We have a vacation package from Southwest for Las Vegas. We were unable to get an early flight out and leave at 3:00 on a Saturday. We want to show up at the airport and attempt to get on an earlier flight - i.e. "Standby". The travel agent said we could try, and that it was totally up to the person at the gate/ticket counter. Our tickets clearly say "no changes - no Standby".

Has anyone tried this, and if so, were you successful?

Thanks in advance...

The travel agent is right ...it might work.

The downside is that you will have to arrive at the airport very early.

Unless you are prepared to pay the full fare, you could wind up waiting many hours and still be on your original flight. and will probably.
still be on your original flight.

When you get a cheap flight, you have to expect that there will be "strings attached"

Neither my husband nor I have ever been successful in flying stand-by on Southwest--the only option we've been given is to pay the fare difference between what we paid for the ticket and how much the ticket is being sold for to date. I no longer ask for stand by as I don't want to pay the extra $$$. Good luck to you--let us know if your experience is different.

Austin,
Wishing you a Great flight, and a Beeeg Win! Enjoy Las Vegas, baby!

I have flown standby on SW out of LAS, OAK and SMF, all to ONT with no problems, always with the lowest fare. I have never been asked to pay a fare difference, but I have had to wait a very long time, especially out of OAK. Luckily SW runs flights every hour or so btween the two.

On the other hand, I have attempted to fly out of ONT to OAK and LAS on earlier flights with no luck what-so-ever. I have never noticed "No Standby on my paperwork, but I've never looked for it.

Here Today - When you did this, was it just changing a "regular" SW ticket or was it a package deal that you had?

What we planned to do is see if there are available seats on earlier flights before we even leave home for the airport. I understand the "no changes", yet on the other hand, I just don't understand why we can't get an earlier flight if there are empty seats?

We plan to go early in the AM and if refused, just go back home. We only live about 20 minutes from the airport.

Scarlett - Thanks! I haven't been in close to 30 years - and I wasn't legal at the time. So this I'm I'll get to really enjoy it!

It was just a regular ticket. I used to change SW flights a lot, just show up for an earlier flight, especially returning from business in the Bay Area. But now that SW has grown so, it is more likely than not that the flight wil be full.

Southwest is pretty darn strict with their standby rule. I wouldn't get my hopes up.

Ditto, to Tracy.

I recently had a trip booked on SW that involved transferring and re-checking baggage in Houston. (Darn Wright Amendment!) On the morning of my trip, there were MAJOR thunderstorms approaching Dallas from the North, and they were due to hit right about the time of my departure. I called SWA and asked what would happen if I missed the transfer because of the weather delay, and they said I'd have to buy another ticket for the ENTIRE trip! So, I got to the airport in Dallas early, and upgraded my ticket to Houston. I ended up getting delayed in Houston when the storms hit there, but once I was checked in for the second flight, it was OK.

Moral of the story: YES, you will have to pay to go on an earlier flight, even if it is half-full.

With anything less than a full fare ticket, you will have to pay the difference between your fare and the full fare.

The same thing happened to us once flying to NY on USair. We couldn't get a cheap flight on the earlier, preferred flight so I booked on the later flight. I called USair and asked them if we could get on the earlier flight if we showed up and there were open seats. They, of course, said no. We would have to pay the difference. This didn't make sense since there would always be the possibility that the later flight would oversell and they would be begging for volunteers. When we arrived for the later flight I asked the same question of the gate attendant. They told me that, yes, if we had been there for the earlier flight and there were open seats they would have put us on the flight. However, this was before all the tightening on tickets and it was USair rather than SW to NY not LV.

Lots of airlines accept standby travelers on same-day-tickets, but not Southwest.

And after all, it DOES say NO STANDBY on the receipt. It's kinda funny how we people always tend to think that the rules apply to everyone except us. We're used to being pampered I guess..... "Oh, no parking at the airport curb...but that doesn't mean ME, I'm just going to run in for a couple of minutes!"
....."Oh, no refunds without a receipt, but that doesn't mean ME, I shop here all the time!".... "Oh, no kids at this Bed & Breakfast, but OURS are so well behaved, they'll make an exception!"

Actually, I didn't assume that the rules didn't apply to me. Before I even got my tickets in the mail, I called my travel agent and asked if we could try. She said it's totally up to the gate agent. (Pretty much said we would need to kiss some butt for any chance...)

In any event, I remembered the mom of my daughter's good friend is a SW flight attendant. I've called her and she's doing some "checking" for me. Fingers crossed.