Flying standby!!!!

epopnomis

Just a quick one!!!!!

Myself and the girlfriend are planning a trip from manchester to vegas in august, we can get standby tickets as herselfs sister works for the airline. Flights are on tuesday, thursday and sunday and the standby ticket is pretty cheap. Just don't want to be lumbered in manchester for days on end. Any advice from anyone would be great!!!!!!

Cheers

epopnomis

bedlam wrote: »

Don't fly standby then You will always run the risk of being bumped. Weigh up whether the savings are worth the extra time spent in Manchester (including any accommodation needed) and go from there.

Good point but the fare is about 800 quid cheaper for each of us and we are going to vegas so maybe its the perfect time to gamble?????

watna

Personally, I'd do it for e800, just make sure you have a bit of cash to put aside to stay in Manchester. However, I am in travelling mode at the moment with no job to tie me down.

Are you limited by taking holidays from work or anything? If you are I wouldn't do it. You might spend most of your holiday in Manchester and only a day or two in Vegas before you have to fly back.

Xavi6

I did it for the first 21 years of my life thanks to my Dad and it's the greatest thing ever. The amount of places I've gotten to see thanks to the essentially free tickets is crazy. I'd say in over at least 50 flights I've only ever been delayed badly once, maybe twice at most. Usual case is that if you miss the first flight you get the next one. Well worth the slight risk.

I even got to fly in the cockpit from Dublin to Rome! Now that was quality, especially as we flew over the Alps.

cailinoBAC

Yeah, the only time I missed a flight was flying from Milan to Dublin. Didn't get the morning flight but got on the evening one. Never had to hang around for days. Usually prepared for it though (except that time in Milan - was totally broke, and would have had to camp in the airport if I hadn't got on the evening flight).
Get the sister to check out what day has most available seats. Obviously things can change between now and August but you can get her to check a bit closer to the time too.

penexpers

I'd be very careful about doing it logn haul - my brother spent a week trying to get back from Chicago - Dublin a couple of years ago. If there's any emergency (bad weather etc..) then standby passengers get bumped to the bottom of the list.

adamski8

Is there any way to get standby tickets without knowing anyone in the industry?

jester77

I used to work for an airline and if your girlfriends sister does then she should have access to the booking details for all flights. If the flight is less than 110% then you should be safe otherwise it could be touch and go. Have a look at the bookings. It's no fun if you get stranded so check the returns as well, I had friends stranded in Bangkok for a week before there were free seats and it's no fun!

Edit:
Actually I see that neither of you work for the airline. Staff will always get priority so there is that chance you might not get a seat if there are staff flying the same route!