Part of the ticket for taking flight with partners (7,5)

I believe the answer is:

running mates

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'part of the ticket for taking' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.

'flight with partners' is the wordplay.
'flight with' becomes 'running' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'partners' becomes 'mates' ('mate' can be a synonym of 'partner').
'running'+'mates'='RUNNING MATES'

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.

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