A regular View From The Wing reader tried to make a mad dash in Dallas to catch an earlier American Airlines connecting flight home. But when the airline’s mobile app wouldn’t let him add himself to the standby list he remembered American’s new rules that I’ve shared here.
American had an earlier flight. But they wouldn’t let him even try to get on it. It was scheduled to leave in less than 45 minutes, so he was out of luck.
I was about to make a mad dash to see if I could make this flight but then I remembered I have no status and the app wasn’t letting me list for standby.
But wait! The flight wasn’t going to leave in 45 minutes. The inbound aircraft was delayed, so the flight would be delayed by an hour. There would be plenty of time to stand by even under American’s new rules. However, in typical American practice that I’ve been highlighting for a decade they frequently do not bother updating departure delays until departure time passes.
To be sure, American could swap the aircraft with one that was on-time. This rarely happens so close to departure, where passengers for each plane are already at their respective gates. Instead, even when it’s obvious a flight will be delayed because the aircraft won’t be there to board the airline just doesn’t post the delay.
This does more than just cause passengers to waste time at the gate instead of getting food or working the lounge they’ve paid to join. It now keeps passengers from standing by on the flight, getting where they’re trying to go sooner.
In fact, American wound up cancelling this flight, so standby wouldn’t have helped. But the rules to remember are that:
- American Airlines is limiting free standby to members of the AAdvantage program, and requiring requests to be made via self-service channels for nearly all passengers.
- Self-serve requests via website or mobile app have to be done at least 45 minutes in advance.
- Platinum Pro, Executive Platinum, ConciergeKey or oneworld emerald members are the only ones that are allowed to be added to the standby list at the gate. They can do this until 15 minutes prior to departure.
Non-status program members also cannot stand by if they’ve already checked a bag. Golds and Platinums can stand by with a checked bag, but this must be requested via the app, and the app doesn’t allow standby with a checked bag. Catch 22!
American is looking for ‘quick wins’ for customers now – easy changes they can make that remove pain points and can show progress towards being a more customer-focused airline. And since this change was part of the Vasu Raja-era move to all-digital service, while forcing members to join AAdvantage, and Vasu was fired it seems like an easy policy to reverse (while just blaming the last guy).
And while they’re add it, they should make standby more customer-friendly, merely matching policies that United and Delta have in effect. When US Airways management took over a decade ago they restricted the ability of customers to stand by for connections that go through a different hub than the one on their ticket. That eliminated the usefulness of standby for many customers.
- What’s the use, to customers, of an airline the most and geographically-convenient hubs if they cannot use them?
- Taking flights off the board, when available seats are limited, makes standing by nearly impossible. And at a minimum it means waiting longer for flights.
- At many airports you won’t even find more than one flight a day to a given hub city, meaning standby is completely against the rules.
American Airlines should fix standby by reversing policy changes that make them uncompetitive and inconvenient for customers.
The flight was clearly operated by SKYWEST. Im pretty sure you know that they are responsible to post their delays. and I am pretty sure they are also the one who canceled their flight. Glad your so educated writer
Passengers trying to crowd onto your earlier (uncrowded) flight just because they are there earlier than their later flight are the real gate lice.
100 %, Gary… Surprised that you also didn’t mention American’s AURA, and how customer-unfriendly that is too. Both AURA and Standby need to be fixed if American wants to consider themselves as having a premium product.
We here @ AMERICAN like to ruin each passengers day skillfully one day at a time
We aren’t pleased until your fully miserable
We strive for a lack of cooperation,canceled, delayed flights,inability to waitlist earlier flights lose or damage your luggage etc
Have a safe journey and remember we are only here for your safety
What is your displeasure? Please be aware that all customer relations phone numbers have been shut down for good to show our commitment to you
Have a nice day!
We appreciate your loyalty!
I’ll mention that I’ve had customer service tell me they can’t put me on standby. Then I go to the Admiral’s Club and they say, “Of course you’re eligible with your status.” (Platinum Pro)
Admiral’s Club is more than worth it if you travel much. And they can give you the up to date info, even when the app and departure board don’t.
This is when passengers should yell and tear up the gate area. Many times, stories about altercations at the gate are for trivial matters or when drunk. When there is plenty of time to standby but AA refuses to do so is when there should be a scene.
The number one goal on the day of travel should be to get you to your destination and safely and as early as possible. I get that there is some potential revenue loss by people gaming a standby system that is too generous but if you are doing a good job competing, there shouldn’t be unlimited standby seats left regardless. It’s crazy to me that free standby, which also opens seats on later flights for when other stuff inevitably happens to other pax or folks looking for last minute tickets, isn’t the easy to request/the norm in the industry.
@Dwondermeant it’s like you designed AA’s consumer experience strategy.
“To be sure, American could swap the aircraft with one that was on-time.”. Really?! So you work at IOC now and think an AC swap is just so easy, to be sure? You’re trash
Some passengers would book the cheaper flight (early or late evening) and standby for the more expensive high premium flight. Additionally there is enough going on for gate agents at departure time (carry on bags, drunks, wheelchairs, upgrade requests,, etc.) without processing last minute long standby lists.
The rule of keeping the same connecting point is really annoying when needing some flexibility day of travel. I don’t understand why American’s IT systems are so rigid.
Why should AA reward non-loyalty, non-status members? It’s not a race to the bottom to obtain customers at any cost. The passenger in the scenario described could have done their homework to see that the incoming flight was delayed. The passenger should prove their worth to AA before expecting AA to bend over backwards.
While I wish the tech was up to speed, I agree with @Traveling Tim, going to the service desk within Admirals Clubs has helped me as an EP (and PP) in the past more than the apps or websites have.
The whole “the customer will book cheaper flights and then standby for the flight they want” argument is so customer unfriendly. Standing-by always comes with a risk and as Gary says… any system that aims at 0% Fraud ultimately is a bad system. The goal of the airline should be to move people… as the day goes on… particularly with AA’s horrible operations lately… the more chance of problems. Better to get a customer who is there ready and willing to fly out.. then go out with empty seats that will go unsold otherwise. I have found the whole app experience lousy… with being denied standby because I listed myself on multiple flights (close together) even though the app allowed me, having certain flights closed off to me or even the app showing no flights when there are a full day of flights that day with confirmable space. I agree with the poster above… anything AA can do to ruin my day… they seem to love doing it. I have been on AA flights each week since Christmas with less than 20% on time performance.
The issue is that gate agents are trying to clear the standby list at the end of the flight. Normally flights are 100% booked or even overbooked which means standbys won’t clear until the end of the flight. At that time the gate agent is trying to get everyone onboard, bags stowed, and seated. So naturally they don’t want the stress of clearing standbys into any empty seats. It’s not like 30 years ago where a flight might easily have 20-30 open seats and standbys could be cleared well before boarding commences.
@Pissoff – I’m literally saying the opposite, try reading (and piss off)