What It's Really Like to Fly Stand-by

I really appreciate that my good buddy Kyle gave me a pass to fly on United for the year.  It is a very, very generous gift.  But, as anyone on a Buddy Pass will tell you, there are challenges.

Here's the deal.  There's a United website (which can only be accessed by employees and passholders).  There, I can look at flight availability, including how many are booked on the flight, how many are standing-by and what my relative ranking is.   

I booked a flight for January 31st to Veracruz.  I chose Veracruz based on weather, hotel prices, types of local food and flight availability.  I could have opted for Fairbanks but the weather there generally stinks in January, IMHO. 

Buenos Aires has lovely hot weather in January but it's high season and the hotel rooms were pricier than I prefer.  Auckland is also lovely in January but there was the issue of hotel costs and a really, really long flight.  And, I've been there.

So Veracruz it is - nice hotel for less than $60 a night, weather around 80 and sunny and plentiful inexpensive seafood, Veracruz style.  And, 10 open seats on the flight.  That was the night before I was to leave.

I woke up early on January 31st, finished packing and did a last minute check of flight availability.  And started swearing and stressing.  The flight was now -6 seats.  Yes, that means at least six people would have to not show up to get a seat.  I figured that since flights to Houston were plentiful and there were flights to cities all over Mexico if I didn't get on the Veracruz flight, I'd get a flight to someplace warm, cheap and with good food.

During my 4.5 hour layover in Houston I contemplated where else I could go.  One of the dilemmas was that my Veracruz flight didn't leave until 6:05 pm and I wouldn't know until about 6:00 pm if I had a seat.  Then had to find a flight that departed later and had a gate close enough that I could get there.  And had seats available.  It looked like Santiago de Queretaro was the winner.  It's a city in the central Mexican state of Queretaro, which I'd never heard of.  But just before they called my flight to Veracruz I realized the Queretaro gate was too far.  Even if I hijacked one of the little airport carts, I couldn't make it in time.

I was sweating as I patiently waited to one side while they boarded the Veracruz flight.  The flight hadn't actually been oversold but seats were being held.  Normally for weight issues.  15 minutes before departure time, I was given a boarding pass. 

As I settled in to my exit row seat (yay!  leg room!)  the gate agent came on board and had a word with the captain and flight attendant.  It seems two passengers had checked luggage for the flight but were nowhere to be found.  For security reasons, they needed to either find the passengers (which meant I wouldn't be going to Veracruz) or take their luggage off the plane.

As I anxiously waited (yes, they would politely ask me to get off the plane for a revenue passenger and yes, I would politely and quietly do it while trying not to whimper) I considered my options.  The flight at the next gate had just started boarding and was heading to Chihuahua.  My sole knowledge of chihuahua is about yippy dogs, not a large city in Mexico.  But I figured I'd give it a try.  It was either that or spend the night in Houston and see where I could go the next day.

At 6:10 p.m. , five minutes after scheduled departure, they closed the boarding door.  I was off to Veracruz.

What is it really like to fly standby?  It's an adrenaline rush.  Nerve racking.  Challenging for us Type A control freaks.  And a blast.  I'm very happy to be in Veracruz.  But probably would have enjoyed Santiago de Queretaro or Chihuahua, too.