Switching flights to avoid longer layover

[dfwskier]

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@ffflyer wrote:

It's a stupid policy. SWA should allow ticketed passengers to take empty seats on a standby basis to the same detsination without any charges. SWA misses the opportunity to sell those empty seats on the next flight out. They are losing money flying planes with empty seats.

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How does not moving people from one flight to another flight cause SW to lose money? There's not much "walk up" traffic for flights. 

Same number of travellers. Same number of seats. Make no difference if Flight A goes out with 135 passengers while flight B goes out with 100 .. 

or if flight A goes out with 140 passengers and flight B goes out with 95.

Same number of seats and same number of passengers - same number of empty vs. full seats.

[DancingDavidE]

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@pfrangie wrote:

Has anyone successfully pulled this off without being an elitist? By elitist I mean not just being a member and having a credit card. 

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I didn't see this part before - in the past they had allowed more of this assuming you hadn't already checked luggage - if you checked luggage they want you to travel with it - but always with preference for the frequent flyers.

[elijahbrantley]

I'm what you call "elitist." I travel countless days per year and earn that sustain...and the perks that come along with it like being able to standby onto earlier flights for free.  As has been stated, SW offers this perk to its most valuable customers for free.

Other customer can pay to upgrade to the full far, again...as has been stated. 

Honesty hour: this will not change, and SW's response to the OP was not bull...it was truth. If SW allowed anyone to buy a ticket on any flight and then just swap to the earlier one with no cost, they would lose money. And SW offers way too many perks that other airlines don't that make this policy OK with me. 

Good luck finding another airline that will consistently let non-status holders standby for free. If you do, it might be the better choice for your travels, and that is OK.