Jcherney,

It is possible for individuals of frequent flyer programs to give award tickets to anyone they choose. So, for instance, if you wanted to auction an award ticket within the U.S. for a fundraiser, you could do that as long as the person who is donating the mileage award follows through and redeems the award in the name of the person with the winning bid, or if you needed a flight for medical attention for an individual, the donor would do the same - redeem the flight in that person's name. This happens all the time and is not against the program's rules. (BTW, the ticket donation would not be tax deductible and you could not guarantee the person getting the award that the flight would be available exactly when they might want it - they would have to deal with redeeming an award like everyone else - the seats might not always be available.)

Also, almost every airline gives free flights for fundraisers or medical emergencies through their community relations department (not through the frequent flyer department).

The cover story will be available Dec. 1 at InsideFlyer.com and it will cover this information. You can also learn more at MileDonor.com.

Good luck. There is a way to make this work for your organization.

-Lynda