FLY for $5FLY for $5Apply free, or add $5 - equal odds to fly next to someone interesting
I'm flying soon. For 9 hours. Seated next to some stranger. There must be a better way.
Will you be my flight companion? On me!
Here's how it works:
Could be $5 given to a stranger's trip and nothing more. Could be a genuine connection at 30,000 feet. Contribute if you're up for it.
*Must be at least 18 y.o. at the time of the contribution. No refunds for misrepresenting yourself or otherwise trying to cheat the system.
How it works
Flights are expensive and boring. Supporting someone's flight is already one of the better ways to spend $5. But imagine making a connection with someone you would actually want to spend hours with in a crowded tin can in the sky. A kind of platonic matchmaking, if you will.
Will be lifted once the flight is funded or expires unfunded.
Submit your itinerary and the honest pitch for why someone should want the seat beside you. The flight can be whenever, but the funding campaign can currently be no more than 30 days long.
Describe who you're hoping to meet and why someone would want to spend hours crammed into a seat next to you (keep it PC, please), and set a funding goal in dollars.
Once the goal is met, the platform randomly selects one entrant from everyone eligible, free and paid alike. You don't pick but can flag an entry for the platform to review for an objective rule violation (spam, a fake identity, a safety-policy violation) before the drawing runs - never for a subjective preference.
If there are no neighboring seats available in your indicated passenger class, both you and all contributors get refunded.
Browse flights by origin, date, or Host.
Write your bio and your reason for wanting that seat, that route, and especially that Host.
Applying is free and gives you one entry. Adding $5 is a personal gift toward the host's flight: not a purchase, not tax-deductible, and it never improves your odds. Your card is only charged if the flight reaches its funding goal.
If you contributed, you also get a digital 'Fly for $5' supporter badge as a thank-you. It holds no monetary value and has no effect on the drawing.
If you get selected, get your paperwork in order and check in. Host bears no responsibility for you beyond emailing you the ticket.
Live flight: flyforfive.com's first seat
This is the flight that launched the site. Funding is open now.
Superconnector, community-builder, and recovering slowmad with decades in comedy and songwriting, I've got plenty of stories, strong opinions about how the world works, and more knowledge about crypto than I have patience to explain. Laugh and cry with me, with a chance of a once-in-a-lifetime platonic connection about as likely as the chance of both of us falling asleep the moment this 9-hour flight lifts off. Who wants to fly with me?
David is filtering for
These are eligibility filters, applied automatically before the drawing. They don't affect your odds among eligible entrants, and no one, including David, hand-picks who's chosen.
First listing on the platform. Every entrant, free or paid, has equal odds. Nothing is charged unless we reach the funding goal before departure, and the winner is chosen by random drawing, not by David.
Funding closes in
Terms of contribution
Your contribution is a personal gift to the Host to help fund their flight. It is not payment for a good or service, is not tax-deductible, does not buy or improve your odds in the drawing, and does not create any contract obligating anyone to select you, seat you, respond to you, or otherwise act on your behalf.
You can apply to any flight for free. Free applicants are entered into the exact same drawing, with the exact same odds, as anyone who contributes $5. Contributing is a way to support the Host's trip, never a way to buy a better chance.
Once a flight reaches its funding goal, Fly for $5, not the Host, randomly selects one entrant from the full pool of eligible applicants, free and paid alike. Contributing $5 never improves your odds. The Host may only flag an entry for removal before the drawing, and only for an objective rule violation (spam, hate content, a safety-policy violation, or an entry that isn't a real person), never for a subjective preference. Removals are logged and visible on request. No entrant is owed a spot, a response, or an explanation beyond the outcome of the drawing.
Contributors receive a digital 'Fly for $5' supporter badge as a token of thanks. It has no cash value, can't be redeemed for anything, and has no effect on the drawing.
By contributing to or hosting a flight, you release Fly for $5, its operators, and affiliates from any liability, claims, or damages arising from a listing, a contribution, a Host's selection or non-selection of a Companion, the conduct of any Host or Companion, or the flight itself. Fly for $5 is not a party to any travel arrangement between a Host and a Companion and assumes no responsibility for either party's conduct, safety, or travel outcomes.
Privacy policy
Last updated September 2026. Fly for $5 is for adults 18 and over.
Fly for $5 ("we," "us") operates flyforfive.com. For a given listing, the Host is a joint recipient of the application data you submit (your name, email, and answers) so they can evaluate it, but the Host is not who this policy calls "we." Questions or requests: privacy@flyforfive.com.
Your name and email, the answers you submit ("Why this host," "Why you"), and basic technical data (IP address, browser type) for security and fraud prevention. Your payment authorization is handled directly by Stripe: we don't see or store your card number or bank details.
To process your application and, if you choose to add one, your contribution, and to run the funding and random-drawing mechanic (necessary to perform our agreement with you). To verify your phone number and email so each person gets exactly one entry (also necessary to the agreement). To send status and verification emails (also necessary to the agreement). To send marketing emails and to share your bio with the Host (your consent, given by the checkbox, withdrawable any time). To prevent fraud and meet legal obligations (our legitimate interest, or the law).
Stripe, for payment processing, acting as an independent controller of your payment data under its own privacy policy. The Host of the flight you contribute to, who receives your name, bio, and email. Identity-verification providers, for Hosts and selected Companions only. We do not sell personal data.
Application data is kept for as long as needed to run the listing, then for up to 24 months after for fraud prevention and recordkeeping, then deleted or anonymized. You can ask us to delete it sooner; see your rights below.
We and our processors, including Stripe, may handle data outside your country, including in the United States. Where required, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as Standard Contractual Clauses.
If you're in the EEA, UK, or a similar jurisdiction, you can access, correct, delete, restrict, or port your data, object to or withdraw consent for marketing at any time (an unsubscribe link is in every email, or write to us), and lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority. California residents have similar rights under the CCPA/CPRA. To exercise any of these, email privacy@flyforfive.com.
Fly for $5 is for adults 18 and over only. We don't knowingly collect data from anyone younger, and we'll delete it if we learn we have.
We use only the minimum cookies or local storage needed to run the site, such as remembering your session. No third-party ad tracking.
We'll post updates here and change the date above. If a change materially affects your rights, we'll flag it more prominently, such as by email.
Trust & safety
The platform, not the Host, decides who's chosen. Trust & safety here is about keeping the drawing fair and the people in it real.
Hosts can block romantic or sexual framing outright, require ID verification, or set an age range for who may apply.
Every entrant verifies their phone number and email before applying, so each person gets exactly one entry. The Host and the winner verify a real name and government ID before a listing goes live or before the ticket is sent.
Any application that reads as predatory or sexually solicitous is reported before the Host ever sees it, and the account is suspended.
The winner is picked by Fly for $5's random drawing, not the Host. The Host can only flag objective rule violations before the draw runs, never a subjective preference.
Search the board
Filter by continent, country, and city on either end of the trip. Example route shown below.
Host tools
Preview only, matches the rest of this mock-up. No real login or account connection happens on this page yet.
Enter a valid email address.
Enter your password.
First time? Create a Host account to list a flight. Government ID verification happens separately, before your listing goes live.
This is where your $4-per-contribution gift lands once the flight is funded, whether or not you've chosen a Companion yet.
Gifts land in your Stripe balance and pay out to your bank, once your flight is funded.
Companions contribute by card through Stripe, so this is the account your gifts land in once your flight is funded. (Preview only on this page: real onboarding happens through Stripe's own hosted flow, not here.)
Apply for this flight
Both paths get you exactly one entry into the same random drawing. Contributing is optional and never changes your odds.
Enter a valid email address.
Fill in the fields above and check both boxes to continue. Preview only: entry submission and phone/email verification aren't wired to the live API in this mockup.
A gift, not a purchase · Charged only if funded
Your $5 is a personal gift toward David's flight, not a purchase of a good or service, and it isn't tax-deductible. Your payment method is authorized now but only charged if this flight reaches its funding goal. Once charged, $4 goes directly to David and $1 is Fly for $5's service fee, and it's non-refundable except if no neighboring seat is available in David's class. Contributing does not improve your odds in the drawing. By contributing, you agree to these terms and to our full terms of contribution, including a release of liability, below.
Enter a valid email address.
Fill in the fields above and check both boxes to continue. Preview only: no card is actually charged or authorized in this mockup.
