Give a Mile: Allowing Individuals to Donate Their Miles

The pandemic made people stay at home with nowhere to go. Miles are piling up while most are unsure when to use their miles. Kevin Crowe who is an IT executive from Canada started Give a Mile. Give a Mile is a non-profit organization that connects individuals with unused miles to people living far from a family member who is terminally ill.

Give a Mile

The organization has partnered with airlines wherein individuals can donate their miles for families and individuals to travel for free to their critically ill loved ones. This is a great idea especially now that a lot of these miles will simply expire if left unused. The expiration on miles differs depending on the airline company. Some will require activity on an individual’s account within 18-24 months to keep the miles from expiring. The good thing about donating miles is that it reboots the expiration of the miles. Plus, there are many flights that donated miles are often used quickly.

In the last seven years, the company has already bought more than 740 flights from the donated miles. Airline companies are also highly supportive of the efforts of the organization. You have the likes of Air Canada and Aeroplan program that matched the donations received by Give a Mile. United also recently matched 50,000 miles during Give a Mile’s first campaign with them.

How Can You Sign Up?

Give a Mile’s website features different people to who you can donate. Apart from miles, it is also possible to donate money. You can even sign up your credit card via the organization’s links.

Did COVID19 Affect the Organization?

Since the pandemic started, the flight demand also dipped given the restrictions in hospice and medical facilities. It became common to require a negative COVID19 test before a family member can fly. But with vaccine rollout underway, Give a Mile expects a higher demand on compassion flights.