I was hoping someone here can help me out. I'm considering flying standby with any airline that has a direct flight from
NYC to Tel Aviv, Israel. Does anyone have any suggestions or comments on how this works? I've never flown standby before, but
am considering it because my schedule is very flexible. I'm looking to depart August 2nd and arrive back between August 16th until August 19th.

How does standby work? Do airlines reduce fares on standby flights? Is it really worth saving 5-600 dollars for a flight?

Thanks

Does El Al sell standby tickets?

I don't think any airlines sell these anymore. I'm not sure how they could when you can't get through security without a boarding pass. And to Tel Aviv of all places! It's almost enough to make me think this is a joke/troll.

El Al (EY) flies 4x daily from JFK and one daily from EWR during the summer.

Continental (CO) flies 2x daily from EWR.

I have no idea about what "standby" tickets you're talking about, but I have never heard of such thing on CO.

If you're going to find something on EY, definitely go to JFK and hope you can get on one of the 4 daily flights.

My daughter-in-law works for a major airline. The only way anyone could fly standby is if they were husband, or child or directly related to her. And she had to arrange all the reservations etc. I could not even fly that way, but did fly what is called buddy pass and she had to be with.

I personally have AA benefits.
You DO NOT have to be with people using your buddy passes... good grief!
I make the arrangements in the reservation system (or they can via a 888#) and off they go.
When you check in at the a/p they give you a PRIORITY VERIFICATION CARD, which looks like a boarding pass and allows you in security.
It is the same pass that you get when you are flying stand by on an earlier flight on a paid ticket.

Is it worth it? Well, I will not let people use my passes unless I feel they will get on the flight.
Hawaii, Alaska and Europe in the summer, no way! Las Vegas... anytime... no way!
Miami, maybe not.
Most other destinations are ok for a single person.

I can't imagine you could fly standby to Tel Aviv.

You would have to be non reving on someone elses buddy pass. No other way to stand by.

Troll.

First and only post.

Thanks for all your help. I wasn't sure and now I am. I appreciate the responses.

What's this troll business by the way? I'm new here....thanks

Standby means you already bought a ticket...but you show up earlier that day and try to get on an earlier flight. The airlines used to let you do this...why let a plane go off with an empty seat if you can fill it? But now most of them charge for doing this or don't have any empty seats anyway.

After spending the better part of the day on the phone with a bunch of airlines, I figured out that El Al doesn't let you fly standby at all unless you have a family member that works for them. With Continental it's also a no go to fly standby on international.

I guess I'll just book a full fare ticket maybe with a stopover for a weekend in Budapest.

Thanks

Now why in the world would you go from considering a last minute gamble to saying you will buy a full fare ticket.
Why the heck would you buy a full fare ticket????

TTP...I dont think she means "full fare" ticket like you and I understand it.I think they mean "paid" and I get the feeling they are not sure what the term "standby" means either.Just my 2 cents.

Because I need to be there on a certain date 100%. I got a wedding to go to and I'm the best man. I got no choice.

Smidey,

Do you know how to search for the lowest fare ticket? A lot of people here use www.kayak.com.

I'm not real good at this but maybe someone else will offer you assistance.