Quoting Pilottim747 (Reply 10):
Having a passenger fly standby on an earlier flight doesnt stop the airline from selling a full-fare walkup. Hence why its called standby. If there is only one seat left and 30 minutes prior to departure a business guy pays for it then you the standby pax dont get on.
Sometimes a flight can be so busy for an agent that the agent may have to start clearing standby's well in advance. If you have 30 standby's on your list, you can't clear and board all of them in the last 15 minutes for the flight. So the agent may start clearing in advance, therefore trimming up the seats needed to sell to that possible walkup passenger, who will go to the ticket counter to buy the ticket and not the gate.
I agree that most folks are honesty not trying to screw over the airline and literally are just wanting to get home earlier if possible on standby, but too many people know the system and how to play it. Especially Medallion level customers. They know they get higher priorities before anyone else and can buy that cheaper fare. Some of them screw the airline out of money and then wonder why service gets crappy. But most usually buy the higher fares, and those are the guys you know want the airline to succeed, since they most likely get the money back on their company expense reports.
Quoting Midway2AirTran (Reply 25):
As for DL's $25 change, its a great deal to the passenger, what are the rules and timing allowed on it as I've heard of it, but never used it before? Could it potentially block full-fare paying passengers at the last min?
In reference to the Same Day Confirmed policy, if there is a flight within 3 hours of the originally scheduled flight, a passenger can be confirmed on an earlier flight, provided there are seats on the earlier flight and through to the final destination for $25. There must be available seating on both connecting flights or on the non-stop flight. This can be done either at the checkin counter or is also offered via the kiosk. As soon as the customer picks the option of moving to an earlier flight, the computer confirms the flights for them and the $25 is paid. This must also be done before any baggage is checked, of course. Once the aircraft is sold out of seats, then the same day confirmed policy cannot be offered, even if the flight has no shows and those seats go out empty, as that reinforces the policy of no standby. It could block the full fare paying passengers, but isn't so bad, as the airline still made a few bucks off of it. But the rules only apply to a flight within 3 hours of scheduled departure time, so you can't confirm a seat on a 12p flight if you are on a 5p departure.
So if I have a ticket on a 7pm flight and have a flight
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ATL-
TPA, I can show up at the airport for a 4:30pm flight and upon checking in request an earlier flight. Whether I do it at the counter or the kiosk, the computer will search for the earlier flights.(we will say you check in at the kiosk) There must be a flight that I am in time for(say 4:30p) as well as a connecting earlier flight with seats still available through to
TPA. Any non-stop or different connecting cities does not matter. Once those flights are found, the kiosk will provide all options, with departure times, arrival times, and layover lengths. You select the choice and swipe your credit card for payment. The computer rebooks, provides a receipt for the $25, and then redisplays the new reservation and you can then go to choosing seats or checking baggage. It will provide this option from 3 hrs before departure to 30 minutes before departure. Most passengers prefer it as the $25 is reasonable, and they are now confirmed on the earlier flights, therefore they know when they are getting home and can make the proper arrangements, rather than waiting at a gate hoping their name gets called.
Quoting Nonrevman (Reply 7):
Let's say you have a bad storm over your city or something like that which is going to cause a lot of misconnects.
In regards to irregular operations, this it the one thing that is allowed for the rules to be bent for the passengers. It kind of allows the rules to be thrown out the window, so to speak. If there are irregular operations and its apparent there may be misconnections, you will be allowed to standby or confirm on earlier flights with no $25 fee or any penalties, just whatever will get you home earlier.
Otto
