Buddy pass
A discounted standby ticket airline staff can give to friends or family, flown space-available and under the employee's name.
Definition
A buddy pass is a standby travel benefit that lets an airline employee book a friend or relative onto a flight at a heavily reduced fare, usually taxes and a small service charge. The guest flies space-available, behind the employee's own pass priority, and is bound by the same conduct rules as staff. The term is North American; European and Gulf carriers usually fold the same idea into a wider staff-travel scheme with named nominees.
What it means for you
The pass is issued in your name, so your guest's behaviour is your responsibility — a drunk or badly dressed buddy at the gate can cost you the benefit or worse. Most airlines cap the number you can issue a year and put buddies at the bottom of the standby list, so book them onto flights with plenty of open seats and tell them plainly that they may not get on.
In practice
A Delta crew member gives a friend a buddy pass for Atlanta to Cancún on a quiet Tuesday; the friend clears at the gate, but on the Sunday return every seat sells and they wait two days for a flight with space.
Go deeper
Related terms
3 terms- Staff travelPay & benefitsHeavily discounted, usually standby, flights for airline employees and their families on their own airline and partner carriers.
- ID90Pay & benefitsAn industry discount ticket at 90% off the full published fare, the classic standby staff fare on your own or another airline.
- JumpseatPay & benefitsThe fold-down crew seat at each door or on the flight deck; as a benefit, the right to ride it free when commuting or travelling.