I've never flew nonrev before and looking for a little advice..

We are going to Australia for our honeymoon next week (wow, time really is sneaking up on me!) and I want everything to be as smooth as possible..

Well, my cousin works for Southwest Airlines and he gave my fiance and I two "buddy passes" to take care of the leg of the trip from Omaha to LAX and back. We already have the international portion of the flight booked and paid for so that should be OK. I'm just a little concerned about how to make sure I don't miss the booked flight since the buddy passes apparantly set us as dead last on the standby list.

I called the number on the tickets and was sent to an automated system that lets me know the chances of getting on the flights I want and gives me the option to "list" on them. Now, getting to LAX seems ok.. I see 6 flights on 9/12 (Wed) that should work (I don't leave until 11:40PM that day) and the system tells me most of them "look good" for nonrev travel.

My problem is on the way home. I arrive in LAX at 9:45AM on 9/21 (Fri) and that leaves me 3 flights (according to southwest.com) that all have connections. The system tells me each of them have one that "looks good" with the other connection that "looks bad".

Now I don't really have to be back until 9/24 and wouldn't mind (would actually prefer) stopping by somewhere interesting for a day or two layover but I have no idea if this is actually allowed with the "buddy pass"..

So my questions are: Can these "buddy passes" be used to pick-and-choose flights or do they have to be used with connections determined by Southwest? Also, do I need to "list" with the system beforehand or can I/should I do it at the airport? And finally, should choose the earliest flight out so I can keep my options open, or would it be safe to get on one that arrives a little closer to the international one's departing time?