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In aviation, deadheading is a term used for a return flight made by a commercial aircraft without any cargo or paying passengers on board.^[1]

By extension, a member of an airline's flight staff carried free of charge but not working is known as a deadhead. This most often happens when airline crew are located in the wrong place and need to travel to take up their duties. This is also known as 'positioning.'

Confidence trickster Frank Abagnale impersonated a pilot and supposedly deadheaded on more than 250 flights.^[2]

The term deadhead applies to anyone who makes use of a free ticket for a theater, cinema, train or similar.^[3] For instance, in theaters, once a play or other show started, the ushers would count the empty seats and allow people in free of charge to fill them. A full theater was desired for the actors and the overall reaction to the show. Those admitted free were called "deadheads."

References

1. ^ An Illustrated Dictionary of Aviation. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2004.
2. ^ Skywayman: The Story of Frank W. Abagnale Jr., by Rachel Bell, TruTV.com
3. ^ Brewers Dictionary of Phrase & Fable. 16th edition. London: Cassell, 1999.