Going Standby for an International flight

[geckojohn]

Hey Everyone! I'm in London right now and I have a booked flight coming back to LAX next week sometime... I already have the flight paper ticket.... however, i need to get back to CA a bit sooner. Its a regular flight that runs from London to LAX the same time every day. I already called United Airlines, but they said that my ticket couldn't be changed and their only suggestion would be to try going on standby at the airport before the flight...... So, i'm wondering, has anyone tried going on standby for a date ealier than their scheduled flight? If so, what happened?

Thanks in advance.. and i really miss the US!

 

[geckojohn]

bump

 

[HardcoreRobot]

IIRC its usually not a big deal to go on an earlier flight. from the airlines point of view, if you take an otherwise empty seat on an earlier flight, that gives them more time to fill it up on a later flight. i think the only consideration is whether or not there will be any seats available, and that I cannot speak for, nor do i know how you can go about finding out other than just going to the airport.

 

[absolu7]

haha i got the same situation, going to tokyo next wednesday on a standby.

got the ticket for $250

 

[geckojohn]

well, the flight looks like their is room. i called united and they said that this thursday looks like the best possibility. it makes sense too, because more people travel on the weekends or the the earlier part of the week.

anyways, keep the suggestions coming in. thanks!

 

[absolu7]

gecko: thats exactly true, travel in off-times during the weak like mon-tues-wed

 

[HardcoreRobot]

Originally posted by: absolu7
haha i got the same situation, going to tokyo next wednesday on a standby.

got the ticket for $250

how did you get that so cheaply?! round trip? out of where?

 

[absolu7]

got it from a friend who knows someone that works @ united.
they get flight vouchers ( i think 12 for a year) and those are good to go to anywhere in the world.
free upgrade to business class if there is room also.
flying out of chicago, tix now are 1200 cant beat $250 flight to japan end of august

 

[crab]

Non-rev eh absolu7? I'm doing that PHL-ORD-IND-ORD-PHL on the 28th & 29th. Wish me luck.

 

[kermalou]

i thought stand by was usually same day only, but i could be mistaken as I often am.

 

[absolu7]

crab: if youre flying over the weekend make sure its at an awkward time, that flight is pretty popular. my dad says it was packed last week when he came back from philly.

 

[crab]

Oh, the return flights are already pretty full.. We'll see.

American Airlines, btw.

 

[geckojohn]

up again for some more oppinions!