Stand by, but don't count on getting on board

By Thurston Hatcher
CNN

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Remember the old days, when you could just show up at the airport with a bargain-priced standby ticket, cross your fingers and hope they'd squeeze you onto the next flight? It was a little stressful sometimes, but it sure was cheap.

Well, flying standby just isn't what it used to be.

"Today most of the real pure standby travel opportunities are gone," said "Travel Rights" author Charlie Leocha.

Standby tickets allowed airlines to fill seats that would otherwise go empty. But along came the Internet, which enables the airlines to offer last-minute deals on those leftover seats, either through their own Web sites or through other online discounters.

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"They're a new version of standby, but now you do it on the computer," Leocha said.

The system also helps airlines eliminate the guesswork of how many people will be on a flight.

"They're selling seats they know will be filled as opposed to selling tickets for an unspecified period of time that can be used at any time," said Nathan Lump, a senior editor with Travel + Leisure magazine.

Nowadays, standby typically applies to people bumped from other flights, travelers who want to fly earlier or later than their reserved departures and airline employees and family members.

Frequent fliers also can take advantage of standby. Some airlines allow travelers who have redeemed their miles to use the ticket at any time for no extra fee, as long as it's to the same destination.

But some may find it a challenging to get on the flights they want.

Airlines have gotten much more sophisticated in the way they sell seats, Lump said, meaning flights tend to be more full.

"There are so many ways for airlines to sell seats and still make some money -- there are fewer ways to get on at the last minute."

Standby success

Despite the more crowded flights, travel experts say you've still got a pretty decent shot at standby success.

If you think you'll need to go standby, your best bet is on an airline with frequent daily flights on your route, Leocha said. On the other hand, your odds of catching another flight diminish greatly during peak flying periods and when bad weather forces delays and cancellations.

In fact, Leocha suggests fliers still might save some money through standby. If you bought a cheap ticket for an early-morning flight but would prefer to fly later, you can try going standby on a later flight, as long as it's on the same day as your booked ticket. If it's on a different day, you'll have to pay the usual change fee.

You run the risk, of course, of not getting onto a later flight. And Lump says some airlines will allow you only to get on another flight with seats available in your fare class.

Bargains remain

Deal-hunters might stumble across some bargains modeled after the old-fashioned standby approach.

AirTran Airways' X-Fares program, for example, allows travelers between ages 18 and 22 to fly standby between cities it serves. Would-be fliers just show up at the gate with $52 in hand at least an hour before a flight, and if there's an available seat, they can get on.

But for the most part, the old standby fares are few and far between. Good deals on reserved seats, however, are not.

"There are certainly bargains out there, and I think the great advantage for most people is they are guaranteed seats," Lump said. "Most people truly don't have the flexibility to fly standby, so in many cases the demise of standby and rise of the Internet is a good thing for most people."