I’ve written about opportunities to do some good with your miles. We hoard miles for aspirational redemptions, but many of us don’t use them all. We have a lot in some accounts, or orphaned miles in others. But we can put them to work.
Give A Mile is a charity that uses donated miles to book flights of compassion for people trying to reach a loved one in hospice or critical care — because the cost of a plane ticket should never be the reason someone dies alone. There’s only one week left in their fundraising campaign. I’d appreciate your help.
Regular readers know that I support Give A Mile which makes it possible to donate United MileagePlus miles to help someone get on a plane to say goodbye to a dying loved one.
Last-minute flights are often the most expensive ones to book. That’s especially true when the reason for travel isn’t flexible: the final days of someone close. People don’t care about routing rules or fare classes they just need to be there. But too often, they can’t afford to go.
Give A Mile is a 501(c)3 charity that takes donated frequent flyer miles including United MileagePlus miles and uses them to book urgent flights for people who need to be with a loved one at end of life. They’ve already funded more than 1,400 flights. Each one represents a moment that would have otherwise been missed.
Their current campaign, called The Presence Project, is looking to raise 1 million miles by June 21st. This funds 37 people showing up in person instead of saying goodbye through a screen.
Most “donate your points” options are basically a black box where your miles are converted to cash at some miserable implied rate — and you’re never really sure whether your donation increased what the charity received, or just helped the airline reduce a balance sheet liability.
Give A Mile actually uses the miles to book tickets. And they do the unglamorous work: coordinating, verifying, and moving quickly. They’re volunteer-driven. And your miles go 100% to book flights, with no overhead (that’s covered by other donations).
They work with multiple currencies — but for U.S. domestic flights, United MileagePlus miles are particularly useful because they can be deployed quickly and across a large network, and Give A Mile is set up on United’s MileagePlus Miles on a Mission platform so your miles can be moved into their account and used.
Give A Mile’s site is full of real itineraries and real people. Here are two examples that show exactly what your miles turn into:
- “Father and Son Final Goodbye” Bismarck to San Francisco so someone could get to a father in hospice.
- “A Grandson’s Introduction, Right On Time” mother on a single income with a new baby, trying to reach her dying father so he could meet his only grandchild.
This isn’t abstract “awareness.” It’s a boarding pass. So if you’re sitting on a stash you won’t miss — or you’ve got a random balance you’ll never redeem well — this is the moment to convert it into something that matters.
Would you help me – and them – out and donate United miles to Give A Mile with a few clicks, and even a small contribution can help close the gap on a ticket that makes a real difference?
I donate my own miles (and money). I’ve given a couple of times this year already. My United balance doesn’t match what I have in other programs, though, so I’m asking for your help.
Give if you want to good causes, but… United, the for-profit company, can and should just directly help people in-need, not guilt-trip its own workers and consumers into giving away what little they have… just sayin’… (Gary reposts this occasionally, and I basically say the same thing every time…)
@1990 – United supporting causes isn’t mutually exclusive from individuals doing so, and I think it’s great that they make it easy to use your miles as a donation – where the miles actually go to the charity, as an incremental contribution (rather than just trading off with support an airline or hotel chain would otherwise offer).
@Gary Leff — By all means, I hope these folks-in-need do get to be there for their dying relatives; and, in that regard, is United really the only airline assisting with bereavement? (Ironically, some of those special fares are still quite expensive…) Like, does Delta, American, Southwest, Alaska, Allegiant, Frontier, Avelo, Breeze, JSX, etc. have similar charities/programs? (Technically, thanks to UA’s partnership with jetBlue, B6 is ‘helping,’ too.)
I don’t regularly fly United, but I did recently…so, I’m happy to donate the 3,880 miles I had just sitting in my account.
@Jimmy Saal — You’re a good man, Jimmy.
(Interestingly, neither Jimmy nor United can claim a charitable tax deduction for the donation. Because United is merely facilitating the transfer from Jimmy’s account to the charity’s account, it cannot claim a tax write-off for a donation made by a third party. That said, unused frequent flyer miles are treated as a deferred revenue liability on United’s balance sheet. When Jimmy donates his miles and Give A Mile uses them to book a ticket, that liability is wiped off United’s books. And, as Gary sorta mentioned, when miles are transferred to a charity, they are often cleared off the airline’s books at a minor fraction of a cent per mile, or utilized on inventory (empty seats) that would otherwise go unsold. This allows the airline to clear its loyalty debt very cheaply. So, United gets a cleaner balance sheet, less financial liability, and excellent public relations from the Miles on a Mission. And, yes, ultimately, hopefully someone in-need is actually helped, too.)