Stand-by travel

[steve hiker]

How much do standby tickets cost on average, compared to the lowest coach fares. Less than half, or more? Assume I'm traveling during non-peak hours and there's a fair amount of space left on the plane.

[Kerosene]

I'm pretty sure that there is no such thing as a "standby ticket". Basically, you are put on standby when you already possess a ticket but want to switch to an earlier flight time.

You could look at something like www.priceline.com to see if you can bid for a lower priced ticket at a rate that you're comfortable with, but you probably wouldn't be able to select a specific departure time or even date.

[Peaks]

Originally posted by steve hiker
Assume I'm traveling during non-peak hours and there's a fair amount of space left on the plane.

Based on my limited air travel recently, I would not count on any plane being partially full anytime.

[walkerat99]

As Kerosene has stated I doubt that they have the "standby" offers anymore. Back in the 60's & 70's it was very common to get a seat on a plane as a standby, which was usually about half price the normal ticket. At that time it was made available for planes that were not full and military personel had the first choice then college students had 2nd choice, then anyone else, if memory serves me correctly. I was in the military at the time, and it was the only way I ever traveled and never had a problem, but I doubt that this is an option anymore. As Peaks has also stated I think it is very rare that the planes are not filled to capacity and even if they weren't I doubt that they would let you on at 1/2 price... maybe someone else out there has more up to date information that would be more helpful...

Ed