I’ve been at a conference for the past few days, sans computer, so light posting. Anyway, I’m flying back from DC tomorrow to LA, with a non-stop flight scheduled for 5:30 PM, because I’d thought I’d have some meetings set up tomorrow, but it turns out that I have no reason to stick around, so I’d like to get out earlier.

So there’s a 7:20 AM flight, which I’ve put myself on standby for. But if I miss it, despite the fact that there are many routes from DCA to LAX all day, I won’t be able to go standby on them, because they aren’t non-stops. If I want to take a different route to LA, I have to pay the difference in ticket price plus a change fee (which is up to a couple hundred bucks).

My question is, what is the thinking behind this policy? An airline seat is a depreciating asset, and to me it would make sense to free to up later in the day by offering someone an earlier ticket, if there’s room on the flight. Why in the world would you care if they flew on the exact route that their original ticket was for, as long as you freed up the seat and didn’t have to bump anyone else?

So, since I’m not going to pay the penalty for changing route, if I miss the flight, I have to wait for the next one (which means I’ll leave my stuff somewhere and do something in town, and come back for my scheduled flight).