We often are asked how to fly standby without having anxiety attacks. I’ll admit to many of those attacks early in our travels, but our family has been flying standby for 7 years now. We’ve taken nearly 350 flights. We {now} have several tricks for how to fly standby with ease.
Although we aren’t the most graceful flyers since we travel with multiple children, we have learned along the way how to roll with the stand-by punches. We know how to navigate the ‘NonRev’ world.
Here’s how to fly standby and rock it, in 8 easy steps.
1. Be Flexible
Standby travel isn’t for those who are married to a set time and date and can’t adjust. The name of this blog (Fly by the Seat of our Pants) will tell you that you have to constantly be willing to change or alter plans to succeed flying standby.
Some of our flexible options include
- Head to the airport for an earlier flight
- Wait for the next flight
- Have a layover
- Go next weekend
- Come home a day later (or earlier)
- Miss school or work
- Change destinations
- Fly into a different airport that’s close to where you want
I may seem flaky or
2. Pack Lightly
Being able to fit everything you need for all your travels into 1 carry-on and 1 travel bag is the goal. We travel with 4 kids, so we try to fit into 2-3 carry-ons and a few backpacks. Any more than that and we can’t carry it all. Yes, it’s a pain through security and the airport. But I can’t tell you how often we have to change plans and we are so thankful our bags are in our possession and we can run to a different plane or destination.
You can travel on much less than you think. If we can do it with 6 of us (including a baby!), you can definitely pack lightly!
3. Be Aware
Knowing what the entire day looks like in the airport can help you make better decisions. Is there a basketball tournament, political gathering or big festival where you want to go? Flights will most likely be full, plan accordingly.
Check the flights before the one you want. Add up the standby passengers. Make sure you know how many people are waiting for the same route you are attempting. I’ve seen flights from Hawaii or Miami with 30 seats open (which looks great!) but a list of 186 standby passengers!
We usually start tracking flights to see how many seats are filling up every day to get a good feel for the seats that will be available (this is not fail-proof obviously since flight can change dramatically last minute).
Know how many flights a day go in an out of the airport and what a back up plan is.
4. Be Creative
In order to get to or home from your travel plans, you have to be creative.
- Is there another route you could take?
- Is there a nearby airport you could go to to find open flights?
- Could you drive home?
- Can you fly on another airline (ID90)?
- Is there a layover through a smaller city?
- Are you willing to ‘go backward’ if it means getting home? We flew from Dallas to Portland so we could get home to Phoenix. It wasn’t pretty but we got home that day instead of having to wait until the next day.
5. Save for a Rainy Day
Inevitably, there will come a day when you need to spend money to get out of a sticky situation. You might need to buy a last-minute ticket. Or maybe rent a car to drive home (one-way fees can be high!)
When we started flying standby, we set aside $500 for just that moment. In 7 years, we never had to use it. But then, last week, we got stuck in Hawaii and had to fly out on United (ID90). Even though the flights were only $80, for a family of 6 it quickly added up. We were glad we had saved up for flights.
6. Take Risks
The flight says its full, but you really want to go. Just head to the airport anyway. You might make it. We’ve gotten on when the numbers said we shouldn’t have more times than we missed it. Taking that risk in dragging through security and waiting for the door to close might just help you have that amazing trip. Don’t be afraid to try.
Who knows what other flights are delays with people missing connections.
We are pretty conservative and don’t go to the airport unless we are fairly confident we will get on. Thus, we usually make all the flights we try for. But there are a few times we take risks and are rewarded for it.
7. Be Prepared
Be ready with an answer if you are allotted 1,2,3 or more seats. Who is going to jump last minute on that plane with bags in hand? Have your bags arranged so that you can split up if necessary.
Pack extra clothing or toiletries for the chance that you are stuck for a day. Always have your swimsuit. And a Jacket.
Our trip to Seattle ended up in a resort in Hawaii so we were glad we had enough to do both trips.
8. Be Thankful
Flying standby is an amazing benefit and a privilege. We usually fly about $35,000 worth of flights and it is absolutely free (or very close to free for international)
The Ticket Agents, Gate Agents and Flight attendants are all working very hard jobs. To work to get you seats on the flight is something to be very grateful for.
There can’t be enough expressions of gratitude and kindness for the benefits we have.
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10 Comments
Hi, Great blog. What’s the procedure for flying on other airlines? I fly AA standby frequently just never attempted other airlines. I love these benefits but seems to be getting harder/challenging. Grateful everytime I get a seat,
its called myIDtravel. Its on the travel portal but is a separate website. Every airline has their own exact procedure for listing and flying on their flights, but you get started from the myIDtravel website.
Great advice. I bring candy to every flight I non-rev on… .to thank the crew. People like being recognized and I’m treated like gold.
great idea! I have done that in the past, but find my hands are often too full for that! I figure they would rather me find my seat faster with a heartfelt thank you!
first thank you so much for great , very informative posts ,I recently Landed an IT job at delta (MY SEND WEEK ) trying to figure out the best way before traveling privilege kicks in
I stumbled across your blog and love it. We’re with AA out of YYZ and there is nothing better than the crazy last minute travel adventures to anywhere. Anywhere is nice this time of year, especially if you are willing to drive 8 hours overnight to Chicago (where the flights are wide open after you forgetting about the Canadian long weekend) to get there!!!! Everyone thinks we are crazy 😜 but I wouldn’t have it any other way!
yeah there aren’t many flights out of Calgary are there? We’ve been trying to get there for years!
When you say: “Check the flights before the one you want. Add up the standby passengers. Make sure you know how many people are waiting for the same route you are attempting. I’ve seen flights from Hawaii or Miami with 30 seats open (which looks great!) but a list of 186 standby passengers!” Do you mean one should do this at the airport, or is there a way to check how many standby passengers are waiting for a flight online?
This is such a great post. So many of these tips apply to people who don’t fly standby as well…staying flexible, looking for alternative routes when plans go sideways…thanks!
Those who fly standby have a website with access to information about how many seats are available and the orde of people flying standby. So we usually monitor the flight we want online. We check the flights before the one we want to get a sense for how many standbys are trying to fly to the same destination.
Great tips! We’ve only done it once with two kids going to Hawaii and it was off season. I’m not as brave as you with non rev. 🙂 Looking forward to more tips!