Make-A-Wish^® Idaho

Make-A-Wish® Idaho, an organization that grants wishes for children with critical illnesses, is seeking donations of airline miles to meet its target of granting 130 wishes this year.  Around seventy-five percent of wishes that the organization grants annually have an airfare component which is generally the largest expense of a wish. The average cash cost of a wish is $7,500 with the cost of airfare making up nearly $3,000 of the total.  It takes roughly 50,000 airline miles to fly one passenger roundtrip on their wish and costs around 200,000 thousand airline miles to fly an entire family.

One perk of donating frequent flyer miles to a nonprofit like Make-A-Wish Idaho is that the airline miles do not expire once transferred. Most mileage plans allow miles to expire if the account has been inactive, and it’s estimated that around half of air travelers don’t redeem their frequent flyer miles.

“I strongly encourage anyone who has miles on the verge of expiration and anyone who never uses their miles to donate them,” said Janie Best, Make-A-Wish Idaho President and CEO.  “The miles can make all the difference in the life of a child battling a severe illness, and I also encourage anyone else with spare miles to donate what you can. Just knowing that a wish trip to Disney World or Hawaii is happening soon can help raise the spirits of a sick child and can provide them that extra boost to keep complying with their treatment. It also gives them something positive to focus on when they are in the thick of chemotherapy or undergoing dialysis or facing heart surgery.”

Over the last three years, Idaho’s population has increased significantly, and the chapter has granted 30% more wishes per year as a result. The most common destination request made by wish children is the wish to go to Disney World which accounts for half of the wishes the organization grants. Other popular travel locations include Hawaii, New York City, and San Diego. 

Airline miles can be donated here: https://wish.org/idaho/wishes-flight