Dead mileage

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Look up deadhead or deadheading in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Dead mileage, dead running, light running, empty cars or deadheading in public transport and empty leg in air charter is when a revenue-gaining vehicle operates without carrying or accepting passengers, such as when coming from a garage to begin its first trip of the day. Similar terms in the UK include empty coaching stock (ECS) move^[1] and dead in tow (DIT).

The term deadheading or jumpseating also applies to the practice of allowing employees of a common carrier to travel in a vehicle as a non-revenue passenger. For example, an airline might assign a pilot living in New York to a flight from Denver to Los Angeles, and the pilot would simply catch any flight going to Denver, either wearing their uniform or showing ID, in lieu of buying a ticket. Also, some transport companies will allow employees to use the service when off duty, such as a city bus line allowing an off-duty driver to commute to and from work for free.

Additionally, inspectors from a regulatory agency may use transport on a deadhead basis to do inspections, such as a Federal Railroad Administration inspector riding a freight train to inspect for safety violations.