Wait for your reservation or go standby?

[Blondiex46]

Oh the deal is we are scheduled to leave at 1:37pm, arriving at 4:03pm, that to me is wasting the whole day so I thought we might do standy.. Airtran tells me that it won't cost anymore if we do it. The Airtran rep. said that if we go and try to get on the first flight at 6:00am we probably could get on at get their by 10:30am, question is what would you do??? Thanks

 

[bavaria]

I do this a lot.

1) be aware that some airlines charge for same day standby (sounds like yours does not)

2) be prepared that they may not have seats for all of you ie they may have three seats and you have a party of four - decide in advance what you will do

3) if your flight is two segments, you may clear segment one and NOT clear segment two

4) your luggage MAY not be on the same flight, based on how last minute you clear the standby list

5) even if you DON'T clear the list, don't leave the gate area until the flight has left. I can't tell you how many times they tell the standby's 'sorry', everyone leaves, and then they find one seat left on the plane

6) call and check the passenger load the day before, but realize that you may not get a clear answer. Sometimes airlines still sell seats when the flight is full, othertimes ticket agents will only give you a vague answer

Good luck, hope it works!

 

[debden]

I'd say if you like getting up early (actually 'really' early) then I say go for the 6am flight and be at your destination at 10:30am.Or if you prefer to sleep in and lounge around in the morning and drink coffee,have your breakfast and get packed, then I would keep the afternoon flight.
I would take the later flight...I don't like getting up at 3am....
Debbie

 

[LoriZH]

Why don't you check to see if the flight is full before leaving your home, if not, then go ahead and try to get on the earlier flight, if it is full, then I wouldn't try it just to see if someone cancelled.

 

[Blondiex46]

I should say that the airport is 7 1/2 minutes from my home so I wouldn't have to get up that early, lol..keep them comin.

 

[Lewisc]

Your family probably won't get to sit together. Some of you may clear the early flight and some may have to wait. If you can live with that get to the airport early. Some passengers don't allow enough time to get to the airport and will miss their flight. Some will oversleep. If you're using DME luggage tags just let the airline check your bags through on the first flight. If you don't clear Disney will hold your bags at MCO.

Last year I flew SW standby. At least 3 passengers who got boarding passes on the internet didn't show up for their flight. Even if the flight is showing as booked I'd give it a shot. Call and find out how early and where you have to go to get your name on the standby list.

 

[Rpsemont]

Verify that you can, in fact, fly standby without incurring a fee. Many airlines are not as lenient about this as they used to be.

Verify if they will let you check luggage is you're flying standby. Keep in mind if they let you check it and you don't get on the flight, your luggage will arrive hours ahead of you.

Be prepared to board last.

I was travelling on a free ticket this summer and wanted to catch an earlier flight back. I did not have checked luggage. They would not give me a CLUE if there was room on the plane or not and did not call for standby's until about 5 minutes before they closed the door. When I ultimately got on, the flight was only about 75% full. But it was nerve wracking just the same. I think they wait until the last minute in hopes you'll ante up and pay the change fee.

Call the airline the night before and ask how much availability there is on the flight. Sometimes you get someone really nice who will let you know if it's "wide open" or not.

 

[seashoreCM]

My suggestion if you want to stand by is to just show up at the airport when yhou want to fly. No guarantees they won't charge a change fee.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[DMRick]

Last year I flew SW standby. At least 3 passengers who got boarding passes on the internet didn't show up for their flight. Even if the flight is showing as booked I'd give it a shot. Call and find out how early and where you have to go to get your name on the standby list.

SW didn't charge you? For the hurricane a couple Sunday's ago, they tried to charge us $160 more, until I said the website said because of the hurricane, it was free. The gal at the desk said it's a good thing I told her, because it didn't show on her screen. We then had to check in at the SW desk where the flight takes off, to get a different pass, since we didn't pay anything extra. That gal told us it's very unusual to not have to pay for stand by on SW.
We also had friends leave Philly (or try to) on SW, in September (we were all at a convention) and the plane had plenty of seats, but they would have had to upgrade to the prevailing price. They turned it down.

 

[DebbieB]

I thought I saw on SW's website that standby requires full fare.

 

[debden]

I misunderstood,I thought you meant going to the airport to go home. (I'm never in hurry for that!)
Oh yeah,I would want to get there asap also...Take the 6am!!
Happy travels,
Debbie

 

[agotta]

Dh and I do this all the time on Independence. They don't charge a dime and it's great!! My mom and I flew to NYC a few weeks ago, from seperate cities. The flight at 6:30 was over $200 one way from D.C. to NYC, but the flight at 9:30 was only $80!! So I booked the later flight, showed up early and was able to meet my mom on time and save $120!!

It is always a risk because you don't know if you will get it and you may spend hours at the airport if you don't. I would go for it, especially if they don't charge!!

 

[vacanut]

I'd check the flight the day before to see what the capacity is.
I wouldn't do it. We did an early flight once and it wasn't worth it to us, we were too tired all day to make use of the day. We try to get late morning flights now and they work out well. I'd go with the afternoon flight but that's just me!

 

[Lewisc]

I thought I saw on SW's website that standby requires full fare.

They do. I was using a rapid rewards ticket. At holiday time many people wind up paying full fare or close to full fare so paying the fare difference isn't that big a deal. Some people traveling for business are also willing to pay the fare difference.

My point is people who got their BP on the internet at midnight didn't show up for the early am flight. Some people oversleep or misjudge traffic. The later flights not only have the passengers who made reservations but the people who missed their earlier flights.

OP lives about 10 minutes from the airport. If they can handle being split up I'd go for it.

 

[Servants of Evan]

I'm always amazed when an airline wants to charge additional for an earlier standby departure. They can then fly their plane at maximum capacity, and have the availability to re-sell your original later ticket to someone else. It's not as if they need to worry about having enough meals on board as many have done away with that level of service -- and even if so, offer not to eat!

Servants of Evan

 

[Lewisc]

I'm always amazed when an airline wants to charge additional for an earlier standby departure. They can then fly their plane at maximum capacity, and have the availability to re-sell your original later ticket to someone else. It's not as if they need to worry about having enough meals on board as many have done away with that level of service -- and even if so, offer not to eat!

Servants of Evan

SW offers fewer discounted seats for the peak flights. They don't want the zoo of passengers reserving the flights with the lower fares but then standing by for the flights they really want.

SW says they offer a fully refundable fare that allows you to fly whenever you want. They offer a discounted fares in exchange for you committing to a specific flight. If you want to fly at a different time they make you pay up to fulll fare since that's the fare that lets you fly whenever you want. SW is different from most airlines, they don't charge a change fee but charges the full fare difference if you standby. Other airlines charge a change fee but generally let you standby for free or for a small fee.

 

[Servants of Evan]

SW offers fewer discounted seats for the peak flights. They don't want the zoo of passengers reserving the flights with the lower fares but then standing by for the flights they really want.

Sure, if we're talking about twenty people doing this with every flight then it makes sense. That being said, the basic formula is still: Empty seats = Bad, Full seats = Good. Even if they allow you onto a flight on which a seat theoretically costs more, they still have the opportunity to make additional money reselling your original ticket. It's a chance they take, but even if it works only 20% of the time, they've still pocketed 20% more than they would have. The resulting cost of the standby flight goes up a few dollars for the extra .001% fuel it'll take to bring the additional weight to cruising altitude, and for compensating your beverage choice. Yet, since they won't make the determination if your standby status will be approved until "last minute," they aren't missing out on selling that "higher priced ticket" to a person with no ticket at all...

Servants of Evan.

 

[Lewisc]

SW is still making money. I understand your point, sort of agree with it but SW knows what they're doing. If the passenger paid extra and booked the earlier flight in the first place SW would have had more time to sell the later flight. SW now only has a few hours to sell a flight that they discounted because it's a less popular travelling time.

My guess is you'd get a lot more people playing the game, book the cheaper flight late Sat but standby for the first flight than you think. SW would also lose the revenue from those travelers that now pay the fare difference. They may make more money from that than the would selling the extra seats.

SW gives passengers a full credit for fare reductions, flight changes and even if you don't show up. My guess is any change in the standby policy might also include changing some of those popular policies.

Sure, if we're talking about twenty people doing this with every flight then it makes sense. That being said, the basic formula is still: Empty seats = Bad, Full seats = Good. Even if they allow you onto a flight on which a seat theoretically costs more, they still have the opportunity to make additional money reselling your original ticket. It's a chance they take, but even if it works only 20% of the time, they've still pocketed 20% more than they would have. The resulting cost of the standby flight goes up a few dollars for the extra .001% fuel it'll take to bring the additional weight to cruising altitude, and for compensating your beverage choice. Yet, since they won't make the determination if your standby status will be approved until "last minute," they aren't missing out on selling that "higher priced ticket" to a person with no ticket at all...

Servants of Evan.

 

[CarolA]

Let's get real.. SW is one of the ONLY airlines making money so it works for them.

The one benefit of the SW system is you don't wind up with lots of folks hanging around the gate waiting to see.. (And trust me lots of time it's not ONE or two folks wanting to get to Orlando early... I have seen waitlists of up to 20 to 30 folks hoping to "catch" an early flight... )

 

[Blondiex46]

Well I am flying Airtran and they said it was no problem, the only one I could see if there is a connecting but there is 2 non stops before mine and was hoping to get on one of them!!