What does flying Standby mean?

Standby

Standby is the action of receiving a ticket for a flight of which you did not reserve a ticket earlier.

What does flying standby mean?

Sometimes called 'same day flight changes,' flying standby allows passengers to get onto a flight once all passengers with a boarding pass have boarded onto the aircraft.

Then, the agent will release any available seats to those on the standby list and begin issuing new boarding passes so you may board the plane.

How to fly standby?

You could show up at the airport, at the gate, or check-in counter and asked to be placed on the fly standby list in the old days.

The benefit is that you could snag a great deal as the airline was incentivized to fill up routes with empty seats.

Today, you need a boarding pass to go through security.

Airlines have now changed the reservation model by overbooking flights.

It is sporadic for a popular route to have any empty seats due to underbooking.

When an aircraft is oversold, the airline utilizes points or vouchers as an incentive. Those can trade in their time for these vouchers to catching another later flight for the inconvenience.

Long gone are the days of last-minute deals by flying standby.

Some airlines like United will charge a convenience fee of $75 should you decide to fly standby.

Other airlines like Southwest waives the standby fee.

If for no fault other than your own you miss a flight when arriving at the airport and all the later flights are full, you can still fly on standby.

You could show up at the airport, at the gate, or check-in counter and asked to be placed on the fly standby list in the old days.

The benefit is that you could snag a great deal as the airline was incentivized to fill up routes with empty seats.

Today, you need a boarding pass to go through security.

Airlines have now changed the reservation model by overbooking flights.

It is sporadic for a popular route to have any empty seats due to underbooking.

When an aircraft is oversold, the airline utilizes points or vouchers as an incentive. Those can trade in their time for these vouchers to catching another later flight for the inconvenience.

Long gone are the days of last-minute deals by flying standby.

Some airlines like United will charge a convenience fee of $75 should you decide to fly standby.

Other airlines like Southwest waives the standby fee.

If for no fault other than your own you miss a flight when arriving at the airport and all the later flights are full, you can still fly on standby.