Sky's the Limit: The Ultimate Guide to Gifting Airline Tickets

Want to give someone the gift of travel but not sure where to start? In this episode, we break down everything you need to know about gifting airline travel, from booking actual tickets to transferring miles and picking the perfect airline gift card. Plus, discover creative ways to make your gift even more special, including tips for the big reveal. Whether you're planning a surprise trip for a loved one or looking to share your frequent flyer miles, this episode will help you navigate the process like a pro.

Transcript

How to Gift Airline Tickets

Heide Brandes: You're listening to Untethered and WanderWise, the podcast that proves adventure has no expiration date. Join us as we explore the world, share travel wisdom, and prove that the best stories start with, "I can't believe I'm doing this."

Nicky Omohundro: Whether you're a seasoned globe trotter, or just starting to spread your wings, this is your weekly dose of travel inspiration, practical tips, an unfiltered girlfriend chat about life on the road after 45. Today's episode, the ultimate guide to gifting airline tickets, because nothing says I love you quite like sending someone thousands of miles away from you.

Heide Brandes: Hey, Wanderful Women! Welcome to Untethered and WanderWise, where we prove that life's greatest adventures have no age limit. I'm Heidi Brandes.

And I'm Nicky. 

Nicky Omohundro: Omohundro. And can we just talk about the meme going around? "If anybody's holiday shopping for me, I'm a size window seat for a round trip ticket to Rome."

Heide Brandes: Gosh. Yes. I've shared that one about 12 times already. And honestly, Santa, if you're listening, I'll take an aisle seat too. I'm not picky.

Nicky Omohundro: So, well, speaking of gifting flights, that's exactly what we're diving into today because let's face it, ladies, we all have that friend who deserves more than another scented candle or a bath bomb set.

Heide Brandes: And you know what? I actually gifted our friend a trip to Madeira this year for her birthday. And let me tell you the look on her face was priceless.

Nicky Omohundro: spill the details. How did you pull that off?

Heide Brandes: Well, that's what today's episode is all about. We're going to break down everything you need to know about gifting airline tickets. And trust me, it's not as complicated as you might think it is.

Nicky Omohundro: Okay. Well, let's start with the basics. There are really three ways to gift travel. You can buy actual tickets, get airline gift cards, or transfer miles. Each has pros and cons.

Heide Brandes: And the key is matching the right option to your recipient.

Nicky Omohundro: Exactly. Like when I bought airline tickets for a trip, but totally messed up the dates because I overlooked my friend's scheduling conflict. I learned the hard way that checking calendars first, which brings us to my first big tip. Always, always check your recipient's availability before booking.

Heide Brandes: and their passport expiration date, because nothing kills the surprise quite like finding out their passport expired three months ago, you know?

Nicky Omohundro: Oh, that's horrible. Yeah. Well, speaking of documentation, should we talk about the nitty gritty details of actually booking someone else's ticket?

Heide Brandes: Yes, this is super important and I've done this several times, actually, booked other people's travel on companion trips with me. Ladies, when you're booking for someone else, you need their information exactly as it appears on their ID, not their nickname, not their married name if their ID shows their maiden name exactly as it appears on their official documents.

Nicky Omohundro: That's right. And here's a pro tip from someone who learned the hard way. If they have TSA pre check or global entry, make sure to add their known traveler number to the reservation. Trust me, they'll thank you for it.

Heide Brandes: Whoo! Well, it's time for a WanderWise quick tip.

Nicky Omohundro: Hit us up with it.

Heide Brandes: When you're booking tickets as a gift, always, always, always buy the trip insurance. Yes, it's an extra expense, but it's worth every penny for the peace of mind. 

Nicky Omohundro: So absolutely. And speaking of expenses, let's talk about budget because while we'd all love to get first class tickets to Paris.

Heide Brandes: Yeah, if only. But there are some great ways to make travel gifting more affordable. You can share your credit card points, for instance, and there's a hack for that.

Nicky Omohundro: Yes, that's right. So this is something I started doing last year. I put all of my regular expenses on my travel rewards card. And by December, I had enough points to gift my daughter a ticket for spring break.

Heide Brandes: And see, that's genius. And speaking of points, Let's talk about how to gift airline miles.

Nicky Omohundro: Sure, but before we get into Miles, we did have a listener question that we should get to first.

Heide Brandes: Today's question comes from Margaret in Michigan. Thanks for listening, Margaret. She writes, ladies love the show. I want to surprise my best friend with tickets to Ireland for her retirement. But I'm worried about ruining the surprise while trying to figure out if she can get away. Any suggestions?

Nicky Omohundro: Oh, this is a really good one. And actually, I have a really sneaky tip for this.

Heide Brandes: Is this the fake survey trick?

[00:05:00] Nicky Omohundro: It is, you know it. So Margaret, here's what you can do. Create a fake survey about retirement dreams or bucket list travel. Include questions about what months would be ideal for her to travel, how long of a trip they'd like to take, that sort of thing.

Heide Brandes: Another approach is to conspire with their assistant or supervisor at work to check their schedule or their husband or their kids. You know, I've done this too.

We have another question from our audience. We've got Sarah from Arkansas who asks, what about gift cards?

"Are airline gift cards, a good option?"

Nicky Omohundro: Perfect segue into the next segment. Let's talk about the pros and cons of gifting airline cards.

Heide Brandes: The biggest pro is flexibility. Your recipient can choose their own dates and even their own destination.

Nicky Omohundro: but there's a con too. Sometimes they feel less personal than actual tickets. Although I have to say there are some really creative ways to present them.

Heide Brandes: Oh yeah. Tell them about your treasure hunt,

Nicky Omohundro: So a few Christmases ago, I did this whole elaborate thing with my kids where I created this series of travel themed clues all around the house.

Heide Brandes: each one leading to the next location.

Nicky Omohundro: Exactly and the final treasure was a gift card for an airline ticket tucked into a vintage globe found in an antique store. The whole family got into it and it became one of my favorite Christmas traditions.

Heide Brandes: See, ladies, it's not about what you give, it's how you give it, which brings us to creative ways to present travel gifts.

Nicky Omohundro: Quick reminder, all the resources we mentioned today will be linked in our show notes.

Heide Brandes: And don't forget to join our wanderwise women. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Be sure to like subscribe and follow for more tips like this.

Let's talk presentation ideas. I'm going to share my top three favorite ways to present travel gifts.

Nicky Omohundro: Is number one the suitcase surprise? 

Heide Brandes: You know it. what you do. You get a nice carry on suitcase. It doesn't have to be expensive. I've picked up really nice travel carry on suitcases from like Goodwill, but make it practical and fill it with everything they'll need for the trip.

Nicky Omohundro: So it's like a travel themed gift basket, but better. 

Heide Brandes: Exactly. And then you include the tickets or the gift card, obviously, but you also add other things like a travel guide, appropriate clothing for the destination, maybe some travel size toiletries, things like that.

Nicky Omohundro: And then don't forget something fun and destination specific. Like if you're going to Hawaii, maybe a lay in some Hawaiian coffee. Or those really fun girls trip t- shirts that say, I like a cocktail.

Heide Brandes: Exactly. That's perfect. And my second favorite presentation idea is what I like to call the The movie night reveal.

Nicky Omohundro: Oh, I love this one. Tell them exactly how this works.

Heide Brandes: Okay, so you invite them over for a movie night, but instead of a regular movie, you create a custom video about their destination. You can use stock footage, photos, whatever you got, and at the end, reveal that they're actually going there.

Nicky Omohundro: And with all the easy video editing apps now, anyone can do this. You don't have to be a Steven Spielberg.

Heide Brandes: Exactly. And my third favorite is the special delivery approach.

Nicky Omohundro: Cue the doorbell. Ding dong. Can we take another listener question?

Heide Brandes: yeah, yeah, this would be perfect for that.

Nicky Omohundro: So this one's from Barbara in Florida. She asks, how far in advance should I book surprise tickets? I'm worried about prices going up during the holidays.

Here's the deal with holiday travel gifting. Generally, you want to book at least three months in advance for domestic flights. And six months for international, but for holiday travel specifically.

Heide Brandes: I think you would want to book as far in advance as possible.

Nicky Omohundro: Right. And in the past, we've mentioned an app called hopper H O P P E R. And you can actually put in sample dates, destination, and the airport you're leaving from. And it will tell you, this is a great time to book, or if you should wait to get a better price.

Heide Brandes: Yeah. I live on Hopper. It's one of my favorite, booking apps. because it does track the price of tickets. You know, they're like, Hey, hold off. Don't buy your ticket now. It's likely to decrease in the next month or so. Yeah, that's a great tip. And that reminds me, we should probably talk about the less exciting, but the super important part, the fine print of gifting travel.

Nicky Omohundro: Oh, yes. The fun stuff. Let's break this down with a really quick checklist for listeners.

Heide Brandes: Okay. Item one, always check the cancellation policy.

Nicky Omohundro: Item two, know the airline's rules about transferring tickets or changing names.

Heide Brandes: Item three, what travel insurance covers and what it doesn't cover. And again, always include the travel insurance

[00:10:00]  Nicky Omohundro: And item four, keep all confirmation emails and booking numbers in a safe place.

Heide Brandes: or at least in one place. Like I have special like cloud storage with all my flights and travel plans in it, for instance.

Nicky Omohundro: Exactly. I like to keep all of my trip information in a doc, and I usually will keep it on a Google Drive so that way it's in one place. And when you tell your friend where she's going, you can just share that and she'll have that information as well.

Heide Brandes: Don't book anything through sketchy third party websites just to save a few bucks. Honestly, going straight to the airline website your best bet, especially if you're gifting travel to somebody. They don't want to have to go through, some of these third party booking sites.

And if there's a cancellation or weather problem, then that's a nightmare to get through.

Nicky Omohundro: Yes, and we both are speaking about this from experience.

Heide Brandes: Oh, yeah.

Nicky Omohundro: to someplace like thecheapestflightsever. net. You know, you are delayed. If I'd gone through the airline, I could have rebooked my ticket immediately instead of having to call a third party customer service and being on hold forever and ever and ever.

Heide Brandes: I'm a big, big fan of booking directly through the airlines. It's just simpler and the customer service is a lot easier.

Nicky Omohundro: Definitely. And they usually have an app so you can skip the customer service line altogether. Okay. Before we wrap up, let's do a rapid fire round of top tips.

Heide Brandes: Love it. Okay, I'll start. Always check your passport requirements for international gifts.

Nicky Omohundro: Double check all travel dates with someone who knows the recipient's schedule if you're buying actual tickets.

Heide Brandes: And consider their comfort. Maybe spring for that extra leg room if it's a long flight.

Nicky Omohundro: Yeah, because let's face it, we're not going to be doing a 14 hour flight and coach and be happy about it.

Heide Brandes: Oh, well, we may not be happy about it, but I've done numerous one of those, but luckily I'm short. I got short little legs. quite

Nicky Omohundro: Same.

Heide Brandes: miserable for me as somebody who might be six feet tall.

Nicky Omohundro: Exactly, because we're both 5’2.

Heide Brandes: Yeah!

Nicky Omohundro: Yeah, my feet don't touch the ground.

Heide Brandes: A buck 30, you know? So, um, coach for me, isn't that uncomfortable, we have tall friends. We have larger friends. We have friends who maybe have some knee problems or mobility issues. Springing for that extra leg room when appropriate is a kindness you don't want to skimp on.

Nicky Omohundro: No, and everyone would love to have a business class or a first class ticket as a gift. Just saying, putting it out there.

Heide Brandes: Don't forget about transportation to and from the airport. 

Nicky Omohundro: Depending 

Heide Brandes: on where you live and how far you are from the airport, that can be a pretty major expense.

Nicky Omohundro: Yes. And these days you can schedule an Uber and gift a gift card as well. Be sure you keep all confirmations and booking details in a separate email folder or at a Google doc.

Heide Brandes: We're in a Google doc and make sure they have a copy and you have a copy in case something happens with them. They can call you and you have their itinerary and all their booking numbers. And that's just good tip anytime you travel, I think.

Nicky Omohundro: Definitely. And finally, the last tip, remember that the best gift isn't always the most expensive one. It's the most thoughtful one.

Heide Brandes: And folks, that's our show for today, wonderful women. Remember, if you're gifting travel this year, we'd love to hear your stories. Please share them on Instagram with us using hashtag #untetheredgifts. Again, that's Instagram, @untetheredwanderwise is the handle. 

Nicky Omohundro: And don't forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Next week we're talking about. More solo travel for women over 45.

Heide Brandes: Until then, stay curious and keep wandering. 

Nicky Omohundro: And remember life's too short for boring gifts.