I'm confused about what it means to fly standby. I love traveling but I've always gone the conventional way about taking trips. I have a lot of flexibility in my schedule right now so I'm wondering:

Does standby still exist?

Can I save some money by flying standby?

How does one go about getting a standby ticket?

Thanks for your help.

Check the airlines schedule to get a list of all flights times for your itenerary. Show up at the airport early (in other words in time to potentially make earlier flights than yours). At the check in counter or even better, at the gate, ask to be placed on standby for an earlier flight. About 30 minutes or so before each flight, the gate agent will have a printout of all persons signed up for standby for that
flight. They will simply post it on the wall behind them or next to the counter. You can check to see how far up on the list you are. After the last ticketed passenger is seated, they do a count of empty seats. At that time they just start calling names on the list until they are full. If they fill up before all standby names are called, then everyone left over is automatically placed on standby for the next scheduled flight in the same order behind anyone who was already signed up for standby on that next flight first. If you are lucky you will get on an earlier flight. The worst thing that can happen is you get there really early and wait for hours for nothing (never getting on an earlier flight) and end up on your original flight.
A couple of notes: certain persons always take priority on standby. They are Airline employees, employees families, elite FF members and buddy pass holders. Just regular persons are almost always listed after these. You may be first on the list and suddenly several persons listed above show up at the last minute and they get to go first.
Second, possibly your luggage will fly with you original flight if you check it in early and the airline can't transfer it in time. Both of these situations have happened to us.
Otherwise it's a great way to get a jump on your trip if your lucky.

mc,
Is there any price advantage in going standby? I recall in college there used to be, but that was a LONG time ago.

You must have been in college a long time ago if you remember standby as being a cheap way to fly! Seriously, I remember it, too, but those days are long gone.

In this day and age, there are only two ways to fly standby at the passengers choice without added expense. Most airlines charge around $100 in addition to the cost of your ticket.

If you are flying non-revenue either as an airline employee or on a buddy pass. If you are flying on a buddy pass, you are listed according to the senority of employment of the airline employee who sold/gave you the buddy pass.

Flying on FF miles the airline will not charge you to fly standby.

A couple of years ago I missed a flight (overslept) and flew standby. I was listed above the airline employees flying non-rev because I was a paying customer.

Standby is a pain in the ass. You cannot make concrete plans and you are at the mercy of the gate attendant.

The days of walking up to the gate the day of the flight and buying a standby ticket are long gone.

You would be better off buying a cheap ticket on priceline.

GoTravel has it right. There is now a charge to fly standby for an earlier flight--or for that matter, a later flight if you missed your flight without notifying the airline of the circumstances. Airline employees, families, buddy passes are at the end of the standby line after ALL revenue passengeers are taken care of with the exception of certain designations.
It is a very stressful way to travel if flights are running full. As to luggage if you are flying standby it is tagged that way and is not loaded until your boarding pass is issued.

I've traveled standby most every time I go between Tampa FL and Pittsburgh PA which I do frequently and have been doing frequently for years flying USAirways.
I've never seen a list posted with standby names on it, ever. Perhaps other airlines do this, but not USAirways. They have a list yes, but it's not posted and you dont have access to view it.

It's also been my experience that airline employees do not always take precedence over the average traveler but FF members might. I have boarded planes on a standby status on over 6 different occasions, that I can remember, leaving pilots and/or flight attendants in the terminal to wait for later flights.

Since 9/11 airlines have introduced a fee for flying standby, about $100, however in flying standby 10 times since then, I've never paid it once. Regardless if I was flying earlier or later than my orginal flight.
I've found that making friends with the person at the gate will go a long way when attempting to travel on a flight other than the one you've been booked on.
The "gate-keepers" as I call them can work mircles, should they feel like accomadating you! Once I had to prove that I had attended a Pittsburgh Steeler play-off game before the "gate-keeper" would let me fly standby for a flight leaving that same day after the game. I was orginaly scheduled to fly the following day, a full 24 hours ahead, but once I produced my ticket stub from the game, I was given a boarding pass and was on my way!!

It's amazing what a friendly smile and a confident, determined manner can acheive!

Standby flying as an intentional choice is not generally done on the major carriers anymore. They routinely oversell the flights which usually avoids a reliable standby option. Nowadays, 'standby' is something that more frequently occurs when one's flight has been cancelled and is put on a waiting list for a subsequent flight, but this is done at the discretion of the airlines and not by traveler's choice, and not at a discount. However, I think it is still available on Southwest but I could be wrong.

Second, airline employees do NOT always yield seats to customers. Many times, especially when there is a weather incident somewhere in the route map, the crews HAVE to be placed on a flight so as to be moved from a reduced volume airport to another location with better weather where they can hop aboard another plane and continue to make money for the company.

irishdame, from what you are writing, you are giving the OP that flying standby is easy which is not only bad advice, but a load of crap.

You cannot walk up to the gate, day of travel, and purchase a "Standby Ticket".

Instead of standby, have you ever thought about flying as an air courier? I've never done it, but I had a colleague who did a few times. You are limited to carry-on bage only, but you can get really low fares to overseas destinations and domestic - particularly if you have some flexibility. I know there are several companies with information on the net. Maybe another Fodor's user can give you the name of a reputable company.

I agree with GoTravel. "Standby" in the old days used to mean getting a special class of fare and then hanging around the airport until an open seat appeared on a flight to your destination. I'm not aware of airlines selling standby as a class of fare any more.

Today, flying standby usually means having a reservation on a specific flight, but then arriving early and picking up a seat on an earlier flight to the same destination because an empty seat was available that you could occupy. On some carriers and with some classes of fares, a charge may be involved.

I've flown standby on a number of occasions and never paid an extra fee for it -- in fact, I did it a couple of weeks ago -- but it is not a way to plan a budget trip anymore. It's usually just a way to get to your destination earlier and avoid a longer layover. (Some airlines may also permit same-day standby for a later flight, if you've missed yours.)

In response to the original poster, I would say that if you have a flexible schedule and can't find a fare that you're willing to pay, you can always go the Priceline route. Personally, I've found that the less rigid your requirements are, the more likely you can reach many destinations for a reasonable cost. With some advance research and the willingness to make use of alternative airports, etc., there are often some very decent fares available to those who understand the system. There are also some destinations with more limited service where fares always seem to be on the pricey side.