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How to determine if standby availability exists before getting to airport?

zoah666
Explorer C

We are returning from a cruise in a few weeks and we bought the wanna get away plus so we can get an earlier flight if seats available on standby. What is the best way to determine if enough standby seats are available? Our booked flight leaves at 8pm but currently has openings for flights leaving between 2 and 3 pm. Call SWA? I'd rather not have to check in early at airport only to learn we would need to take our booked flight. We are not planning on getting any wifi for cruise so I can't check availability till back in port the morning of the flight.

4 REPLIES 4

Re: How to determine if standby availability exists before getting to airport?

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

Try to book tickets for the flight you want.  If there's availability to purchase then there's availability for standby.  Things can change up to 10 minutes prior to departure though so there's no definitive way to answer you question ahead of time.

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Re: How to determine if standby availability exists before getting to airport?

dfwskier
Aviator A

To add to what themiddleseat said, you can try to do a reservation for 8 people. If it lets you , then you know that at least 8 seats were open at the time you looked.

 

Also, as themiddleseat said, things do change. So seats available when you look, does not necessarily mean they will  be available at flight time. A number of times in the past I found 8+ seat availability on my desired flights, but failed to get  standby seats.

Re: How to determine if standby availability exists before getting to airport?

parpitt1
Frequent Flyer A

Just an add on thought here, since it's a "wanna get away plus" fare, make sure once you determine seats are available on the desired flight , you specifically ask for "same day change" not "stand by." This will confirm your reservation into the early flight. Standby is just that, standing by.  

Re: How to determine if standby availability exists before getting to airport?

DancingDavidE
Aviator A

@zoah666 wrote:

We are returning from a cruise in a few weeks and we bought the wanna get away plus so we can get an earlier flight if seats available on standby. What is the best way to determine if enough standby seats are available? Our booked flight leaves at 8pm but currently has openings for flights leaving between 2 and 3 pm. Call SWA? I'd rather not have to check in early at airport only to learn we would need to take our booked flight. We are not planning on getting any wifi for cruise so I can't check availability till back in port the morning of the flight.


I believe it will be available on the app after some recent updates, so as soon as you get back to cell service you can check and confirm your same day change (not standby) as another poster mentioned. It will either be available then or not, there isn't much to do before then other than you can see if the desired flight was already sold out before you depart which wouldn't be a deal-breaker necessarily but I'd work on backup plans for the day.

 

 

Home airport MDW, frequent visitor to MCO to see the mouse.