Free flights and business class: what bonuses do children of airline employees receive?

The son of an airline employee who has worked for United Airlines for more than 30 years can fly for free, get upgraded to business class, and book last-minute tickets to destinations like Tokyo, Japan, or Sydney, Australia. How he does this, he tells Insider.

Photo: iStock.com/goc

Joshua Crawford, 23, who works at a grocery store in Los Angeles, California, and recently graduated from college with a degree in marketing, calls himself an "airline baby."

He shared information about the bonuses he enjoys in a TikTok on February 28th. Video received more than 4,8 million views.

Relatives of employees

The rules for relatives of employees are different for each airline. At United Airlines, children of employees typically lose their flying privileges when they turn 26 years old. But this does not apply to Crawford, since he is listed as his father's main companion. And if your relatives do not work for the airline, we suggest 12 best services to search for cheap air tickets.

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“I’m very grateful for that,” Crawford said.

Flights on standby

In 2016, the guy began to realize how lucky he was when he was planning a trip to Coachella, a music festival taking place in the Californian desert.

Airfare to Los Angeles or Palm Springs from New Jersey, where Crawford grew up, can cost up to $450 round-trip, according to Google Flights—a price neither he nor his sister had to think about.

“We have an aunt who lives in California, so we just stayed at her house,” Crawford said. “All we had to do was pay admission to Coachella.”

Crawford flies free domestically because he travels on a standby basis, meaning he is not assigned a seat until the flight takes off.

According to him, he does not always get on the flights he needs. There were times when he had to wait at the gate for a later and empty plane. However, Crawford says such situations rarely arise because he has learned to avoid certain routes and major airports during peak travel seasons.

Instead of taking a direct flight from Los Angeles to New York during the December holidays, Crawford usually connects in Denver to guarantee his seat. And what is the most profitable way to book air tickets - one way or both ways at once - read in our material.

“Basically, if you study your route, you will realize that you have many other options,” he noted.

Crawford's father has access to useful non-public information, such as how many seats are left open on flights months before departure.

“I usually don’t sign up for a flight where there is a high chance that I will be transferred to the next one. It depends on the length of service in the company. My father has been with United for quite a long time, so I have a higher priority, for which I am very grateful to my father,” Joshua admitted.

Last minute flight to Sydney, Tokyo and Paris

These days, Crawford takes long trips—often without much advance planning. He is given an official reservation only a month before departure.

Over the past year, Crawford said he has booked last-minute trips to Japan, Australia and Europe.

“A couple of months ago I decided to fly to Australia alone,” he stated. — I liked the little solo trip. I planned it about two weeks before departure.”

Most recently, Crawford said, he celebrated his birthday with a short trip to Paris. The tickets were booked just a week before departure.

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Crawford has to pay taxes on such flights. However, they usually represent only a small part of the cost of the ticket.

“It depends on the country,” he explained. “For example, I was flying out of Japan, and the trip home cost about $70.”

Other bonuses

Free flights aren't the only perk Crawford gets as the son of an airline employee.

Given how long his father has been with United, Joshua is a high priority for a free upgrade to business class.

The premium cabins, known as Polaris, feature spacious pods with seats that can be converted into lie-flat beds and amenities such as face sprays and hand creams. According to Crawford, the luxury of flying helps alleviate jet lag.

As a recent college graduate, Joshua would not otherwise be able to afford to fly business class.

“Prices for round-trip business class tickets on long-haul flights sometimes reach $15,” Crawford argued.

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