Luggage on standby flight

If my flight is at 10:50 AM and I want to fly standby on the 9:00 AM flight, what happens to my luggage?

If you have already checked in for the later flight and your luggage has been tagged for that later flight, they won't put you on the earlier flight unless they can put your luggage with you. At least, that has been my experience. It's also been my experience that they will try to accomodate you and get your luggage on the earlier flight. That's been my experience with both Southwest and United.

This is an international flight on Delta. When I check in, can they give me a "guess" on whether or not I'll get on?

I believe DL doesn't allow unconfirmed standbys for earlier flights except for those holding DL Gold or Platinum Medallion status.

For domestic flights (including, for this purpose, the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands) there is a $25 fee to get a confirmed seat within three hours of the new earlier flight time. I may be wrong, but my understanding is that DL doesn't allow standbys - confirmed or unconfirmed - for earlier international flights.

If I am correct, doing what you want would be treated as a ticket change, which would cost $200, unless you have a refundable ticket.

I think I'll call them over the weekend. No need to show up early if it's not even allowed.

Thanks for the help.

http://www.delta.com/traveling_checkin/ticket_changes_refunds/sameday_travel_changes/index.jsp

Annecdotally, a recent flight on DL SFO-ATL-LGA resulted in our checked bags arriving on an earlier flight than we did. They were sitting off to the side by the baggage office and took awhile to find. So, even though they were tagged correctly, they didn't end up on our plane (somewhere along the way).

Calling DL is best, but even then I wouldn't rely on their answer. IIRC, there aren't confirmed day-of changes for the nominal fee on international itins; such changes result in a re-fare/re-issue situation....

Safe travels!

Pat

camachinist said:

http://www.delta.com/traveling_checkin/ticket_changes_refunds/sameday_travel_changes/index.jsp

Annecdotally, a recent flight on DL SFO-ATL-LGA resulted in our checked bags arriving on an earlier flight than we did. They were sitting off to the side by the baggage office and took awhile to find. So, even though they were tagged correctly, they didn't end up on our plane (somewhere along the way).

Calling DL is best, but even then I wouldn't rely on their answer. IIRC, there aren't confirmed day-of changes for the nominal fee on international itins; such changes result in a re-fare/re-issue situation....

Safe travels!

Pat

Click to expand...

In my experience, it's very common for bags to be placed on the first available flight to a destination, regardless of whether the bags are actually checked for that flight.

I often take advantage of fare differences by spending a bit more time in airport waiting for a connecting flight if there are frequent connections. (There can be big fare difference taking a 7 pm flight instead of a 5 pm flight.) Invariably, I find that my bags went through on the earlier flight.

Officially, Delta (and most other airlines) say that pax and their bags must match to fly, for security reasons. In practice, however, I guess things are different.

I recall, in Harare (Zimbabwe) having to actually go out on the tarmac and pick my bag out of the pile before getting on the ancient/underpowered BAE146 to head back to Johannesburg. What an adventure. That's how they match pax and bags...

Pat

Called Delta over the weekend; no standy on international flights. Oh well...