I saw this post online about A list standby "perk"

[BullsFan]

, this perk only applies directly to individual A-List and A-List Preferred member, not to anyone else flying on the same reservation. This means it’s not terribly useful for people flying together unless they’re both elites. The change also has to be requested at the airport and not by phone, which further limits the utility of using it to fly on a later flight.

On top of all that, the Wandering Aramean has done some deep digging and found that only 18% of all Southwest routes even have multiple flights within two hours of each other for which this standby feature would be usable. If you want to know which specific routes have the best and worst options, definitely search him out click through the link to see his work

[franktravel]

Business Select or Anytime flights  Same-Day Changes.

On your original date of travel you are free to fly standby or make confirmed changes (if seats are available) for another flight to your destination at no additional cost.

The only ones that can't are Wana Get Away tickets.

[BullsFan]

when I posted similar this as a "story" the moderators took it down- not sure what's going on here, but it's pretty clear to me that SWA doesn't want it known that this perk isn't worth much to anyone- I can't standby earlier in the day, I can't include anyone else on my reservation, I can't include my companion on their own record locator #- and why can't that be combined with mine, BTW?- I can't organize standby over the phone/internet/app in advance, but have to go to the airport and hope for the best- what good is this to me???????

[coolwz]

The standby perk for A listers is worthless.  Flight has to be within 2 hours of your original flight.  As good as Southwest is regarding other policies (free bags, free changes, etc.) this one they should be embarrassed about.  I assume they do this to avoid an A lister from buying the least expensive fare on a given day knowing they can always stand by earlier. 

[DancingDavidE]

I think it serves a perfectly fine niche where business travelers on those 18% of more frequent routes will book the later return flight but might finish up their appointments early.

There's not enough time to do anything else in the city so head back to the airport - if you can get on the earlier flight without paying extra then great, if not you end up working at the airport just like usual.

I'm not sure why the grief about adding this perk, certainly it will be used less than other benefits but it isn't worthless. I think it formalized what might have been allowed in some cases at the gate agent's discretion before this benefit was announced. If it doesn't apply to you, then who cares?

Regarding the OP, the "Stories" section is meant to be about experiences, I agree you are in the right place as a discussion topic and not as a story. A story about how a flyer did or didn't standby for an earlier flight on the same day would be a pretty boring story anyway.

@coolwz i think you are right, this is a way to maintain the time of day fare structure while letting frequent customers travel one flight earlier without making them pay a couple hundred bucks.