While doing research for my second book, Different Dream Parenting: A Practical Guide to Raising a Child with Special Needs, the most wonderful resources kept appearing. One kind of resource that was both impressive and practical was free medical airline travel.
Free Medical Airline Travel Resources for Kids with Special Needs
As I discovered, there are lots of organizations handing out free wings to families, but you gotta know where to look or you can’t find them. So here are some places to look:
- The Air Care Alliance – www.aircareall.org, 888 260-9707
- The Air Charity Network – www.aircharitynetwork.org, 877-621-7177
- Angel Flight – www.angelflightmidatlantic.org, 800-296-3797
- Corporate Angel Network – www.corpangelnetwork.org/index.htm, 866-328-1313 (for children with cancer)
- Hope Air – www.hopeair.org, 877-346-4673 (Canada only)
- Mercy Medical Airlift – www.mercymedical.org, 800-296-1217
- National Patient Travel Center – www.patienttravel.org, 800-296-1217
Some of the organizations are regional and some are targeted to patients with specific illnesses, but still, the number of organizations should restore some of your faith in mankind. More information about other free resources for parents of kids with special needs can be found in Different Dream Parenting: A Practical Guide to Raising a Child with Special Needs.
Free Medical Airline Travel through Commercial Airlines
If the organizations above can’t meet your need, one option remains. Some airlines also provide free flights, often using frequent flier miles donated by passengers. So pick up the phone and start calling Delta, United, Jet Blue, American…any airline you can think of. They might say no, but they might say yes. But to get either answer, you gotta make the call.
If you know of other free medical airline travel organizations not listed here, please share the information in the comment box. Thanks!
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Joeseph, thank you for sharing your family’s story. And thank you Angel Flight for what you did for this family and for so many others. Jolene
Angel Flight was exactly that, angels. Our son had to fly from Ut to Mi for surgery and could not, in fact the commercial airliners refused him passage because he used oxygen bottles. These wonderful pilots made this possible by giving of their time and expertise to make sure he got to Mi for his surgery. Even though it was for a very difficult eye surgery, the end story was it saved his life because while there, we found out our son had another issue that upon retuning home he went in for open heart surgery. Had we not been able to fly with these wonderful people our son would not be with us today. Thank you again Angel Flight, thank you.
Thank you for your feedback, Ponder. I’m glad you’ve located the best docs, though they are so far away. Did you sign up for the Different Dream newsletter? Jolene
I would really like some info and the newsletter. My daughter who is 2 has prader willi syndrome. We live in California and one of the best pws doctor’s works out of Florida.