Looking through United's website, these are the relatives that qualify for family buddy pass riders:


  • Non-dependent children 26 years of age and older (adult children)
  • Parents-in-law (spouse's and domestic partner's parents)
  • Siblings (includes half siblings and adopted siblings, if adopted prior to attaining age 18)
  • Grandparents (Must be blood related to the employee)
  • Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren (blood related to the employee and adopted)



Because the employee has a second enrolled friend, it looks like only those family members can get buddy passes. I actually didn't realize that that was even a possibility until I looked it up.



SKC: anyone can use buddy passes, but UA has a lower buddy pass rate for those that fit those categories above, plus I think they can fly unaccompanied in GlobalFirst if I remember correctly. Both get counted from the same bank of allotted segments, however.