Standing by

According to the little Japanese gate agent I just spoke with, Delta Airlines "doesn't do" standbys. How that policy makes any sense in today's era of airline overbooking is well beyond me. You'd think that if a plane had a few open seats and if someone wanted to take that seat to get to his or her destination more quickly, the airline would be psyched to let him or her go, thereby freeing a seat on a later flight! In other words, standby is a win-win situation!

Instead, I guess I'll have to wait another hour before my flight to GA leaves. Brilliant.