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.
@AmericanAir crap service DFW, gate agent refused to help us, stood on phones 30m and stated they didn’t “have time to help me”! Brianna didn’t even attempt to assist, 13 extra seats Honest truth would rather be on phones then assist customers! Called supervisor 20m ago evidently pic.twitter.com/fWzP8Ky8uM
— Jennifer Hughes (@Jennife83749624) March 26, 2025
American Airlines Standby Rules Keep Passengers Stuck At The Airport
When a plane has extra seats available, it actually helps the airline to put people in them. Not only does it drive customer loyalty, it makes the operation more efficient – and keeps them from having to deal with costly passenger delays from bad weather and mechanical issues that can creep up later. American Airlines doesn’t see it that way.
A year ago they adopted policies (here are the internal rules) that let seats go out empty while passengers are still trying to get on the flight. Their focus was on reducing staff costs, and getting customers to change their behavior to use self-service tools (website, app) instead of getting help from a person.
There is no more running to the gate to catch an earlier flight for most passengers. The airline turns away passengers who try to do this.
- You must be an AAdvantage member to standby, though you can join at the airport.
- American pushes almost everyone to self-serve. Unless you have Platinum Pro status or higher in the AAdvantage program, you have to ‘do it yourself’ to standby. An agent cannot help you.
- And this now has to be done at least 45 minutes prior to departure. If you land early and run to the gate of an earlier connection, you’re stuck waiting in the airport. If you finish meetings early and manage to get to the airport in time for an earlier flight, you’re out of luck. You need to list for the earlier flight at least 45 minutes before departure, but you don’t always know if you’ll make it or not!
People are getting stuck in airports for no good reason at all – because the airline thinks it lowers their costs, but by becoming less efficient and burning customer goodwill they’re actually both driving up expenses and costing themselves revenue.
Technical Glitch Keeps Elites From Using Standby Benefits They Do Have
The new customer-unfriendly policies are even contradictory with passengers trapped in the middle.
- Standby isn’t allowed if you have checked bags, unless you’re an AAdvantage elite.
- Once you check a bag, you can no longer add yourself to standby using American’s mobile tools.
- But Gold and Platinum elite members aren’t allowed to add themselves any other way.
In fact, if you ‘add bags’ on the app even when not checking in, you lose the ability to same-day standby for another flight. This cannot be removed from your reservation once added (I’ve not heard of any success in doing so via an agent). That means you would need to request standby at the gate, but for most members this is not allowed.
American Airlines allows their Gold and Platinum frequent flyers to stand by for a flight, even if they’ve checked bags. But they’ve programmed their systems not to allow it, and they won’t allow agents to do it for them any longer to save money. And they haven’t communicated any of this to customers.
American’s Standby Rules Were The Most Restrictive Anyway, Even Before This Change
When a customer wants to standby or change to an earlier flight, they aren’t allowed to change connecting cities. That means if they are flying in or out of a small airport that has only a single flight through a given hub, they cannot make same day changes at all. They can’t change the number of segments they’re flying, or switch from a connection to a non-stop.
These were all changes that were put into place when US Airways management took over, worrying that someone might save money and cost them revenue by booking a cheaper flight and changing to something more expensive. These are also policies that are out of step with competitors United and Delta.
@Alan Z Although I am DFW based I defected to UA for several years until post Covid schedules made many connection times untenable (either 40 minutes or 3.5 hours ). My experience as 1K wasn’t perfect, but far better than AA ExPlat
This happened to me in Oct. 2024z the agent didn’t even try to explain. They just said “we don’t do that”. Further solidified why I don’t fly American unless ABSOLUTELY necessary.
Earlier today, I asked to go on an eating connecting flight as my later departure was delayed about 1 hour. I asked at the AA customer service desk. The lady called the gate agent and was granted permission to change my ticket. Polite, friendly, and efficient. I’m grateful for their assistance.
As if we needed more reasons not to fly AA…
American is truly the worst customer service airlines, and I’ll tell this story until the day I die. They cancelled my Little Rock – Dallas connector early enough in the day that I still had time to rent a one way car for $380 and drive to DFW to catch my final leg. All I asked in return for my $380 and them not having to later fly me from Little Rock to DFW was to check my 1 piece of luggage for free, $25. They refused. And I will bad mouth this sorry excuse for a carrier for all of my days.
I’m a lifetime Platinum with an AAdvantage number that begins with a zero, i.e., 45 years, and all I can say is that too many airport/airplane personnel now relish being authority figures, instead of customer service personnel.
As a former gate agent and baggage service agent with AA the detail that is rarely mentioned is when a passenger is traveling with one or more checked bags and tries to depart on an earlier flight. In the past a gate agent would transfer the pax to an earlier flight. They arrive at their destination and their checked bags don’t arrive with them, as they did not get transferred. Logistically it is a nightmare for the ramp agents to track down bags and get them transferred. Many times the bags are many gates away and staged for the original flight. This dings the airline for a mishandled bag and causes the airline additional expense delivering the bag. And you guessed it, the pax is upset because they don’t have their bags.
American was like this in 1970 when we bought $99 interline fares from the US to Australia. When we went to board the Hawaii to Sydney flight they wouldn’t put standbys in the center seats in coach because they said they didn’t staff the flight crew for that. This was a widely advertised interline fare. The second day with my 6 month old daughter on my back pack they put our family on because they new I was going to make a scene at the gate
American has always sucked
They would probably arrest me today
I have jumped on different/earlier flights standby for various reasons on UA and Delta. The few times doing that I had checked a bag, I told them I didn’t care if my bag made it there earlier or later. The goal was to make it to a meeting or appt. A suitcase can be picked up later. I would not expect it would arrive with me, but would like the option to make that choice should I ever get stuck flying AA again.
Why does anyone still fly?
This is y’all’s fault for accepting it. Paying more and more, for less and less, and not putting them all of out of business.
I had mixed results with this last year. I arrived in Pittsburg early enough to catch an earlier flight with the help of a vary nice gate agent. I was able to arrive in Dallas 2 hours early. In Dallas (which has hourly flights to Austin) I had to wait 5 hours while 4 partially full planes went to Austin. The gate agent would not help and was actually rather rude. By the way I didn’t have any checked luggage, only my back pack. The flight I was booked on and finally took was full and could have used any extra seats. Very pool policy.
Is AA system not the same as United or Delta? Do they pay less for services so changes are not allowed?
The self-srvice rule for standby passengers is just plain dumb. I guess those in top management at AA got there thanks to the “Peter Principle.” What ever happened to simple customer service? I was unnecessarily delayed in Philly when a gate agent told me to use the app, without showing me how. No help whatsoever. AA needs to remember who pays their salaries. I only fly AA now when absolutely forced t.
It’s SELF-SERVICE via the AA App and has been for a year. It’s not rocket science. She could have simply put herself on standby, but no. She just wants something to complain about cause she didn’t get her way.
@cid you’re literally on a blog solely about air travel. And you come here with your pithy statement that no one should fly? Did your parents ever explain to you why the bus you took to school was shorter than the other kids’?
No doubt this was part of Isom’s well-conceived drive to make AA more premium.
Here’s a thought… Take the flight you booked.
I have AA executive platinum. It’s useless except for group 2 boarding! Woopie! Passengers bored whenever they feel like it, regardless of their grouping.
Never even close to getting an upgrade. I was number 17 on a list of 34 people to be upgraded on a flight recently . Now that the airline is auctioning off, premium seats, it’s impossible . Loyalty is useless and a big scam with AA.
As if the airlines couldn’t get any less customer service oriented….If any organizations need a hard revamping, it would be the domestic airlines. When they started treating customers like cattle in a cattle car, and charging for everything, including leg room I started driving.
This is 100% factual & unfortunately had happened to me a few weeks ago. I am a 100% disabled Veteran and was in San Diego area for Mental Illness treatment, I suffer from severe panic, when arriving at the San Diego airport KNOWING there were seats available & verified by family who are AA top members the staff would not assist me, for over an hour I paced in panic continuously asking for help as I had become very lost & confused. I then went and begged stated I am disabled and not doing well. Still nothing from anyone at AA counters. My family went on to UA and booked a flight that left within 45mins. Unfortunately the damage was done & I suffered the entire 1st flight to Colorado barely making it there in such pain & panic, I just didn’t want to scare anyone on the flight, once we landed I was accompanied off by a paramedic & police to assist. A UA rep came to me assisted without me asking rebooked my flight for the next day and printed the ticket. I was so bad I was then taken to University of Co. Hospital to be treated. the disappointment I have for so called “American” Airlines… never again will anyone in my family flight American. I just wanted to be home in my comfort zone. Are we not all human beings!! Is there no decency in the world anymore!?!??! Can we not go out of our way to help people? God bless the staff of United as I will be ever so grateful to them helping me make it home safely.
So people take the flight they chose to book. The horror
I too, had a horrible experience with American Airlines at DFW. after being deplaned and flight canceled due to too much fuel on the plane only to have the next plane D plane because we did not have the correct paperwork. When I tried to reach out to American Airlines customer relations, they told me I was not eligible for any credit since I use my ticket. Did they expect me to walk? Horrible customer service.
AA employee here – this once great airline is an embarrassment now. We know we’re at the bottom and it’s our mgmt that put us there.
American Airlines can really suck at times. One time, they left us stranded in Europe, and we were first class!
Most recently, 6 of us, all first class, had a connecting flight. Their first flight was delayed; however, we were ASSURED there would be plenty of time.
We deboarded first snd had to rush 2 terminals, me in a wheel chair. We get there as they gave away 1 of our seats to an employee. We were stopped and had to watch as they pulled that stunt.
Thus all 6 of us had to miss the plane. My hope is that we will never use American ever again.
Yup recently happened to me. Walked up to gate 30 minutes before earlier flight left, Platinum Pro, carryon bags. Agent said have available seats, but could not assist. The flight I took later was overbooked so everyone lost. AA didn’t fill an open seat, another customer didn’t get flight, the Admirals Club was more crowded, and I arrived at my destination later.
At first I thought maybe this was some agreement to get flyers to spend more money at the airport retail.
But no, just bad business decisions.
Good. Now the vast amount of commuters can get to work without being bumped off flights because someone wants to go earlier, which ultimately inconveniences thousands of other flights due to the ripple effect.
@HonestyandRealityGuy — That’s pretty upsetting. I hope you were ultimately compensated for that inconvenience caused by the airline. Though, you probably weren’t. You all just had to ‘deal with it.’ Yeah, this is why I wish we had greater consumer protections in the USA at least. It is also an opportunity for each airline to ‘do the right thing’ and earn their passengers business and loyalty, but these days, rarely do any mega-corporations actually care. And the front-line workers are often underpaid and purposely disempowered, so they rarely can meaningfully ‘help’ either.
I’m not sure whether your instance was eligible but rules like EU/UK 261 and Canada’s APPR may have provided compensation for such a delay caused by the airline.
Then again, it seems like instead merely a ‘delay,’ AA likely ‘bumped’ you (involuntarily gave up your seat), as if it were an oversold flight. So, perhaps, even under current US DOT guidelines you were owed compensation (over 4 hour delay for international flights, 400% of one-way fare, limited to $2,150). But, often these airlines neglect to follow such rules, fail to properly inform you of your rights, or simply try to get ‘sneaky’ with exceptions, like they can say it’s not eligible for anything because it was a ;flight departing a foreign location’ (but, then you could revert to that jurisdiction’s rules, like EU261, which could be up to €600 in compensation, etc.).
What I am trying to say is: I’ve been there, too. I feel for your circumstances. I wish it were better.
Yet another low bar for AA in customer experience. Never fly AA.
My family has been in the airlines business as either pilots or flight attendants and even baggage handlers. My relatives that work in these industries have told me that ever since they deregulated the airlines that they have been getting worse and worse and worse. This is what you have today because of deregulation of the airlines. They need to be regulated because they will just do whatever they want to make as much money as possible.
I can’t even begin to get into this right now.
Had the same experience last Friday and can’t even write about it I’m still in too much residual pain. Will not be flying AA (NYC based so have options) for a long while.
The airline industry has to be guilty of collusion. They can’t all be bad unless they are. I suppose they do have the monopoly on rapid transit (at least in the US).
There are so many reasons for this as outlined by other comments.
I’ve flown hundreds of flights with different airlines and I still like American. When there is a flight delay, they will help you and get you to where you’re going. When it’s you changing your mind, you have to jump through different hoops.
Articles like this make me so appreciative of having the one functional neurone that allows you to open an app on my phone and put myself on a standby list, LOL. I used to consider myself of average intellectual abilities but the bat is so low. I flew AA today and I used the “Change Your Flight” option in the app and flew earlier without issues
If you think can make the earlier flight out yourself on the list. Whether you make it or not doesn’t matter. AA has Agents working mostly alone and the turn times are brutal …. This comes from top
Agents can overide it….
The most logical reasons why any airline would want to disallow a passenger to standby on an earlier flight are:
A/ Even when a passenger has checked bags on a later flight and states that they don’t care if their bags are transferred to an earlier flight, the truth more often than not is the same passenger will still file a missing bag report upon arrival on the earlier flight and the airline will be forced to pay the expenses of having the baggage delivered.
B/ Unless the airline has a system in place where the passenger can place themselves on the standby list without any airline personnel assistance them, this process takes time and can lead to flight delays.
C/ Connecting passengers often arrive at the gate at the last minute and when their seats are given to standbys are very upset.
This EXACT SAME THING happened to me just recently although it was no problem at all getting on an earlier flight only a few months before that in about mid-to-late 2024. TOTALLY STUPID policies being perpetrated by AA. And I am an AAdvantage member too just not the top-platinum flavor.
99% of the time it USER error !!! Everybody wants everything for nothing and its never their fault lmao !!!!
@Tim ja — Yeah!! Blame the ‘little guy,’ let the big company ‘off the hook’!! You tell ’em, Tim!! And thank you for your excessive use of exclamation points!! It really drives your message home!! If only you were more generous with the ALL CAPS, then you’d have ‘batted a thousand’!!
AA and the pathetic MIA are unfortunate realities for those of us who live in the Miami/Ft Lauderdale area. The service difference at both the airline and this horribly designed and run airport are noticeably and markedly subpar
Happened to me 3 days ago, flying tpa to dca, 2 flights leaving hour and half apart. I was on latter but was at airport over 2 hours earlier than first flight.
Both flights had over 15 available seats and I had no checked in luggage. First agent tried desperately to put me on standby and could not, 2nd agent flat out told me he can’t do anything it’s all done on the app..
Seems American wants an all or nothing approach to rules, logic be damned
The article could be titled “You’re Denied An Earlier Flight With 13 Empty Seats—Because you chose not to select and book and pay for that flight.”
Just PAR FOR THE COURSE for American Airlines. Still racing to the bottom as fast as they can!
@Alan — Ah, we got another AA ‘bootlicker’ here! Sure feels good to ‘punch-down’ doesn’t it? You tell em’, sir: “Lazy, entitled peasants!”
The unwritten rule: You can blame the consumers and the front-line workers, but don’t you dare blame management for their poor leadership or bad policies. And whatever you do, never, ever, ever, blame the people with the money or power (the oligarchs and majority shareholders)–Have you seen what they do to whistleblowers these days? Ask those Boeing folks.
Just another reason tacked on to why I refuse to fly on American Airlines in the last 30 years nor will I in the next 30 years!
This is awesome. As a non-rev traveler we can confidently take our seat knowing you last minute flight jumpers won’t bump us. We’ll be able to get to work, to our families, vacations, etc. You will still get on your flight, just the same flight# you bought at ticket for.
I am just a regular AAadvantage member. I use the app. I get on my flights. I was even fortunate enough to get an upgrade to 1st class on my ticket back from Korea. No muss, no fuss. My only complaint has been last minute gate changes. I hate that so many people have had such horrible experinces.
I fly American, but their standby and same day change rules are archaic. Having to keep the same routing plus not allowing agents to assist is absurd. The longer you keep someone at an airport, the more chances there are for them to get delayed later. Why not send them on down the road to try and prevent that?
Funny how people get mad when a company wants to set their own rules. If you don’t like it, start your own airline or fly someone else.
literally happened to me yesterday at DFW. my meeting got cancelled so instead of taking a 4pm flight, i wanted to take the 11:21am flight. since my coming y requires we book through our internal site, i loose ability to make changes in the app, the only option is an agent at the airport. i am platinum and was told there was nothing she could do if the app did not allow it. today i booked on southwest to go home. not a fan at all, but at least it allowed me same day change without issue.
*i meant company and lose