Flying Labor Day on Standby
 

I have not flown in a long time. I have never felt inclined to fly on Labor Day weekend, as I imagine, based on the prices I see, that it a high-volume weekend. On August 17, I moved to the SF bay area to start a mew job. My family is supposed to be packing up our home to move here too, but that is not going well.So on this three-day weekend, I want to fly form SFO to LAX or ONT and help them move along farther in packing. I was stunned when I saw the prices. I have three questions:
1. The lowest price I found won't tell me when the flights are until I pay for the ticket. That's a pretty rotten system. Why do they do that?
2. Instead of $442, the lowest price I see for flights with times, there is one for about half of that if you fly on standby. I have never tried that. Is it likely to succeed on such a busy travel weekend from SFO or LAX? I know there are no guarantees here, but what would a likely scenario be? I don't want to try this if the odds are virtually impossible to succeed.
3. Any other options besides the flights I see at, fore example Expedia.com? I'm sure there is no magic here, but I figured it could not hurt to ask. I simply can't afford $442 regardless of the reasons to go. Thanks.

Duncan

Flying Labor Day on Standby
 

1. The lowest price I found won't tell me when the flights are until I pay for the ticket. That's a pretty rotten
system. Why do they do that?

Sounds like Hotwire. Airlines are willing to release some cheap seats
but they don't want to undercut their published fares so they do the
"opaque" thing. The tickets are real, they're on the usual airlines.

2. Instead of $442, the lowest price I see for flights with times, there is one for about half of that if you fly on
standby.

That sounds like a scam, since nobody sells standby tickets to the
public. Where did you see it?

3. Any other options besides the flights I see at, fore example Expedia.com? I'm sure there is no magic here, but I
figured it could not hurt to ask. I simply can't afford $442 regardless of the reasons to go. Thanks.

Southwest only sells tickets on its own web site, but I looked at some
fares for SFO/OAK/SJC - LAX/BUR and they're no cheaper.

Spirit airlines has some tix OAK-LAX for $343, but remember on Spirit
everything costs extra, in particular luggage.

If you have the time, Amtrak has some tix left at $122 or $62 each eay
between Oakland and L.A. Megabus has lots of seats between S.F. and
L.A. for $50 each way or less.