My ex-wife is a Delta ticket agent, so I've seen how this is with other airlines. The Delta employees fly free inside the US, and listing is automatically for first/businesss class at no additional charge. Traveling overseas they pay taxes only. Kids age nine and up can travel in first/business. Fifteen? LMAO. They have buddy passes. I have been told we had buddy passes at Cathay many years ago but local staff tried to sell them. Don't know if that's why we don't have them or not. The system is pretty transparent, you can see seats available and where you sit on the standby list. Heck, its on a screen at the gate along with seats available. Even as a Cathay employee I can see that list and where I sit, which is usually dead last.
What else? They get "rewarded" with high priority passes. If they get a good letter from a customer or something like that. My ex is good at her job, so she meets her sales goals and gets a free vacation each year. Called the Delta summit or some such. This past year was in Jamaica. They can buy discounted full fare tickets.
But hey, we have our FOCs which I've never even tried to use in 13 years. Because they are f***ing useless.