How Your Frequent Flier Miles Can Help Grant the Wishes of Children With Life-threatening Illnesses

Source: The New York Times

Airlines don’t always make it easy to use their frequent flier miles to pay for travel.

But one charity offers a feel-good option: donate them to send a sick child to Disney World.

Beginning Wednesday and continuing through the month, Make-a-Wish America is running a spring mileage drive to encourage donors to contribute frequent flier miles on United, Delta and US Airways.

Make-a-Wish uses the miles to pay for flights to grant the wishes of a child between the ages of 2 and a half and 18 with a life-threatening illness.

Each year, the charity grants the wishes of around 14,000 children who might wish to go to Australia, buy a laptop, meet a sports star or be a superhero for a day. About 10,000 of those wishes involve travel, requiring an estimated 50,000 airline tickets (each child travels with his or her family) or about 2.5 billion air miles.

The charity isn’t looking for just the miles-rich to donate. It aims to target occasional fliers as well, particularly those with miles set to expire.

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