Why are the rules different depending on where you are or who you talk to? Is stand by night before a thing?
I travel for work, am EP. Often I book my flights home for the day after I finish work. Often I finish early the day before and want to leave the night before. Stand by on your phone doesn’t let you switch to the day before so if I see there is plenty of space on a flight, I will just go to the airport and try to switch to a flight the night before. Sometimes if seats are limited I will book the flight with points as a “backup plan.”
Now many times the employee has been willing to switch me to the flight the night before for no fees or charges. A few weeks ago at PHX they told me I would have to pay the difference. But when I told them I was EP, they said they could do it for no charge.
About a week or so later flying out of DFW, I tried to do the same thing. They were very adamant that I had to pay the difference this time. They told me I could not just get on standby list because it was the day before my original flight. So I just paid the difference cause it was only 50$. On my original flight I had been upgraded to first class. I didn’t need first class but I did want to be on the upgrade list at the very least. The person at the ticket counter told me to check with gate attendant. By the time I got there, they had cleared four upgrades. GA would not help get me on the list…told me the list is long, there’s no seats available, and they were starting to board and the computer system wouldn’t let them. If I was on the list I would have been upgraded but I never got on. Also the flight was only 2/3 full so why could I not switch for free or get on standby list? This whole interaction really pmo. But I have had other times where the ticket counters and GA are very helpful and make things happen. Is it just luck of the draw?
So what is y’all’s experience with trying to fly standby the night before your flight?