding the 5:20 flight. Based on jetBlue's no charge standby rules, the only flight for which you can stand by at no additional cost is the 2:35 departure. I was wrong, though. It connects in Newark.

Oh no way! Wow, they make you do a connecting flight, oh no I won't be doing that. I'll just stick with our scheduled flight. Thanks for enlightening me.

 

[kaytieeldr]

You're welcome. I was trying to be gentle .

Now, on the other hand, with more than seven months to go before your trip, it's entirely possible your current flight will have enough of a schdule change that you'll be able to switch to the 2:20 anyway, in advance instead of as same day standby.

 

[safetymom]

The problem with that is you don't clear standby until the very last minute at the gate. Too late. We would check our luggage when we walk into the terminal at the front desk.

I have flown airlines where they cleared you for standby at the ticket counter so you were to hold onto your luggage until you cleared.

 

[Lewisc]

Jetblue will let you make a same day change for $50 /passengers. Assuming availability you'll be confirmed before you go to the airport.

 

[jetsetter90]

Got to MCO early yesterday and saw that there was a flight leaving (not ours) in a half hour to the same airport. I asked if we could switch flights..I was asked if we checked luggage, which we did and the jetblue rep said sorry. The only other time we went standby we had carry ons and there was no problem.

 

[ilovemk76]

You cannot get on a different plane than your luggage.