Dear Penny Pincher (what an awesome title!),

I would like to do missions/aid work overseas, and would like to reduce the cost of getting overseas by buying my flight there and returning with air miles. The key is, I don't make a lot of money/miles and would like to ask my church family to donate air miles to purchase such a ticket. Is it possible for hundreds of people to donate air miles to one person (albeit for a good cause)? I've read on the air miles site that transferring miles to someone else is not allowed, but do you know if they would make exceptions?

Thanks a lot! You have a great website!
Blessings!

Hi Kristin,

You have a few options to consider. The first is to find one person with enough miles who would like to donate them to you. Alternatively, many airlines offer a charity program that allows individuals to donate miles to a specific cause. However, usually these are pre-established charities and I am not sure they will be very helpful in polling together miles for you. You will probably want to check with the airline with whom your donors have the most miles. Lastly, my best suggestion is that most airlines allow individuals to purchase miles. For example, here is how the program with Delta Airlines works: SkyMiles can be purchased in the form of vouchers worth either 500, 1,000 or 5,000 miles, with a minimum order of $1,200 (60,000 miles) plus a $75 administrative fee. You can redeem the SkyRewards vouchers by mail with Delta and then the miles are automatically posted to your SkyMiles account. This might provide you with the opportunity to have your donors poll together their funds. Then you will have the flexibility to travel when you need to.

All the best,
Joel