American Airlines has officially rolled back one of its more frustrating policies: passengers can once again list for standby directly with an airport gate agent, regardless of AAdvantage membership or status.

American Airlines Restores Gate Agent Standby Listing

In a welcome move, American Airlines has announced that passengers may once again list for standby with a gate agent. The reversal, effective July 1, 2025, walks back a policy that had only gone into effect last year.

In March 2024, American restricted gate agents from adding customers to the standby list. Passengers were instead directed to use the mobile app, aa.com, or an airport kiosk (and even that was restricted to AA AAdvantage members and cut off 45 minutes before departure). If those methods failed, too bad. Agents
were instructed to stand firm and not assist, unless a passenger had AAdvantage elite status. It was a confusing and needlessly inflexible rule from the start.

That posture has now changed. American has formally announced that agents may once again assist customers at the gate:

[A]ll customers are eligible to list for same-day standby with an agent up to 45 minutes prior to departure – regardless of AAdvantage membership or status. The policy is only applicable to domestic flights and segments.

We are continuously looking for ways to enhance the travel journey for our customers and this update gives all customers the convenience of a flexible itinerary, space permitting.

Under the new rule all passengers can request same-day standby at the airport. AAdvantage non-members and general members must still be added to the list 45 minutes before the flight while AAdvantage elite members can continue to be added up to 15 minutes before departure.

This is a positive step. Delta and United never went this far in removing agent discretion, and American’s approach created unnecessary friction. There’s nothing more maddening than being at the podium and told to use
your phone instead, especially when the mobile app did not work!

> Read More: American Airlines Agent: “We Don’t Do Standby At This Airport”

While this may not seem revolutionary, it restores a basic layer of customer service that travelers should reasonably expect. Getting people on their way earlier serves two purposes. First, it makes for happy and more loyal passengers. Second, in case of later irregular operations, it minimizes overall disruption if passengers are already on their way to their destination.

The benefit of standby is most often present when you show up to the airport or arrive from a connecting flight just in time to make an earlier flight. In that sense, I find even the 45-minute cutoff a bit much (especially if a flight is wide open), but this policy change is still a positive step.

CONCLUSION

American Airlines fixed a mistake. Preventing gate agents from helping passengers list for standby served no one. The technology-first approach fell apart when technology failed, which was often. Bringing back in-person standby requests won’t change the world, but it will reduce frustration and make travel just a little bit easier. Credit where it’s due…good job AA. Thank goodness Vasu Raja is gone…

image: American Airlines