I'm just wondering if major airlines ever let ticketed passengers onto an earlier flight than the one ticketed - without charging extra - if you show up at the airport way ahead of time and they have unfilled seats on the earlier flight.
The airline in question this time happens to be Southwest. They do not charge a fee for changing a ticket, but if I were to change the ticket now, less than 2 weeks before the ticketed time, the fare would jump almost $150.
I'm just wondering if it's worth showing up at the airport 3 hours early, going up to the ticket counter, and asking if there's room for me on an earler flight and if they'd let me onto that flight without penalty.
Seems to me it would be to their advantage - certainly not to their disadvantage - because by filling up the earlier flight last minute they'd make space for last-minute passengers on the later flights.