flying standby

**Missy** · 06-24-2007, 12:35 AM

can someone explain how this works? i have heard of it but never really understood

**Holly** · 06-24-2007, 09:45 AM

From what my neice and them do its they get a seat if someone cancels
then they get bumped up and on. Does that help?

**baxjul** · 06-24-2007, 09:50 AM

I've heard of people waiting almost all day for a flight.

**emily_hope** · 06-24-2007, 09:53 AM

That is correct. You have to wait for an available seat. We have spent the night at the airport because there were no seats available.

**JustJoy** · 06-24-2007, 09:54 AM

Originally Posted by baxjul

I've heard of people waiting almost all day for a flight.

My DH just went through this on Thursday. He was on a business trip and they got done with his meetings early. His flight was scheduled for 5 p.m., but he wanted to leave earlier if possible. No such luck....He sat in the airport (on stand by) for 6 hours!

**emily_hope** · 06-24-2007, 11:24 PM

Originally Posted by emily_hope

We have spent the night at the airport because there were no seats available.

You can find out what airport I was at and what famous person we met if you read this post on my blog here at the Village. You'll find out lots of things you didn't know about me. Please, feel free to leave a comment. LOL!

**nodmicks** · 06-24-2007, 11:56 PM

My sibling is a pilot and I sure like flying with free tickets so it's standby. Early morning flights seem to have openings no problem. We flew from MN to Georgia and the 4 of us us got bumped 3 times trying to get from there to Orlando. We then had them change our tickets to Tampa and it was no problem. They airport personal were all very helpful the first time we did this. Another cool thing is frequently the open seats are in first class. You definately need flexibilty in your schedule to fly standby.

**Izzy0906** · 06-25-2007, 11:01 AM

I fly standby several times a year. I pay about $50 round trip. I usually take the early early (I'm talking 4 or 5 am) flights that have maybe 15 people booked and get on no problem. I did have a flight once I wanted to take that ended up being overbooked, luckily, my friend is a flight attendant and we looked at it the day before and saw this so I went for the earlier emptier flight. I usually get very lucky because I can fly whenever but I did have a girlfriend fly standby from my house back to CO and she ended up having to stay an extra 1.5 days.

**FreesiaE** · 06-25-2007, 11:24 AM

Note that there is usually a "pecking" order for flying standby. Uniformed direct employees with highest seniority get #1, paid standbyers #2, direct employees by senority, etc. If you have a buddy pass from a friend you could be pretty far down the list. It makes sense if you know someone to see if they can check the loads for you. There probably isn't much hope for a 8AM flight that's overbooked by 20 already when there is a 12PM flight with 60 seats left. It's important to be flexible. Also, if you are accepting a pass from an employee ask about the dress code. Many require at a minimum "casual business" attire. No jeans, shorts, flip flops, etc. even for children.