How much would it cost to fly standby?

Answer 1

Unfortunately, due to a number of business and security reasons, Standby fares are no longer offered by scheduled carriers.

The last airline to offer a creative standby fare was Eastern Airlines. They offered a scheme called 'Leisure Class.' Essentially, it provided the passenger with the ability to walk up to the ticket counter and write their own ticket for the single flight. A set competitive fare was offered.

What made the standby fare so appealing was that Eastern was so certain that they'd be able to get you on the first flight that they guaranteed that should they not be able to carry you, you would be carried on the next flight absolutely free!

It was an innovative and popular scheme.

Now, due to the algorithms used for the security vetting of passengers, 'walk-ups' attract a number of interests among the long list of security bells. It also was scuttled when baggage was matched with passengers travelling so that no passenger's baggage would travel on a flight without its owning passenger.