Mechanics of miles/points donation - HOW do charities benefit?
Mar 21, 2011, 3:17 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2010
Programs: AA, UA
Posts: 210
Mechanics of miles/points donation - HOW do charities benefit?
I just made a donation of 3k Air France Flying Poo miles to the French Red Croissant, and this prompted me to wonder the mechanics of mileage donation:
1. What do the charities actually get? Do the airlines/hotels pool all the donations together and give them a total of miles/points and let the charities decide the usage? Or do they instead get a monetary value (say 1c/mile) and airlines get to write off the liability and MAY claim tax credit?
2. Say charities indeed get x miles, do they have to suffer the shortcomings of the programs (e.g DL's generous award availability at low level, and AF's reasonable fuel surcharges) like the rest of us? I would hate to see humanitarian relief personel or deserving child/patient/veteran, etc waiting for those elusive domestic awards or paying $700 for a "free" international ticket.
3. Do charities have guidelines on how the miles to be used? I don't want to see the head of Red Cross flying transpac first/business class in a flatbed with my hard earned CO miles.
I recommend Continental OnePass for making mileage donation available for as little as 1 mile. Most programs require 1k, and Flying Goo requires 3k minimum!
1. What do the charities actually get? Do the airlines/hotels pool all the donations together and give them a total of miles/points and let the charities decide the usage? Or do they instead get a monetary value (say 1c/mile) and airlines get to write off the liability and MAY claim tax credit?
2. Say charities indeed get x miles, do they have to suffer the shortcomings of the programs (e.g DL's generous award availability at low level, and AF's reasonable fuel surcharges) like the rest of us? I would hate to see humanitarian relief personel or deserving child/patient/veteran, etc waiting for those elusive domestic awards or paying $700 for a "free" international ticket.
3. Do charities have guidelines on how the miles to be used? I don't want to see the head of Red Cross flying transpac first/business class in a flatbed with my hard earned CO miles.
I recommend Continental OnePass for making mileage donation available for as little as 1 mile. Most programs require 1k, and Flying Goo requires 3k minimum!
Mar 22, 2011, 5:50 am
#3
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: RDU, SEA, YVR
Programs: AA, AC, AGR, AS, BA, CX, DL, UA, WN, all non-elite
Posts: 374
This is an interesting question. I've always refrained from donating miles to charity because I assume that I could get a better value for them myself, and presume that charities prefer cash. However, I could certainly be wrong.
Mar 22, 2011, 8:53 am
#4
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: WAS
Posts: 141
This is just a guess but maybe the Red Cross and the likes use the miles to get volunteers to their destinations. Also it may use award tickets to move disaster victims to different cities.
Perhaps if the Red Cross calls to make award bookings, the availability changes. Again this is just a guess, not exactly sure how it's used.
Perhaps if the Red Cross calls to make award bookings, the availability changes. Again this is just a guess, not exactly sure how it's used.
Mar 22, 2011, 1:25 pm
#5
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: DEN
Programs: UA Gold-MM, AA Gold-MM, F9-Silver, Hyatt Something, Marriott Gold, IHG Plat, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 6,392
I've been told that when you donate miles to an airline to be used for charity, the airline 'charges' the charity the standard award rate (not saver) even when saver is available.
Talk about a bum deal.....
Talk about a bum deal.....
Mar 22, 2011, 1:33 pm
#6
Join Date: Dec 2007
Programs: Aeroplan, BMI, Hyatt, SPG, PC
Posts: 606