If you’re looking for more ways to give back this year, your frequent flier miles could be a surprisingly good place to start. If your miles are piling up without this year’s usual travel, you can donate them to someone in need with just the click of a button. Here are some of the ways to put those miles to good use.
- American Airlines. If you have a frequent flier account with this airline, you can donate your miles (minimum of 1,000) to a variety of charities including Children’s Flight of Hope, Mercy Medical, and the American Red Cross. To do so, simply log into your mileage account’s donate page.
- Hawaiian Airlines. This airline focuses on 14 Hawaii-based charities and will match 500,000 donated miles per organization annually. Some of its primary charities include the American Cancer Society Hawaii, the Blood Bank of Hawaii, and the Hawaiian Humane Society. Log in here with your mileage number to donate.
- Delta Air Lines. This airline uses donated miles to lend a hand to charities like the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and Luke’s Wings, which transports wounded veterans. Their SkyWish program also announced recently they will donate up to 50 million SkyBonus points to organizations owned by women or minorities.
- United. The airline’s Miles on a Mission program offers 40 nonprofits to choose from and matches the first 125,000 miles raised for each of the organizations.
- Give a mile. This non-airline affiliated organization is based in Canada and uses donated miles to fly families out to support their loved ones in critical care and palliative situations. You can donate miles on their Give A Mile site.
- Miles4Migrants. This organization uses donated miles to rescue refugees and asylum seekers. They have collected more than 56 million donated miles since 2016 and you can donate miles from any carrier on the Miles4Migrants site.
- Hyatt. Although not an airline, if you have World of Hyatt member points you can donate them towards free vacation stays for employees at the Elmhurst Hospital in Queens. Points can be donated on the World of Hyatt site.
- Hilton. Hilton Honors points can also be donated to support pandemic and West Coast wildfire relief efforts. The points are converted to cash donations made to the charity of your choice.
Forgoing travel has been a difficult aspect of the pandemic, but donating your miles and hotel points is a great way to support those who have faced exacerbated burdens over the past year.