Overheard a guy at the airport say he flew standby for $45 to Denver

He just walked up to the counter, asked about open seats, and got on the next flight. Makes me wonder how many people miss out on deals like that because they assume standby is only for employees. Has anyone else tried this on a major airline?

2 comments

2 Comments

hollyc9210d ago

Can you really blame people for assuming standby is some secret employee handshake when airlines charge $300 for a bag of peanuts? I'd try it myself but I'd probably end up paying full price just for the privilege of sitting on a tarmac for six hours. Sounds like a sweet deal if you have zero luggage and a high tolerance for chaos.

mia74810d ago

That "high tolerance for chaos" line really stuck with me. It seems like everything these days is designed to test that tolerance, not just flying. You look at buying a house, signing up for internet, even trying to return a faulty toaster at the big box store. The whole process feels like it's built to wear you down until you either give up or pay extra to skip the headache. I think airlines just perfected the model because they cornered a market where people truly have no other choice. It's like we're all just hoping for a little bit of fairness in a system that's stacked against the average person.