Many people who work for airlines get the benefit of traveling for free or at a discount. Some of those people use the benefit to be ambassadors of goodwill around the world. Eddie Smith is one of them. He retired from American Airlines but now volunteers his time with Airline Ambassadors International.
Smith and other ambassadors gather and hand deliver humanitarian aid to children in need worldwide. They fly standby which means they travel for free or at a discount but have to wait for an available seat. Smith told me about his travels to Jordan and Dominica. "We took wheelchairs to some kids who were poor. They never had a wheelchair and so we assembled them, taught the parents how to operate them and the smiles on their face..Elated," Smith said. Airline Ambassadors also escort children here to the US for free. They come from poor, foreign countries and need to come to the US for medical care or adoptions.

Airline Ambassadors has more than four thousand members worldwide but Smith says more are needed. He says he doesn't know of any other ambassadors in the triangle. "There's nothing more satisfying than to do personal contact with people in need and using airline benefits makes it better," Smith said.

An American Airlines flight attendant founded Airline Ambassadors International in 1997. But it's members come from a variety of airlines. The program survives on membership fees and some private donations. Check them out.