How to donate an airline award ticket to the foundation

Procedures to donate a ticket to a foundation traveler. This is not points, it is a full ticket bought using your points.

I used points to fly my daughter-in-law and grandson to the Philippines. (That's why I don't have any left to donate). What I did was call United and work with one of the representatives. I found it was much too difficult to try to do this online. Anyway, with my Mileage Plus number in hand, and the names of the travelers (as it appears on their passport), the representative was able to find a combination of flights using United and Star Alliance companies. The itinerary was not the most direct and we had to be flexible on dates, but we got it worked out. The ticket had to be sent to my address of record and then I had to make sure it got to her.

So if anyone wants to donate, the first thing to do is determine if your particular plan has enough points on it to fly someone to Peru. Then contact the foundation and get the name of a traveler, passport number, country issuing the passport, expiration date and the cities s/he is flying out of and into and the dates s/he wants/needs to travel. Then start working with the airline. Remember, the ticket may have to be mailed to you and then you may have to mail or fed ex them to the traveler. Award seats are scarce so start early. This is not something to wait until the last minute on.

FYI, SquareFoot, make sure everybody has at least 6 months left before their passport expires. Some countries will not allow entry unless there is more than 6 month left before expiration date. And don't forget the visas. Check early to see which countries will require one and how long it will take to get it.

Make sure everybody registers with the US Embassy while they are in country. This really helps the State employees know who to look for and where in case of a disaster.

Kay