standby can be a nightmare ex man with both ba and bd, the lhr flights are pretty generally chocker these days and a lot of bd long haul crew and flight deck commute and get highest priority. we always do our best to get you away and down to check in on time. After 6months you will get access to zed tickets, but be aware ba have lowered their prices, but have started charging UB tax on their tickets! That can get very expensive and the 1415 ba to lhr is no longer so that pushes spare seats on bd to the minimum. Weekend mornings are bad on bd due to the embraers.
You can always drive when the going gets tough, not to bad going out, it's the return thats the killer!
hope this helps.