U.S. airlines didn’t just eliminate change fees on most tickets during the pandemic, they also mostly eliminated charges to stand by for a flight. It used to be that you had to have status with an airline in most cases to stand by if you showed up early (or late) at the airport. Now most people can do it without charge, though when planes are full the odds of getting onto another flight without status aren’t always great.
One of the major complaints I see from flight attendants (and other employees, but mostly flight attendants) is that standby passengers make it difficult for them to fly free as nonrevs. All they see if passengers filling up a flight as a standby, ahead of them on the list to get onto a flight. They do not ‘see’ the flight the passenger comes off of, freeing up more seats for nonrevs.
This is a bit of an odd complaint for two reasons.
- They’re complaining that paying customers are standing in the way of their flying free as employees. That’s odd on its own.
- This doesn’t change the number of passengers, or the number of seats. So it doesn’t really change the number of nonrevs who can fly. What it does it create a bit more variance over which flights might have space, but nonrevs clear at the last minute anyway.
Usually the grousing by cabin crew is restricted to Facebook groups and other social media, and doesn’t get taken out on passengers. However, one American Airlines platinum member passenger found out what happens when they take the last seat on a flight – a seat that would otherwise have gone to a flight attendant’s boyfriend.
I was given the last seat on a flight tonight that was otherwise going to go to the FA’s non-rev boyfriend
by u/Exotic_Economist_954 in americanairlines
The (very young) [flight attendant] tried to have it out with me from the get go. She probably should not have mentioned to the other FA that she was pissed her boyfriend missed the flight. She “did not like my attitude” when I told her my small personal item was, in fact, stowed correctly. She did not like when she came by to scream at me to put my phone in airplane mode (I’m a rule follower so…it already was) When I asked why she was being so aggressive with me she said she wanted my taken off the flight (didn’t happen.)
This is what happens when customers are seen as an inconvenience, rather than the point of the thing.
As an airline employee myself, while I understand the frustration, that is part of the non-rev benefits. They are strictly non-revenue STANDBY. No guarantees; sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. If you don’t like it, buy a ticket! I’ve done that quite a few times when flights look iffy or if I have to be someplace urgently. All I see from these FA’s are complaints. They are probably the type who refuse to do Pre-Departure beverages or do minimal service.
I hope the passenger complained. The FA should be fired.
I get the frustrations of the employees as it has been more difficult to predict when you will clear as a non-rev. I even fly non-rev occasionally but call it flying for sport as the odds have been terrible at clearing- but you never know. If you really have to get somewhere, then buy a ticket (paid or miles are 20% off for employees even). Otherwise, it is what it is- I’ve been bumped and missed flights and you just roll with it. Time to spare, go by air!
Her freeloading boyfriend should have bought a ticket like everyone else. Problem solved.
Yeah, I hope they got names and escalated this.
I have a banner idea. Live where you are based and stay home when your off.Every Friday there is a ton of Southwest employees (back office, ramp workers, baggage handlers, etc) lining up with family to runoff for the weekend. Still trying to understand why they get preboard? As an employee they should know the load on any given route
AA, big shocker there.
I think the title is too strong, Gary. Like everyone in the traveling public, non-rev employees want to get to where they want to go as quickly as possible. Yes, standby passengers do not change the number of people traveling in total- but they can fill up the flight the non-rev was planning on taking, bumping them to a later, less convenient option. So do non-revs dislike being bumped? Sure, but anyone getting bumped would feel the same- to conclude that they hate the paying public from this would not be correct.
And to be clear, non-revs are not free because some privileged class gets to fly for free for no reason. Flight attendants get a non-rev benefit to entice more people to enter the industry at typically very low entry salaries. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve posted before on labor shortages at the major airlines; certainly, the cause of many of the delays are lack of crew. The traveling public in general benefits from more airline employees; we should be happy if they get a benefit that gets them to join.
Finally, as for the post from the Platinum flyer, it’s one side of the story. All I can say is, if she’s thinking about throat-punching the flight attendant, she’s probably not “incredibly polite and accommodating”…
Those pesky paying passengers? The nerve. That FA should be shot into the sun.
You make a judgment about an entire profession’s feelings towards something based on ONE complaint from a status flyer? Is that really what a thought leader does? Slow news day? Go cover the new AA announcement and be intelligent, not this drivel.
@gary.
Look up my LAX standby discussion on alaska airlines FlyerTalk.
I have had horrific experiences with the gate agents jumping over me for commuting FAs and refusing to help early pax to get on flights to help the exVX station manager and significant other to get on to flights as a non rev.
lol @ the FAs on here trying to excuse this behavior
But but but but but but…..American specifically told me that me the passenger, they said “this is why we fly”
They even said I am the reason they fly in the safety video
Any chance of a Pre Departure Beverage?
Keep in mind you are only hearing one side of the story from this frequent flyer. There could always be some embellishment in his comments.
No kidding. A clickbait news article sourced essentially from a single reddit post by someone who calls themselves “Exotic_Economist”. This is what qualifies as journalism these days. Sad.
FYI I fly non-rev all the time, and fully get that I’m last priority behind ALL paying passengers. I’m just grateful to get any seat I can.
@George
So non-rev flying is not free. How much does it cost?
@Bob – hardly, I’m writing about vast experience talking with employees and observing conversations in social media. And by the way with the launch of free standby at Southwest, those employees are grumpy over it too.
It’s a shame that airlines design their policies to create this kind of tension between employees and customers. They should give their employees miles / point allowances based on the distances they fly for work so that they can get confirmed reservations like regular passengers.
Flight attendants yell that they are professionals, such as that they are there for your safety but lack professionalism by acting like this.
Many FAs hate passengers. They should get psychiatric treatment for their mental illness. It’s that kind of hate that killers have.
Lets enlighten the “thought leader” It is actually called, “Revenue Standby” by the airline employee community. It affects all employees, not just flight attendants. Just that apparently you follow mostly flight attendant social media. There is nothing wrong with feeling frustrated with the challenges the ‘Revenue Standbys” present. But most of us realize it opens seats on later flights. Its a bit extreme to paint everyone with the same brush. But thats red meat for your reader$.
As an airline pilot I’ll wave the bullsh*t flag on this customer’s complaint. Never, not ever, have I experienced an FA “screaming” at a pax.
This kind of embellishment makes everything else that was claimed incredibly suspect.
Gary…
You need to apologize to the entire F/A world for lumping them all together with your title to this article. As a five decade long airline employee 99.9% of the Flight Attendants I have worked with are outstanding courteous professionals who do the job because of their Love for the profession.
To lump them all together for the sake of this article is wrong! Period Full Stop.
Picard
Based on OPs story, what makes this even more ridiculous is this isn’t even what I would consider standby. This was a reaccomodation for a cancellation. Perhaps they cleared via the “standby” list (because there was no inventory left or this was easier for the GA to quickly do) but I don’t consider this to really be a voluntary change and if they had waited for CS or had been able to get a hold of a CSR (which is easier said than done) they should have been given the last seat confirmed regardless.
Non pilot pay will have to go up to compensate for the airline employees benefits package being devalued. Many quality FA and other employees work there for those benefits. Hope everyone doesn’t mind the ever increasing fares!
@AdamH: Indeed, unlikely the passenger was ever standby at all… she had a ticket, her original flight was cancelled, an agent rebooked her on a new flight. Depending where in the boarding process that was they may have had to bump/remove a non-rev.
I’m surprised airlines don’t have a policy prohibiting employees giving non-rev passes for flights they are working, seems like a recipe for disaster. (But also an annoying rule that would frustrate the 90%+ of FA’s where it wouldn’t be a problem and just result in pass trading anyway.)
How much of standby flying is really voluntary changes vs. IRROPs recovery anyway?
Who cares what they hate. They hate us….you know,
the people who actually pay MONEY for their crappy service.
You are so anti-flight crew with your posts, it figures you would only show one side of a “platinum customers” story, if it is even true.
You don’t mention that nonrev travel for flight crews are part of their compensation packages they negotiate. it is not some “free travel” as you say, but something they obtained by giving up some other compensation item. You never seem to get that point across in any of your posts.
Also, why should passengers be able to switch at whim as it creates problems with scheduling of flights and logistics? They interrupt already skeleton gate agents who are dealing with so many non-experienced travelers lately. Passengers should be charged for switching.as it is a cost to the airline.
Whole lot of whiny airline “professionals” and sky waitresses in here.
First, “s” needs to get out of the cockpit more. There certainly have been cases of FAs screaming at a passenger.
Second, if true, even partially,this FA needs a talking to.
So an employee’s boyfriend is flying non-rev and she is mad. My heart breaks, I’m sure he caught the next flight or one later in the day anyway.
The issue is when one buys a ticket at 10pm for $30 because it arrives after midnight, whereas the other departures could be getting sold for over $120. As a result of buying the.cheapest ticket, the entitled cheapskates choose to standby for the earlier more expensive flight for free instead of taking the original itinerary.
For a company that is trying to reduce cost and cut corners to achieve this, why have they not returned the surcharges?
So typical of the entitled FA’s in US airlines….
The number one reason working for an airline is flight benefits. Do you really think we love people?
I’ve been on both sides of the fence and as a DL nonrev, it was always well understood that paying customers are the priority and the nonrev only flies if there’s space available. Beyond that, you also know that another nonrev with higher seniority (and thus higher nonrev priority) can join the standby list at any time and bump you down the list. Simply put, as a nonrev, you can’t get “bumped off the flight” because you’re never “on the flight” until you are physically on the flight and the door is closed.
This entitled FA needs to be disciplined, pure and simple.
For some FAs, the perfect airline situation would be for the aircraft to fly with zero revenue passengers onboard. No pesky customers you’d need to serve – just plenty of time to sit and play with your phone. While also passing out free drinks to your friends, who now have plenty of non-rev opportunities.
What could go wrong?
Sounds like the boyfriend was lucky not to have to fly with her. Some things are meant to be.
“Non-rev boyfriend”.
So we’re down to that now.
Many FA’s cannot afford to live in the city where they are based (NYC, LAX, SFO, SEA to name a few) and must commute from somewhere else in the network. Before the pandemic it was easy to plan ahead and choose a flight with open seats. Nowadays, it’s not uncommon to have dozens of revenue passengers standby for an earlier flight at the last minute (I’ve even seen up to 100!!), making it impossible to plan and get to work on time, if at all.
As a result of mergers, base closures, base reductions, and cost of living, many pilots and flight attendants commute to work.
They plan their commute based on available flights. Now, there is zero certainty they will get on.
The airlines changed the system, but gave crews no alternatives.
Yet another example of why I left AA.
@JeanlucPicard – I am executive platinum and I WISH that I could say 50% are courteous and hard-working. I am lucky if my FAs are either of those two.
And yes, make people live where they are based and 90% of this nonsense goes away. It is just so tiring to those of us who pay their salaries.
Attitudes like this seem to be more and more common. Americans seem to be headed toward being more like entitled brats than mature adults. This alone should give us cause to worry.
The best part of this post is that it is catnip to the FAs who came on here to defend the FA in this situation. Could have seen these comments coming. “We can’t afford to live in (insert base here)!” “We have to pay taxes on non-revving!” “You have no idea how hard it is to fly standby!”
@GREGG: “make people live where they are based”
Every single airline in the U.S. has the same issue. So that is just not going to happen.
Former airline ee here and yes I have been stranded many times trying to get a non rev flight. It’s part of the bargain. That’s why airline ee’s can buy discounted id/75 or similar tickets from their pass bureau. Frankly, the union should not tolerate this for a minute.
This doesn’t sound real at all because they can’t show up last minute and standby for the flight.. they have to be on the list before boarding
I work for DL and even though I understand it. It completely enrages me they allow such easy changes for revenue pax because it makes it much harder to make plans when flying nonrev. 2 hours before departure I will think I’m headed home then BOOM there come 5 revenue standbys and I have to fly via OMA.
This never happened. Just like all the influencers that make up “I refused to switch seats” stories for views.