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How to Fly Standby
Cheap Charlie · May 15, 2000

Many of us are faced more and more often with the prospect of being forced to fly "standby." Those who know the system are choosing to fly "standby" to give themselves more flexibility.

The basic premise of today's airline pricing structure is "yield management." Seats are carefully parceled out to various price groupings providing the airline the best possible income per seat. That means that many prime full-fare seats are held until the last possible moment in the hopes that some big-spending person or corporation will pony up for a flight at the last moment.

The results of this computer game of musical chairs are that the number of bargain-priced seats varies by flight time and plane configuration. On most days, planes fly with only somewhere between 60 and 70 percent of their seats filled.

These empty seats are all available for anyone willing to "standby." Chances are, the plane you really want to fly on will have empty seats. The chances are really good. If you are traveling alone, you almost never have a problem except during holidays. If you are traveling with a family, the chances of using these standby strategies are more problematical.

On your return date when booking a supersaver ticket, virtually every airline will allow you to fly home on any flight "standby" on the same day. Knowing this can save you a bomb of money.

During a recent promotion, I flew to see a friend. Getting out on the flight I wanted was no problem, but coming home there were no cheap seats available on the afternoon flights. So I took a seat on a morning flight that saved me about $100. I had every intention of standing by for a flight in the afternoon or evening on that same day.

In order to help yourself out, call the airline reservations line before heading to the airport to "standby." I normally call first thing in the morning or the night before to get the latest information. Let the reservations agent know what you want to do. They will normally look through the flights and let you know which flights look the best to fly "standby."

If you find an agent who is not cooperative, call back and get another agent. They all fly "standby" and know the ropes.

This "standby" system gives you much more flexibility and makes flying much more pleasant.

Most of the major airlines allow passengers to use bargain tickets on a standby basis on their outgoing flights, but this practice is not as widespread as the return rules seem to be.

These standby rules also apply to frequent flier tickets, but there are no "date of departure" or "date of return" restrictions. In other words, a frequent flyer ticket is just like a full fare ticket in terms of space available travel.

So, stop whining about not finding any seats on flights to Hawaii on the days you want to travel. Forget about complaining because there are no frequent flier tickets available for the next six months. Just tell the ticket agent to book you on the next possible flight and then go ahead and leave on whatever day you choose, flying standby.

Chances are, it will work.

You will have the vacation you want when you want it. Rather than lashing yourself to the airlines' restrictive policies, take advantage of their flexibility.

Charlie Leocha is the Boston-based author of Travel Rights: Know the Rules of the Road and the Air Before You Go. Cheap Charlie appears every Monday on this site. E-mail him at charlie@ticked.com or access his Web site.