Tag Archives for standby.
Everyone can now standby on American Airlines for free. They’ll no longer be told to use the website or mobile app if asking an agent for help. The airline no longer actually forbids standing by within 45 minutes of departure, they just don’t guarantee it for most customers. And they’ll allow standing by to a co-terminal airport, too. These are all real improvements, and better than what American had announced.
American Airlines should fix standby by reversing policy changes that make them uncompetitive and inconvenient for customers.
American Airlines passenger Jennifer Hughes doesn’t understand why she isn’t allow to standby for a flight with plenty of open seats available. Surely the gate agent could have provided a better explanation than “they didn’t ‘have time to help’.” In truth, they aren’t allowed to help. That’s the way American Airlines decided they like it.
Since current US Airways management took over, standby policies have been broken. They’ve been more focused on making sure customers don’t get a good deal with standby, potentially saving money, than on making sure customers get where they’re going. And they’re far less generous than Delta and United here.
A United Airlines passenger thought he was having a horrible travel day. He didn’t know how good he had it – because he was flying United.
The man was connecting. His first flight was delayed for maintenance, but he made it through the airport while his next flight was still boarding.
Standing by for a flight on American Airlines has become an absolute mess. There are new rules that very few customers know about, and failing to follow these secret changes is costing customers hours of their time.
There’s no more running to the gate to catch an earlier flight. American now turns away nearly all customers who try to do this, even when there’s plenty of seats available.
Time after time I’ve gotten home early when I’ve been willing to run. My connecting flight lands in Dallas a little bit early, I’m one of the first off the plane, and I book it to the gate of an earlier flight to Austin that hasn’t left yet. There’s still an open seat or two (or maybe someone doesn’t make the flight.) I walk up to the gate agent and ask to get added to the flight. For most customers, the answer from American Airlines is going to be “no” starting March 1, 2024.
Starting this Friday, March 1 you must be an AAdvantage member to take advantage of free standby. So that’s a new restriction on standby, though of course people can join the program at the airport.
What wasn’t previously announced, though, but American is now telling customers is that they won’t be able to get added to the standby list by a customer service agent or gate agent. Standby requests will be self-serve only.
When American Airlines dropped most change fees in fall 2020 they also introduced free standby.
Standbys are being cleared earlier automatically and upgrades are now being cleared earlier by the ‘Agent Assist’ program which was developed to make work at the boarding gate easier, support single agent boarding, and still allow a flight to go off on time.
But with standbys and upgrades happening earlier, more customers are showing up at the gate asking to get on board after most seats have already been given away.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
