I tend to agree that the standby fares are pretty useless, even if you work for the carrier doing the flying it's incredibly difficult these days. I'd go to Cheap Flights, Hotels, Airline Tickets, Cheap Tickets, Travel Deals - KAYAK - Compare Hundreds of Travel Sites At Once and look for the best deals you can find. These fares will tend to cost less than all of the hotels you'll need to book when you don't get on the flights you hoped to. I guess it comes down to how much free time you really have and where you want to go. I don't even bother with these anymore.

The last time I flew standby(previous airline) we spent all day trying to get to the Islands and my wife looked at me and said, "I'm never doing this again, why didn't we buy tickets?"