Flying, Priority Standby, Divorce and Mediation

On a recent trip, we wanted to take an earlier fight because the airline had changed our flight and we were concerned that we might miss our connecting flight.  There were three other flights before our original flight.  We went to the airline counter and explained our situation to the airline’s representative.  She said there was no room on the flights but she could put us on “priority standby.”  Whoever heard of “priority standby?”  A little Google research indicates there are very complicated rules on how the airlines determine standby priority.  For example the following is Delta Airlines standby priorities

1. Confirmed first class passengers for whom there is no available seat in the first class cabin, who is also an Executive Partner or a SkyMiles member with elite status, including Million Miler.
2.  Confirmed first class passengers who is not a SkyMiles member with elite status, for whom there is no available seat in the first class cabin.
3. Confirmed business class passengers for whom there is no available seat in the business class cabin, who is also an Executive Partner or a SkyMiles member with elite status, including Million Miler.
4. Confirmed business class passengers who is not a SkyMiles member with elite status, for whom there is no available seat in the business class cabin.
5. Confirmed crew member or mechanic without a seat assignment.6. Confirmed economy class passengers for whom there is no available seat in the economy class cabin, who is also an Executive Partner  or a SkyMiles member with elite status, including Million Miler.
7. Confirmed economy class passengers who is not a SkyMiles member with elite status, for whom there is no available seat in the economy class cabin.
10. Confirmed passengers who is willing to give up his or her seat.
11. Diamond Medallion on discount fare confirmed in economy class and desiring upgrade.
12. Platinum Medallion on discount fare confirmed in economy class and desiring upgrade.
13. Gold Medallion on discount fare confirmed in economy class and desiring upgrade.
14. Silver Medallion on discount fare confirmed in economy class and desiring upgrade.
15. Non-elite SkyMiles member on discount fare confirmed in economy class and desiring upgrade – also alliance partner upgrade.
16. Paid standby upgrades.17. Death / emergency.18. Inconvenienced or mishandled by Delta, Medallion status passengers.19. Inconvenienced or mishandled by Delta, all other passengers.20. Inconvenienced or mishandled by another airline who paid Delta the full Y fare.
21. Confirmed passengers desiring a same-day flight change.
22. Airline employees, Buddy Pass travelers, etc.

General rules when all else is equal (> = have priority over) :
– SkyMiles members > non-SkyMiles members
– Medallion members > non-elite members in this order: Delta 360, DM, PM, GM, MM, FO (with the last two perhaps switching order in some instances)
– Full-fare passengers (F,J,Y,B) > discount fare passengers (all other fares, more or less)
– Order of booking class priority:
– – First class: F, P, A, G
– – Business class: J, C, D, I, Z
– – Premium economy: W
– – Economy: Y, B, M, S, H, Q, K, L, U, T, X, V (E is not eligible)
– – Award travel: R, O, N
– IRROPS passengers on connecting legs > IRROPS passengers on first leg of trip
– Older timestamps > newer timestamps (refers to time and date of ticketing, either original or re-issue).
– Booking class E is not eligible for standby
– Rebooked tickets are issued in the same fare class as the original ticket (if you move up to fare class Y on the rebooked ticket, you got lucky)

Not sure which of the categories we fit in or if we were just lucky but we were initially numbers 2 and 3 on the list and eventually numbers 1 and 2. We did not get on the first two flights and were about to give up when we got on the third flight.  Three other observations.  When they got to the last boarding groups before we received standby, the passengers were told they would have to check their carryon bags at no cost.  We did not want to do this because we thought our luggage would get lost.  I asked if we could bring our carryon luggage on the plane and they said of course and there was room for our luggage in the overhead bins. Lots of passengers get to the gate minutes before the flight takes off.  A little unrelated but people still will spend an inordinate amount of time trying to stuff there oversized luggage in the overhead bin while they are blocking other passengers from getting to their seats and are delaying the flight.  So what does all of this have to do with divorce and mediation?  Just some life lessons and things you should think about in mediation and divorce.  Never hurts to ask.  Rules are not always flowed or maybe flexible.  Sometimes you are lucky.  Do your actions affect others?
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