Calling All Corporations
Don’t forget to join the Trip Chicks and me for
our teleseminar this Thursday, April 13th,
starting at 8:00 PM ET (adjust for your time
zone). This is a chance to submit your own
questions regarding piloting, fear of flying, and
pretty much anything aviation-oriented. I’ll
address your questions on a planned two-hour long
seminar over the phone. The only expense is the
cost of the call. Please register here if you
haven’t done so already:
http://www.askthetripchicks.com
I wrote a proposed “Ask The Captain” column
recently that I knew my editors at usatoday.com
would probably reject as being off-topic, which
they did. I wrote it in response to a question
about emergency fares for family members to visit
terminally ill relatives. Although I didn’t find
a satisfactory answer, I went on to write about
the Corporate Angel Network on a related subject.
Since the column did not get published, I’m using
it instead as this week’s Update as I promised
the Executive Director of the Corporate Angel
Network I would. My Updates are all posted in my
Blog at www.fromthecockpit.com/Blogg and seen by
a much wider audience than my own database. If
even one more company participates or one more
patient learns of this free service and can use
it, then I’ll consider its posting worthwhile.
CALLING ALL CORPORATIONS
Question: I need information regarding hardship
flights. Is it possible to be on a waiting list
for flights on seats that fail to be sold, in the
event there is a loved one in the family
diagnosed with a terminal illness? Please let me
know if such a program exists and how to enroll
or if no such plan exists, or how I could develop
such an idea into policy with the airlines. It
may be the only way to see a relative one last
time.
Name Withheld
Answer: Unfortunately, I don’t know of such a
program. This is not something I have any
expertise in as a pilot, and I have avoided this
question several times in this column because of
this. However, I’ve received the question so
many times I made a few calls to the major
airlines and they informed me there are
“emergency fares” and “bereavement fares”
depending upon several factors, including your
relationship to the sick or deceased one.
The airlines I spoke with told me there is no
program for unfilled seats on a standby basis.
Emergency and bereavement fares are positive
space but may have certain fees waived and may
also be more flexible than regular tickets. If I
am wrong and a free standby program does exist,
then hopefully such information will be forwarded
to me and if so, I will publish in this column.
Regarding the development of such a program, I
can only suggest you write to the airlines
individually and see whether or not they are
responsive to such an idea.
One reason I decided to go ahead and publish this
question is because there is such a program for
cancer patients needing to travel for treatment
within the United States. However, the seats are
provided by corporations and charter companies
which, unlike the airlines, know in advance how
many empty seats there will be. Airlines, on the
other hand, often fill seats at the last minute.
Seats on corporate or charter aircraft are
provided at no charge on a standby and available
basis for cancer patients needing to travel for
treatment, along with a family member escort.
Patients must be mobile as a practical matter so
they can board the planes themselves.
When I spoke to the Executive Director of the
Corporate Angel Network, Peter Fleiss, he
informed me that over half of Fortune 100
companies are participants as well as a great
number of Fortune 500 companies. There are, at
present, 530 participating corporations. I’ve
been aware of this organization for some time and
thought I’d like to help somehow. I had no idea
how extensive it had become. It is my hope that
through this column even more companies will step
up to the plate and participate.
The Corporate Angel Network has been in operation
since 1981 when it was founded by three cancer
survivors including a female pilot who herself
had been a cancer patient. You can read the
history here:
http://www.corpangelnetwork.org/about/history.html
An average of just over 200 patients per month or
2500 per year are able to take advantage of this
corporate generosity. The 25,000th cancer patient
will fly aboard a Corporate Angel Network jet
sometime this year. About 5,000 patients per year
make it through the screening process and half
make it onto flights. This is double the number
five years ago, but the need is obvious for more
companies to volunteer their empty seats.
Companies and patients who wish to apply should
call 1-866-328-1313 for more information, or
click here: www.corpangelnetwork.org.
our teleseminar this Thursday, April 13th,
starting at 8:00 PM ET (adjust for your time
zone). This is a chance to submit your own
questions regarding piloting, fear of flying, and
pretty much anything aviation-oriented. I’ll
address your questions on a planned two-hour long
seminar over the phone. The only expense is the
cost of the call. Please register here if you
haven’t done so already:
http://www.askthetripchicks.com
I wrote a proposed “Ask The Captain” column
recently that I knew my editors at usatoday.com
would probably reject as being off-topic, which
they did. I wrote it in response to a question
about emergency fares for family members to visit
terminally ill relatives. Although I didn’t find
a satisfactory answer, I went on to write about
the Corporate Angel Network on a related subject.
Since the column did not get published, I’m using
it instead as this week’s Update as I promised
the Executive Director of the Corporate Angel
Network I would. My Updates are all posted in my
Blog at www.fromthecockpit.com/Blogg and seen by
a much wider audience than my own database. If
even one more company participates or one more
patient learns of this free service and can use
it, then I’ll consider its posting worthwhile.
CALLING ALL CORPORATIONS
Question: I need information regarding hardship
flights. Is it possible to be on a waiting list
for flights on seats that fail to be sold, in the
event there is a loved one in the family
diagnosed with a terminal illness? Please let me
know if such a program exists and how to enroll
or if no such plan exists, or how I could develop
such an idea into policy with the airlines. It
may be the only way to see a relative one last
time.
Name Withheld
Answer: Unfortunately, I don’t know of such a
program. This is not something I have any
expertise in as a pilot, and I have avoided this
question several times in this column because of
this. However, I’ve received the question so
many times I made a few calls to the major
airlines and they informed me there are
“emergency fares” and “bereavement fares”
depending upon several factors, including your
relationship to the sick or deceased one.
The airlines I spoke with told me there is no
program for unfilled seats on a standby basis.
Emergency and bereavement fares are positive
space but may have certain fees waived and may
also be more flexible than regular tickets. If I
am wrong and a free standby program does exist,
then hopefully such information will be forwarded
to me and if so, I will publish in this column.
Regarding the development of such a program, I
can only suggest you write to the airlines
individually and see whether or not they are
responsive to such an idea.
One reason I decided to go ahead and publish this
question is because there is such a program for
cancer patients needing to travel for treatment
within the United States. However, the seats are
provided by corporations and charter companies
which, unlike the airlines, know in advance how
many empty seats there will be. Airlines, on the
other hand, often fill seats at the last minute.
Seats on corporate or charter aircraft are
provided at no charge on a standby and available
basis for cancer patients needing to travel for
treatment, along with a family member escort.
Patients must be mobile as a practical matter so
they can board the planes themselves.
When I spoke to the Executive Director of the
Corporate Angel Network, Peter Fleiss, he
informed me that over half of Fortune 100
companies are participants as well as a great
number of Fortune 500 companies. There are, at
present, 530 participating corporations. I’ve
been aware of this organization for some time and
thought I’d like to help somehow. I had no idea
how extensive it had become. It is my hope that
through this column even more companies will step
up to the plate and participate.
The Corporate Angel Network has been in operation
since 1981 when it was founded by three cancer
survivors including a female pilot who herself
had been a cancer patient. You can read the
history here:
http://www.corpangelnetwork.org/about/history.html
An average of just over 200 patients per month or
2500 per year are able to take advantage of this
corporate generosity. The 25,000th cancer patient
will fly aboard a Corporate Angel Network jet
sometime this year. About 5,000 patients per year
make it through the screening process and half
make it onto flights. This is double the number
five years ago, but the need is obvious for more
companies to volunteer their empty seats.
Companies and patients who wish to apply should
call 1-866-328-1313 for more information, or
click here: www.corpangelnetwork.org.
