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Mile for Mile Matching this Memorial Day Weekend! This weekend, the participating airlines will match your donation mile-for-mile, from 6 AM, Friday, May 25th through 11:59 pm, Monday, May 28th. Now is the time to donate those unused miles in your frequent flyer accounts! |
A Unique Way to Help the Troops
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Operation Hero Miles was created by Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger in cooperation with close to a dozen United States Airlines in October, 2003. When started, the program allowed troops stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan to fly home on leave for free. It now gives family members of wounded servicemen and women free plane tickets to visit their loved ones recovering at military hospitals across the country. Operation Hero Miles gives ordinary citizens an opportunity to help our troops in a very direct way that makes a real difference in their lives. The program is brilliant in its simplicity. Travelers donate their unused frequent flyer miles to the Fisher House Foundation. Donations are currently being accepted from the following ten airlines: Airtran Airways, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, Midwest Airlines, Northwest Airlines, United Air Lines and US Airways. |
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When Congressman Ruppersberger created Operation Hero Miles, the program awarded free tickets to servicemen and women stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan returning to the United States for their two weeks of Rest and Relaxation (R & R) Leave. In early 2004, the Department of Defense began paying for R & R leave. At that time, Operation Hero Miles began awarding free tickets to family members of wounded troops traveling to military hospitals to visit their injured loves ones. Sometimes the love and support of family is the best medicine to help a troop recover from a wound. Operation Hero Miles operates this program through a partnership with the Fisher House Foundation.
 Since the war began, over 13,000 U.S. combat troops have returned ill or wounded to Andrews Air Force Base. Photo courtesy of Michael Lutzky, The Washington Post
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Are you eligible for a free ticket? Click here to find out:
Download Airline Fact Sheet (Acrobat PDF)
Click here for Rules and an Application:
Rules and APPLICATION for Free Airline Tickets (Acrobat PDF)
Help with Deployment- Related Travel
For more information about Operation Hero Miles, please see the Operation Hero Miles Story.
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This site is operated in conjunction with the Fisher House Foundation to promote the donation of airline miles for members of the US Armed Forces. Donated miles may be used to allow family members to visit soldiers injured as a result of their service in Iraq or Afghanistan. Page updated/reviewed on May 24, 2007 |
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