United joins Northwest on stand-by policy

[NWgoldelite]

United Airlines has decided to rescind its proposed "change of flight rule" for passengers wishing to standby on the Same Day for Earlier Flights (SDEF). American, Continental, Delta and US Airways have yet to cancel their plans for the first of the year implementation but United has seen Northwest's wisdom in not charging people for a flight earlier in the day.


The logic is simple, if a passenger has a 5 PM flight and shows up for a noon flight on a plane with seats, letting them board and travel early will make the 5 PM seat available for sale or rescheduling of a passenger should a flight, between the Noon and 5 PM flight, be cancelled. The $100 fee to fly SDEF took that option away as passengers would opt to save the money and not go earlier. If the "between the noon and 5 PM flight" was cancelled the airline would be forced to offer compensation to passengers on the now "overbooked" 5 PM flight, thus the plan would actually cost the airline much more than any possible revenue gained from the SDEF fee.