what's the cost savings of flying standby?

Question

what's the cost savings of flying standby?

Answer 1

Nothing.



The days of going to the airport and hoping to get a "standby" seat for a deep discount are long gone.



Many airlines now only allow standby on earlier flights when you pay the differance between your cheap restricted ticket to the full coach class unrestricted fare. At the very least, you must already have a ticket in hand to be able to be put on the standby list for any flight. Buy yourself the cheapest ticket you can find on the internet and don't go to the airport hoping to get any deals. You could be left buying an expen$ive, full fare walk up ticket to get where you are going.

Answer 2

There are no airlines who sell discounted last-minute space available tickets anymore (what used to be referred to as "standby" tickets). This used to be common as a way to sell empty seats at the last minute, but airlines have tended to decrease their flights as a way to make their remaining flights more full. Add to that the logistical difficulty of selling seats to persons who can't get through security very easily (given that, since 9/11, you generally need to be ticketed in order to get through security), and you end up with a system that doesn't exist anymore. You're far better off simply buying your ticket when you can afford it -- if you wait until the last minute, the ticket is likely to be significantly more expensive than if you buy it sooner.