Our guide to How to donate unused frequent yer miles to charity

Our guide to...

How to donate unused frequent yer miles to charity

Miles (or points) are a perk of frequent travel and can be redeemed on future flights, upgrades, experiences, merchandise, car hire, accommodation and so on.

But sometimes it’s hard to spend them – air tickets may be restricted by time and destination, for instance – and travellers can instead make a di erence by donating points to non-profit organisations and charities around the world.

AIR FRANCE AND KLM Flying Blue lists 18 charities to which its members may donate miles, including Aviation Sans Frontières, which provides air transport during humanitarian crises, the French Red Cross and WWF. flyingblue.com

ALASKA AIRLINES The Alaska Airlines LIFT miles programme o ers members the chance to support 12 selected charities – these include Alaska Airlines Disaster Relief Pool, the Nature Conservancy and the United Negro College Fund, which helps under-represented students to become highly-qualified graduates. alaskaair.com

AMERICAN AIRLINES AAdvantage focuses on four types of charitable organisations – those that work to support social good, global health and wellbeing, heroes, or the planet. A minimum of 1,000 miles is required, although members with fewer than

this can donate their entire balance. Charities include Unicef, Stand Up To Cancer and the Gary Sinise Foundation. aa.com

THE LUFTHANSA GROUP Miles and More, the frequent flyer programme for Lufthansa Group airlines, has partnered with Help Alliance, which supports more than 40 projects worldwide. You can either make a free donation between 3,000 and 50,000 miles which is then allocated to the project most in need, or support a specific cause. Examples include providing emergency aid for the German Red Cross currently helping those a ected by crisis in Ukraine, or helping to build a training centre for school-leavers in Togo. miles-and-more.com

CATHAY PACIFIC

Flyers who earn Asia Miles when flying with Cathay Pacific and partner airlines can donate to five charities including Unicef HK, Oxfam Hong Kong and Hong Kong Red Cross. Miles can also be contributed to carbon o set programme

Fly Greener. asiamiles.com

DELTA AIR LINES Through Sky Miles, travellers can donate to 21 charities which you can browse by region. In Europe they include Unicef, Habitat for Humanity, Make a Wish International and Junior Achievement Worldwide. Up to five charities can be processed in one transaction. delta.com

EMIRATES Organisations for Skywards members to donate to include the Emirates Airline Foundation. emirates.com

ETIHAD AIRWAYS Etihad Guest sponsors charity organisations including the Emirates Red Crescent Authority, whose The Reach Campaign focuses on providing the medicine and treatment to protect families from river blindness and lymphatic filariasis, and Solar Buddy which designs solar light solutions for at-risk communities. Travellers can donate from 120 to 111,120 miles. Since the initiative began in 2007, more than 250 million miles have been donated. etihadguest.com

FINNAIR Finnair Plus members can give to one of eight partnered charities, which include Unicef, UN Women and Punainen Risti, the Finnish Red Cross. The minimum donation is 1,000 points. finnairshop.com

FRONTIER AIRLINES My Frontier partners with six foundations including Austin Pets Alive!, which flies programme managers to communities across the US to rescue homeless pets, and Shriners Hospital, which uses the miles to fly patients and their guardian to one of their hospitals for treatment. flyfrontier.com

GARUDA INDONESIA Garuda Miles can be donated to Indonesia Mengajar, which promotes education across the country, and Kitabisa which helps provide flight services for volunteers, health workers and underprivileged patients to accelerate health care across Indonesia. Travellers can donate 100 to 50,000 miles by emailing garudamiles@garuda-indonesia.com. garuda-indonesia.com

HAWAIIAN AIRLINES Hawaiian Miles allows members to donate to 14 local non-profit organisations, including Blood Bank of Hawaii, Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project, and Friends of Hokulea and Hawaiiloa, which helps to maintain canoe building skills. At the end of each year, the airline promises to match up to 500,000 miles to each participating charity. Donations begin at 50 miles. hawaiianairlines.com

IBERIA Iberia Plus members can donate Avios to ten charity partners including Fundacion Aladina, which helps children and teenagers with cancer, and Fundacion Integra, which supports the inclusion of disadvantaged people in the labour market. iberia.com

JETBLUE The True Blue programme gives members the option to contribute a minimum of 500 points to one of 25 organisations, including Save the Music Foundation, Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals, Carbonfund. org, and Concern Worldwide. jetblue.com/trueblue

SINGAPORE AIRLINES KrisFlyer has partnered with Make-a-Wish Singapore to grant the wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses. A minimum of 1,000 miles is required per donation, and a maximum of 100,000 can be donated per transaction. singaporeair.com SOUTHWEST AIRLINES Southwest Airline’s Rapid Rewards scheme allows you to donate miles to its seven participating charities, including Hispanic Heritage Foundation, Honor Flight Network and the Ronald McDonald House Charities, which supports families with a child in hospital. southwest.com

UNITED AIRLINES Mileage Plus has 21 charity partners including Airlink Flight, a rapid-response disaster relief organisation, and Dream Foundation, which fulfils final dreams for terminally ill adults. The programme usually has a number of active campaigns that you can donate a minimum of 1,000 miles to – if the campaign doesn’t reach its goal within the campaign period, these will be returned to you. There are currently no active running campaigns. united.com

VIRGIN ATLANTIC Flying Club has not yet chosen its new charity partner, but members can transfer points to a holding charity account in the meantime. To make a donation, passengers are advised to contact the airline using the help bot, emailing or calling. virgin-atlantic.com