Cut-price flights in return for help at 35,000 feet

It started as a cry for help that went viral. Rachel Crampton was facing a 23-hour flight with three children under the age of five.

- Rupert Jones

Unable to recruit a family member or friend to help out, she took to social media and offered a sizeable cash payment – A$1,000 (about £560 at the time) – to someone who would accompany her on the epic London-to-Sydney flight.

Crampton, a Briton based in Sydney, was inundated with responses and found an "amazing Aussie girl" living in London who was homesick but could not afford the flight back to Australia.

She has since turned that experience into a business which has just launched in the UK after success in Australia. Her website, Juurnee, matches those who want help on a flight with people willing to be their travel companion.

Those needing help could include a parent travelling solo with toddlers, an older person requiring some assistance, someone with a disability, an unaccompanied child, or a nervous flyer.

The companion receives a payment that will cover part, or all, of the cost of their flight.